INFORMATION OUTLOOK: What is the mission and role of your library?
NIGEL LEES: The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is the UK's and Europe's leading learned and professional body in chemistry and was founded in 1841, when it was called the Chemical Society. Learned and professional societies are the world's oldest knowledge management organisations. It is quite reassuring to discover that there is little new under the sun! These societies are often independent organisations and registered charities (as is the RSC).
Many of these societies are also publishers, and do not solely exist to make profit, but nevertheless have to make a reasonable return in order to survive. Their journals are among the oldest established, originally created to communicate the knowledge and language of science to fellow scientists. In the field of chemistry such society journals remain dominant, more so than in many other scientific disciplines, largely because there are a number of powerful national chemical societies.
Many of these societies also have libraries, some of which are substantial. Which brings me nicely to the RSC Library & Information Centre (LIC), based at our headquarters in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London.
Our Mission
The LIC's mission is governed by the RSC's Royal Charter, which aims "to foster and encourage the growth and application of chemical science by the dissemination of chemical knowledge". I think you would agree that libraries are a key component here. We have defined our mission in recent business plans as "to provide the best current techno-commercial and historical chemistry information service fully to support the aims of the Society's Charter, within financial targets set by the Society". In practice this means serving our 46,000 members world-wide who largely receive a free or discounted service. Members of the public and other genuine researchers will also be looked upon favourably. Commercial non-members (companies, consultants) are charged commercial rates.
Our Services
The LIC offers two main services. The most important is our document delivery service, which regularly despatches over 1200 requests per month world-wide. Staff pride themselves on their speed and reliability of service. Documents can be with the customer within 30 minutes if necessary. The LIC also lends books and journals to members within the European Union.
The other main service is an enquiry service which is open to all, though with some restrictions for non-members. Specifically we offer a Chemical Enquiry Helpdesk, staffed by two information officers both with chemistry degrees.
Over the past few years the LIC has been taking on greater responsibility as the RSC's archive or "corporate memory". It is a role perfectly suited to our skills and experience. There is a saying that if you don't know where you have been, how do you know where you are going? I think that this holds true for organisations as well.
Last, but certainly not least, is the Reading Room itself, the largest room in the RSC. It is a working library and is open Monday-Friday 9.30-5.30, receiving about 5,500 research visitors per year. Apart from answering enquiries and carrying out document delivery, our seven staff make sure that research facilities within the Reading Room are functioning well, that the journals remain properly organised and that users questions and queries are attended to.
You can read more about us at www.rsc.org/library.
IO: Who are your clients? Staff, scientists, the general public? Can you give an example of a typical request? What is the most interesting request you ever received? Are requests time sensitive?
NL: We are one of the few places in the world where people can simply phone, fax or email with their chemical enquiry and know that they will get a considered and informative reply. Anyone can contact us, but some customers may be charged. In general most customers are members of the RSC or Corporate Members of the LIC. The next largest group are probably non-member students, members of the public and commercial non-members. In general our chemistry requests fall under the following headings:
suppliers and producers of chemicals world-wide
chemical and physical property data
chemical business information
health, safety and environmental information
industrial and process chemistry
chemical structures, preparation and analysis
historical chemistry
We receive many interesting chemistry enquiries, for example recent ones include:
The usage of fructose for hangovers
Why were particular dyes used between 1840-1870?
Visiting South African chemist looking into his family tree
Information on the Serbian Chemical Industry
Analysis of starch in yam flour
Check if a chemical actually exists (a TV company wanted a non-existent chemical!)
Information on the use of gold for hip joints
DNA fingerprinting and applications in forensic science
Can you make a polymer out of all 91 naturally occurring elements?
Is it possible to construct a transparent metal alloy?
Can you find any information on the addition of pulverised glass to compost?
Many enquiries require an answer within 24 hours and some within hours. Luckily (for us) other enquiries are not so time sensitive or else it would be extremely difficult to fit them all in.
Other enquiries include bibliographic checks on journals or books, the LIC's book or journal lending service, referral enquiries to other organisations, and requests received from users in the Reading Room. Our total monthly tally of requests (from phone, fax, email and personal visits) is between 1100 - 1200, and this is not counting those requests channelled through our document delivery service.
IO: What kinds of research do you do?
