Thursday, October 21, 2004
Sometimes when library sources and Google fail me and sometimes when I am helping a non-University of Windsor student through chat, I turn to the lii.org - the Librarians Index to the Internet - for librarian selected and organized quality resources on the web.
And now there is another site like that I have started referring students to - The Virtual Reference Library: "a subject-based, reliable, Internet information source with special focus on Canadian and Ontario information." Brought to you by the Toronto Public Library system, the VRL has been recently redesigned and relaunched.
And now there is another site like that I have started referring students to - The Virtual Reference Library: "a subject-based, reliable, Internet information source with special focus on Canadian and Ontario information." Brought to you by the Toronto Public Library system, the VRL has been recently redesigned and relaunched.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
After long last, I received a chemistry question at the reference desk. Its from an organic chemistry lab and so on the off-chance that another chem student drops by with the same question, I'll outline how I think I answered the question.
For this assignment, a student has to name a substance that is drawn in the lab book as a connection of molecules and bonds and determine the reaction that produces this substance. After trying some online sources (Merck) and some reaction guides in the reference collection, the student and I went into SciFinder Scholar. Under the option, Find a Substance or Reaction, we chose to search by Chemical Structure. This brings up SciFinder's chemical drawing screen. It was so very cool - we drew the substance and then searched for reactions in which it was a product.
For this assignment, a student has to name a substance that is drawn in the lab book as a connection of molecules and bonds and determine the reaction that produces this substance. After trying some online sources (Merck) and some reaction guides in the reference collection, the student and I went into SciFinder Scholar. Under the option, Find a Substance or Reaction, we chose to search by Chemical Structure. This brings up SciFinder's chemical drawing screen. It was so very cool - we drew the substance and then searched for reactions in which it was a product.
