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As
noted in earlier issues of this newsletter, we are bulking up the number
of references to print materials in the SANSS
database. We are adding
references to Internet-accessible references as well, but print appeals to
us for the some of the same reasons that print appeals to lots of
technical librarians -- one-time-only cost; continuing availability
regardless of eternally mutating Internet addresses; the opportunity for a
student to see not just that record he/she requested, but that record in
the context of thousands of other adjacent records whose
similarities/differences might be illuminating; etc.
In
the course of thinking about additions to the set of print references in SANSS, we had occasion to check on print holdings of certain
chemical references in libraries at 17 colleges and universities in
Pennsylvania. The schools all
offer degrees in environmental science and/or chemistry. Some are relatively small bachelor's- degree institutions; a
few are major PhD-level universities.
We were looking at 21 editions of five reference works:
--The Merck Index (9th-13th editions, 1976-2001)
--the
Aldrich catalog (editions of 1996-1997, 1998- 1999, 2000-2001, 2003-2004,
and 2005-2006)
--Condensed Chemical Dictionary (10th-14th editions,
1981-2001)
--Dictionary of Organic Compounds (5th and 6th editions,
1982 and 1996)
--Handbook of Environmental Data on Organic Compounds (1st-4th
editions, 1977-2001)
Of
the 21 editions involved, the SANSS
database currently references 11, and we were considering what other
references should be added to that database in future updates.
For
what it's worth, here are some results of the survey:
--None
of the works is universally held. Furthermore, those schools which had one
or another work frequently did not have the most recent edition. Given the five works at 17 schools, there are 85
opportunities (17 x 5) for schools to have the most recent edition;
however, the most recent edition was held in only 23 of 85 cases.
The next-to-last edition was held in 29 of 85 cases.
None of the schools had the most recent edition of ALL of the five
works; furthermore, if you ignore the Aldrich catalog (see below), none of
the schools had the most recent edition of ALL of the other four works.
The holdings at several schools reflected an obvious pattern of
acquiring only every other edition of a work that's reissued frequently.
--Various
editions of The Merck Index
appear to be the most widely held of these reference works: 94.1% of the
schools had some form of The Merck
Index, and 12 of the 17 had the most recent edition.
The listings for several schools indicated that they had the
electronic version of the most recent edition.
--The
Condensed Chemical Dictionary
was the second most widely held work:
82.4% of the schools held some form of the CCD,
and five of the 17 had the most recent edition.
--The
Aldrich catalog is not so widely held as we might have guessed -- only
five of 17 schools indicating a library listing.
However, we suspect that this might reflect a library cataloging
issue: Several schools that
did have one version or another of the Aldrich catalog included notations
that copies held on reserve were "personal" copies.
We suspect that many professors have this excellent, free catalog
on their own shelves; that the "personal" copies on reserve were
put there by professors; and that librarians have not bothered to add the
Aldrich catalog to their collections because (1) it's ubiquitous among the
interested faculty and (2) they're not aware of how much useful
information this work communicates.
For
the record, here are the holdings we found among the 17 schools:
Aldrich
handbook/catalog, 1996-1997 - 0 of 17
Aldrich
handbook/catalog, 1998-1999 - 0 of 17
Aldrich
handbook/catalog, 2000-2001 - 3 of 17
Aldrich
handbook/catalog, 2003-2004 - 2 of 17
Aldrich
handbook/catalog, 2005-2006 - 1 of 17
Condensed
Chemical Dictionary,
10th edition (1981) - 7 of 17
Condensed
Chemical Dictionary,
11th edition (1987) - 5 of 17
Condensed
Chemical Dictionary,
12th edition (1993) - 3 of 17
Condensed
Chemical Dictionary,
13th edition (1997) - 5 of 17
Condensed
Chemical Dictionary,
14th edition (2001) - 5 of 17
Dictionary
of Organic Compounds,
5th edition (1982) - 8 of 17
Dictionary
of Organic Compounds,
6th edition (1996) - 3 of 17
Handbook
of Environmental Data on Organic Compounds,
1st edition (1977) - 5 of 17
Handbook
of Environmental Data on Organic Compounds,
2nd edition (1983) - 3 of 17
Handbook
of Environmental Data on Organic Compounds,
3rd edition (1996) - 3 of 17
Handbook
of Environmental Data on Organic Compounds,
4th edition (2001) - 2 of 17
The
Merck Index, 9th edition (1976) - 7 of 17
The
Merck Index, 10th edition (1983) - 7 of 17
The
Merck Index, 11th edition (1989) - 8 of 17
The
Merck Index, 12th edition (1996) - 11 of 17
The
Merck Index, 13th edition (2001) - 12 of 17
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