NL: The RSC is not a research institute and has no laboratories although occasionally people want to send us all sorts of samples to analyse! We tend to refer them to accredited laboratories or consultants instead. The LIC, however, does literature research and uses a wide variety of databases, usually on the host STN. The enquiry service operates a sort of one-stop-shop in chemistry - everything gets an answer.
IO: What is exciting about working at the Royal Society of Chemistry? What is a typical day like for you? I assume you must have to be aware of current scientific breakthroughs. How much time do you spend reading newspapers or doing other kinds of research on current events?
NL: There is always something going on here, especially in the Society's headquarters in Burlington House. The meeting rooms are nearly always booked, with scientific groups, staff committee meetings or receptions of various kinds. Today is a very special day (10th July) as it is the date of our Summer Party with over 500 guests arriving this evening. All of the rooms are taken up, including the Library which will be transformed in a few hours into a `party room'. Guests start off next door at the Royal Academy of Arts "Summer Exhibition" (paintings and other art forms from thousands of contributors in the UK) and move into the RSC for food and drink. Other societies at Burlington House are also involved. Apart from this, today I have meetings with LIC staff, a visit from the Librarian of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, I am overseeing a visit from an art dealer to value some of the portraits and artefacts in the 18th century Burlington House where we are located, and have a monthly report to finish.
One of the difficulties I think all small or medium sized libraries face is making the time to develop services, whilst trying to cope with day-to-day activities. It is crucial to get the balance right in order to see progress.
I see about ten journals and newsletters a month (I cut this down from fifteen) and spend the time on the commuter train to work reading. It is just as essential for me to keep up to date with news on chemical research and the chemical industry, as it is with library and information developments. There has been so much in recent months on industry mergers and acquisitions that it is difficult to remember the new names of the companies.
IO: To whom do you report in the hierarchy at RSC?
NL: The LIC is part of RSC Publishing and, in particular, I report to the Manager Marketing, Sales and Product Development. RSC Publishing, based in Cambridge UK, commissions, edits, and publishes a wide range of high quality journals, books and databases.
IO: What kind of budget do you control?
NL: All of the LIC's funding comes from the RSC. We are, however, required to earn some revenue ourselves in order to contribute to running costs.
IO:What type of staff do you have? How many are on the staff?
The LIC has seven members of staff to exploit, maintain, develop and promote its collections. The are four professional staff, three of whom have chemistry degrees, and three administrative staff. The greatest effort is expended on the document delivery service. Photocopies are delivered worldwide and LIC staff are very proud of the service they give to customers. I think that it is important that all staff feel that, whatever task they are doing, it is all going towards operating one of the finest chemistry information resources in the world.
IO: Do you outsource any projects? If so, which ones and why?
We have regularly outsourced work when funds permit. For example, much of the cataloguing of the historical book collection was completed by outside contractors under LIC supervision. Over 2,000 of our images were digitised by a specialist firm, although LIC staff were very closely involved. Also conservation of our rarer texts and historic items receive attention from experts outside of the LIC, for example specialist book-binding. Everything else, such as web and database development and most IT work is done in-house, with the exception of our library management software, GLAS. This is produced and maintained by EOSi, although LIC staff have had to gain much experience and expertise in the use of it.
IO: What is the size of your library? Have you been downsized/upsized/remained the same?
NL: The LIC is fully supported by the RSC and was its first service to the chemistry profession. There has been a chemical library since the founding of the Chemical Society in 1841. Libraries were then one of the main meeting places for scientists to discuss, read, and research the literature. The LIC is the inheritor library to all this scientific tradition and directly fulfils the RSC's Royal Charter by providing and disseminating chemical knowledge. The LIC has grown steadily over the years in terms of its collections and in terms of the service we provide. We have over 2,000 journal titles (of which 650 are current), over 25,000 books and a very wide range of reference materials in print and electronic form. In many ways libraries today face even more challenges than at any time in the past with advances in the way information is delivered.
IO: Considering the international nature of RSC, how do you get involved in international affairs? Do you do international research?
