Science Reference on the Web

Kay Collins

University of California, Irvine

Irvine, CA

Introduction

It is the purpose of this session to help librarians find scientific and
technical information for differing levels of users, children through
sophisticated scientists. The government supplies a wealth of
information resources. How do you know which one to use when, for what
type of question? We are going to try to ask some typical questions
encountered at a reference desk and go through the process of finding
the right tools to answer those questions. Each of us may approach this
in different ways, knowing there is usually not one right way. We will
also try to provide you with some tips on using the resources we have
selected to discuss.

Most of us have attended sessions or workshops on how to use specific
databases. For the most part, these are presented from the point of view
of the database creator or vendor and not the point of view of the
librarian. While most of us garner useful information from these
sessions, they do not always relate to the reality of how we must answer
questions from our users. Within the last month I attended such a vendor
session and our biggest criticism was the trainer did not relate to a
university audience but to a high school or public library audience.

Like a trainer who should adjust to an audience, librarians must also
adjust to the person they are helping. In this room, there are
librarians all of whom must find answers to questions asked of them by a
variety of users; and they shift gears automatically, from user to user.
Science questions are invariably among those questions. Whether at a
small public library or a large university library, the questions will
vary from simple to complex. The government has always been outstanding
in providing scientific and technical information, whether in paper or
microfiche. Bibliographic access was often a problem for many who could
not afford their indexes or did not have the room nor demand to warrant
selecting the indexes or publications.

The web and the vast amount of information available via the web have
changed the nature of how we as librarians can provide assistance to our
users seeking scientific information. Our agreement as depository
librarians has always been to provide access and assistance to our
users. Science and technology resources are no different than political
and social resources in many respects. So don\'t panic with a science
question, rise to the challenge.

**Normal reference interview processes still apply**

Some things never change. No matter what the question, we still have to
ask questions and evaluate the replies and the person asking for help.
You will note that as I go through the process of explaining how I would
answer the example questions, I will be asking those normal reference
interview questions outlined below.

-   What is the age level of the student to be taught or the person
    asking the question? It is obvious a 3^rd^ grader does not need
    detailed technical reports.

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-   What type of class assignment/job assignment/research has brought
    the user to the desk? Try to find out the real questions in order to
    answer the real question and not waste time. In my mind, when a
    person asks for a specific publication it should always bring the
    question: are you finding the information you need or can I assist
    you in finding more? What is the real question?

-   Would this person understand complex research? Or, does s/he just
    need a simple answer?

-   How is the user going to use this information? Class assignment?
    Speech? Dissertation? Legal case?

-   How do I know government information will answer questions?

# Sample Reference Questions

Below are some sample, generic reference questions. Following that list
are some possible resources and methods one might employ to answer them.

1.  "I am a teacher (of specific grade level) and would like help with 2
    things: sample lesson plans for me and web resources for my students
    to use. The topic is ' .'"

2.  "I am a college level student looking for basic information to use
    in a paper on ' .'"

3.  "I am doing my paper in web format and want web documents to which I
    can link as resources within my paper. My topic is ' .'"

4.  "I must have this specific technical report and I am not sure of the
    author/title/date/publisher."

5.  "I am doing an in-depth research paper on a topic and I need to
    gather articles and publications on that topic."

6.  "How do I locate the publications cited in these government
    databases?"

7.  "The government has issued standards/regulations/test methods, etc.
    on this chemical in the air. Can you help me find it?"

# Answering Those Reference Questions

1.  **"I am a teacher (of specific grade level) and would like help with
    2 things: sample lesson plans for me and web resources for my
    students to use. The topic is energy conservation and alternative
    energy sources."**