NL: As a specialist information provider in chemistry, the RSC is very well-placed to support the worldwide development of the subject. Its activities are wide-ranging and include:
bringing together over 90 national chemical societies via the flagship Web resource chemsoc (http://www.chemsoc.org/)
providing the lead coordinating role in chemistry in Europe. The RSC is more active in Europe than anywhere else overseas
supporting 14 overseas sections and 34 overseas local representatives
the RSC supports the development of national chemical societies
active participation in IUPAC, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
drawing the members of the editorial boards of its lead journals from around the world as well as from the UK
over 80% of authors who publish in RSC primary journals are from outside the UK
90% of journal subscribers are from overseas
many conferences sponsored by RSC are held outside the UK. A major conference will be held in South Africa (Cape Town) in 2001 in collaboration with the South African Chemical Institute
grants are available to encourage potential authors from outside the UK
the RSC supports an international aid charity, Voluntary Services Overseas in helping to send chemistry teachers to developing countries and in providing educational materials.
The LIC also plays a pivotal international role. It has over 80 journal exchanges with leading international organisations and publishers, which not only helps its collection development but is also a reflection of the friendship and cooperation between these organisations.
Because of the development of email and the web many of LIC's users come from abroad, usually from the rest of Europe, but increasingly from the USA. A number of requests are now coming from countries in Asia, Africa and South America, which at one time would generate a very small proportion of customer enquiries.
IO: What are your financial priorities? Do you spend more money on electronic resources than print resources? Why?
NL: The LIC has an important archival role to play in the UK's scientific, technical and medical information network. As such the majority of its collections are still in print and will remain so until electronic archiving is secure and well-established. The largest part of our budget is spent on journals and much staff time is spent on managing the journals or exploiting them for document delivery. We are, however, increasing our access to electronic journals but are not relying on them as an archive source. I think that this is one of the biggest differences between a special library and an academic library. Many academic libraries today pay for access to the world of scientific literature through network deals with publishers and consortia, by document delivery and by contracts with database producers. Learned societies are, in general, not part of the official academic networks and are not eligible for academic discounts. This doesn't, of course, stop them from negotiating such deals, but in the main they have less bulk buying power.
IO: What is the nature of your relationship with vendors? Have they tailored services to meet your needs? What challenges have you had to face in getting research systems in place?
NL: One of our main business applications concerns the implementation of our library management package, GLAS, from EOSi, who were formerly called DataTrek. We have four packages: Serials, Cataloguing, Acquisitions and Circulation. We have recently bought the DataBridge module so that we can interface with Dawson's FastTrack service for the downloading of bibliographic records. GLAS has worked very well for us and we are not, at present, considering any move from this. One thing I am keen to explore is the uploading of our OPAC on the web, linked to our 2,000 historical images. At present we do this in-house (via a Muscat database), but it may be more effective, in the future, to do this directly via GLAS. At the moment you cannot link catalogue records in GLAS to image files, although I believe that this will be a future enhancement by EOSi.
IO: Is your library becoming more virtual? Do you have an Intranet? What role do you play in maintaining it? How was it set up? Were there teams/focus groups? What challenges did you encounter when working on this project? What suggestions do you have for other librarians involved in this process?
NL: Having said that the LIC is still largely print-based I was referring, of course, to its collections. In every other aspect we are aiming to present ourselves as an information resource for the global chemistry community. The LIC's books catalogue, which is now linked to 2,000 historical digital images, has been available on the web for 4 years. From here you can check our books collection or view an image. Most of the requests we receive (either for document delivery or chemical enquiries) now arrive by email. This has certainly meant an increase in business, especially from overseas. Our web pages are presently undergoing change with increased content to make them of more interest to casual and regular users. Soon we will have a searchable database of our complete journals list which, in time, will become a valuable information resource in its own right. I feel that it is important to hold the new and the old in the same place as it gives a continuity to the development of chemistry as a subject - a particularly apt role for a learned society to take.
The development of the Society's web site and Intranet is done centrally, although the LIC has made comments on usefulness and relevance.
IO: How much time or how much involvement do you have with RSC's web site? How is the information on the site coordinated, kept up to date, and where does it come from?
NL: The LIC uses the RSC web sites (www.rsc.org and www.chemsoc.org) on a daily basis to answer many questions about the RSC and refer the enquirer to the correct person or department within the RSC. We are well-placed, therefore, to comment on content or accuracy of the information to the content providers in the RSC. Although this role is not formalised, it has helped to improve the service.