> By now, most depository librarians know about [Ben's Guide to U. S.
> Government for Kids](http://bensguide.gpo.gov/index.html), which is
> linked off [GPO Access](http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html).
> It was created to help with questions from teachers and students. I
> tend to go right to it. And this is typical of how many experienced
> documents librarians answer reference questions. We have learned by
> experience. We just [know]{.underline} about a resource or what agency
> is most likely to have related information. But we must also be
> prepared to show our colleagues and our users how they could find this
> and similar resources without us. How would I do it?
>
> Personally, I would go to
> [INFOMINE](http://infomine.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/search?govpub) and search
> the [government]{.underline} section. If I knew I wanted *Ben's
> Guide,* I would put in those terms. If I want kid pages or curriculum
> guides in a specific topic, I would try some searches on those key
> words and make sure the stemming button was clicked. In fact, Ben\'s
> Guide is best used for political resources, but they do have links to
> various agencies that have science for kids and teachers. (Lynne
> Reasoner will provide a detailed discussion on INFOMINE and other
> search engines.) I might also try [Google Uncle
> Sam](http://www.google.com/unclesam) or
> [Yahoo](http://www.yahoo.com/)\'s Government or Science sections. If I
> found too many I might try to limit by age level. [Ben's
> Guide](http://bensguide.gpo.gov/index.html) does that for you at the
> beginning. Other resources may not make it quite so easy. Using
> [AskERIC](http://ericir.syr.edu/Eric/), or
> [ERIC/AE](http://ericae.net/ftlib.htm) Full Text, it is possible to
> limit bibliographic searches to ages and or grades.
>
> By using these resources it is possible to find web pages or
> publications by agencies you did not originally think about. Energy is
> a perfect example of this. The U.S. [Department of
> Energy](http://www.energy.gov/) is an obvious source for energy
> publications, but there are also state energy offices and resources.
> Other Federal agencies such as the [Environmental Protection
> Agency](http://www.epa.gov/) are involved, as is the [Department of
> the Interior](http://www.doi.gov/), with all their separate Bureaus,
> the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission,](http://www.nrc.gov/) the
> [Tennessee Valley Authority](http://www.tva.gov/), etc. They usually
> have a kids's page or the equivalent with links to even more web
> pages. What they provide is on the web, and free.

2.  **"I am a college level student looking for basic information to use
    in a paper on \_\_\_\_." (Typical topics are pollution, wildlife,
    endangered species, energy issues, water supply, land management of
    some type: wetlands, grazing, urban development, roads, space, etc.
    These types of questions also come from older high school
    students.)**

This question could lead to searches somewhat like the one described
above. If the student does not have the basic knowledge or vocabulary
they might need, some of the upper level kids pages could help with
that, assuming you can get a college student to use a kids page. Serving
the same purpose and not carrying the baggage of the "kids" issue, those
agencies with a mission that includes science have included basic
information on their homepages. With some agencies, that is easy to
find, for example, [DOE](http://www.energy.gov/),
[NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/), [Forest Service](http://www.fs.fed.us/).
So, use [INFOMINE](http://infomine.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/search?govpub),
[FirstGov](http://www.firstgov.gov/)*,* [Google Uncle
Sam](http://www.google.com/unclesam) or your own knowledge to get your
user to basic scientific information.

It would not be unusual for many librarians to search their own library
catalog to identify useful sources of information. Keyword searches
often work well in this context and are often an alert that scientific
titles are available within the government collection. The difficulty
with this can be that normal cataloging subject terms [may]{.underline}
be too broad or limited to be useful. Your colleagues will often try the
catalog first. Help them become aware of other tools and to know that
with basic scientific topics there are often very useful publications
from the government which are not listed in the catalog. Use this as an
opportunity to show them how they might find such publications, either
in your collection or on the web.

Commercial databases would be another resource your colleagues might go
to first. Many will cover the needed science topics very well. Some of
them index major government publications. Many do not. If you have them
available, they can be very useful. But if you are looking for
government resources, some of the databases and resources supplied by
the agencies are more productive for your user because they index titles
either you have available or can obtain via interlibrary loan from your
regional or a nearby depository. A more detailed discussion of the
databases is in the questions below.

3.  **"I am doing my paper in web format and want web documents to which
    I can link as resources within my paper. My topic is \_\_\_."**

The government excels in supplying full-text web documents. First of
all, most of them are not copyrighted or limited in some way. While a
student might find many full-text documents on the many commercial web
databases available to them, they usually cannot link directly to an
article or document. The documents they find do not have a stable URL
but are identified as part of a search. Thus, they must be quoted like
any other copyrighted, printed publication. For the most part,
government titles allow a user to link directly to a title.

To find government web publications, search engines and directories such
as [INFOMINE](http://infomine.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/search?govpub),
[FirstGov](http://www.firstgov.gov/)[, Google Uncle
Sam](http://www.google.com/unclesam)*,* and
[Yahoo](http://www.yahoo.com/) *government or science* might prove
useful to get started. Your personal government information librarian's
knowledge of agencies and full-text document resources could be very
useful. In the sciences, the [DOE Information
Bridge](http://www.osti.gov/bridge/) (Also linked off of *GPO Access)*
comes readily to mind because of its interdisciplinary nature. While
many of the titles it includes are very technical, some more general
resources are also included. They can be linked to the URL provided with
the abstract.