The RSC is investing much in the development of the two web sites and has its own web development team. The rsc.org site covers all RSC products (such as the journals), services (including the LIC) and activities (for example education). The chemsoc.org site has been developed as the chemical societies homepage, with further information on conferences, information networks and extensive links to other sites. It also has a magazine and visual periodical table of the elements. Both sites have a separate distinctive look.
IO: Are queries from your web site directed to the library staff? What kinds of questions do you typically get from the web site?
NL: Many enquiries come directly from the LIC's enquiry form on our home page. We also get a number of enquiries referred to us from RSC's web master, when it falls out of their scope. In general the nature of the enquiry is no different from the ones described above. LIC staff are now using web resources extensively, where appropriate, to provide answers to enquiries.
IO: How do you market your library? Do you print publications, brochures, internal newsletters? What has been a successful marketing tactic for you? Why?
NL: How do solve a problem like... marketing, to paraphrase a title of a song from the Sound of Music! There are things that we have put so much effort in, but have done little to raise awareness of what we do. We have had marketing plans for years. We do all the text book things such as mailshot the people and organisations that have used us before, try to keep up to date with leaflet production, distribute materials at RSC conferences, give talks, organise Focus Groups, print adverts in various newsletters etc. Perhaps the best promotional "toy" has been the production of a printed bookmark, which people seem to like. Another has been the production of a cheap and cheerful flyer (size of a compliment slip) that can be inserted into a wide variety of publications. We have a twice yearly newsletter (recently revamped) that goes out to all Corporate Members of the LIC. However, we are going to expand the distribution of this and put news items on the web.
I think that, without doubt, the web has been of enormous importance. People can now search our site anywhere in the world (telecommunications notwithstanding) and send us a message or ask for help. I think the key to good marketing and promotion has to be simplicity and clarity, something we have not always achieved.
It will be interesting to see whether this little bit of promotion in Information Outlook generate any feedback! If anyone reading this has any good tips for us, please do not keep them to yourself.
IO: Tell us about a recent project you've completed? What challenges did you encounter? What advice could you offer to readers who were to undertake a similar project?
NL: Since becoming Librarian (in 1999) I have completed a number of small projects such as reducing cataloguing backlogs, organising the conservation of valuable material from our historical collections, and the conclusion of a document delivery deal. We are now experimenting with the downloading of bibliographic data in order to streamline the cataloguing process and save time. We are nearing the completion of producing a searchable database of our complete periodical holdings, which has taken longer than I thought. Most projects (large or small) need persistence in order to get them finished. You really have to be very focussed.
IO: What future projects are coming up in which you are directly involved?
NL: Future projects include further digitisation of images from our collection (we have over 8,000 mainly on historical chemistry) and working with RSC Publishing on the Crossref project - the linking of content from scientific publishers' web sites to the references at the back of scientific articles. Therefore, providing you have the relevant subscriptions, you should be able to move seamlessly from one article to another as you carry out your scientific research. Crossref is a collaboration between many publishers and works initially via their electronic journals, although there will be some scope for document providers, such as the LIC, to contribute.
One of the big projects in Burlington House has been the total refurbishment of all internal space. Many rooms have already been redecorated. The LIC's Reading Room, the largest in the RSC, is due to be redecorated next year, which will obviously place great strain on staff in their effort to maintain services.
IO: How do you feel about the word "librarian"? Do you think SLA's name accurately reflects the membership?
Everyone knows what a librarian is and what they do. Although my job title has officially changed to Manager, Library & Archival Service, I still use the term librarian to describe what I do. A librarian, in my view, is a curator and custodian of knowledge and information with feet planted firmly in the future and the past, whilst trying to cope with present!
At the moment I wouldn't like to see a change in SLA's name. The SLA is an association of special libraries, with special needs and services. Many organisations still have "libraries", even though they sometimes rename them as information or knowledge centres.
IO: An active SLA member, how has the association helped you advance your career?
Where do you think SLA should be heading in the future?
I am a fairly recent member of the SLA and have not yet had the opportunity to attend any of the large international SLA meetings, such as the one in Philadelphia recently, but I hope to attend Global 2000 in Brighton. I have, however, attended some of the SLA European Chapter meetings. I find that it is extremely important to network with colleagues and try to learn from their experiences as well as share mine. This way we all benefit.
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