Agency web pages are a natural for containing full-text publications.
The problem, sometimes, is finding the information you know is available
on a specific web site. [EPA's web](http://www.epa.gov/) site is most
often cited in this regard but they are not alone and they have made
improvements. For the general user, employing the lists, browse list and
A-Z features provided on many web pages solves the problem. Using the
"Search" feature can too often provide a huge list of resources. In some
instances, however, it may be the only way to find what is needed.

The biggest problem for people wanting to cite a web link in a paper or
report is a link to a publication may disappear at some point in time.
Agencies change their pages and may not retain older documents. Or
policy issues dictate that some pages be removed. Anyone wanting a good
project could monitor web pages during this time following the September
11 disaster. Web pages deemed sensitive have been removed. Pipeline
maps, biological and chemical warfare topics are gone. I have not been
able to get into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission web site for the last
few days. In denying access to terrorists, what important access is
being denied citizens with a legitimate need? Whole task forces will be
monitoring and re-evaluating the concept of a citizen\'s right to know
as weighed against the uses a terrorist might make of the information.
September 11 is having an impact on more than the economy and New York
City.

Up to this point in the search for scientific and technical information,
no real in-depth knowledge of the scientific field itself was required.
The questions were general and asking for background and basic
information. We are now entering depths where a little more knowledge is
required to be successful. Specific terminology is often used.
Hopefully, either you have some concept of the topics or your user can
supply terms relevant to their search. If not, then it is necessary to
find terms that apply from a variety of sources. The most obvious is the
evaluation of searches that have been successful. We all look for
keywords, subjects, descriptors or concepts we can glean from relevant
citations or full-text resources. I have been known to use the upper
level kids pages, dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspaper articles,
anything that may provide the terms needed to find resources. There are
a growing number of dictionaries and thesauri on the web.
[CancerLit](http://cnetdb.nci.nih.gov/cancerlit.shtml) is a good example
of this. Personal experience is a great help and sometimes so are other
librarians. In my case, I have a scientist for a husband who can be
invaluable as my last resort when trying to find terms and understand
concepts.

4.  **"I must have this specific government technical report and I am
    not sure of the author/title/date/publisher."**

It is only with good luck that a user has a full citation and knows
where they got the information they currently have. Even so, as with
other questions, try the easy sources first.

-   Your catalog of publications, if it is a monograph and not a journal
    citation.

-   A major university online catalog. For me that is usually the
    University of California [Melvyl](http://www.melvyl.ucop.edu/)
    Catalog. Many technical reports from the government have never been
    given full, regular cataloging either, so do not be surprised if you
    do not find your report in some catalog.

-   Then progress on to the more difficult solutions like searching the
    right databases to again find the citation to verify. At this point
    you pray that at least the information the user does have is correct
    and enough.

At this point, the quandary for many becomes how to identify databases
which might prove fruitful in a search. To help in that process, Lynne
and I have created a web site which will soon be available via the
University of California, California Digital Library
([CDL](http://www.melvyl.ucop.edu/)) web site. It is currently available
and constantly being updated on [this web
page](http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~kcollins/dbinfom.html). A separate page
has a listing of just the [scientific
databases](http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~kcollins/SciTech.html#Science).
(Your comments and suggestions are always encouraged.) The listing is
divided into subjects and provides lists and links to the most important
databases with a search strategy for how to identify other databases.
When selecting databases to search, there are key features you need to
look for:

-   [Subject]{.underline} coverage. Many are multidisciplinary and do
    not cover just one subject, but many. Others are more focused.

-   [Dates]{.underline} of publications likely to be found there. Some
    begin in the 1990's, while others go back to the 1940's.

-   [Publication types]{.underline} may vary. Some include only
    technical reports ([NTIS](http://www.ntis.gov/index.html)) while
    others include journal articles and more general publications
    ([PubScience](http://pubsci.osti.gov/))

It should go without saying, but check the search help screens and
examples. Some of them are not as straightforward as they might seem.
NASA and NACA, for example, use initials for a [name
search]{.underline}, but it is best to either put the last name, comma,
first initial and then put the whole thing in quotes or do the last name
with ADJ followed by the initial: ("Buck, A" or "Buck ADJ A").

But instructions about this are not easily found. Do some searches and
look at all the results to get a clue as to how they format their
citations. Do they use a period after the initials or not? Then try to
use the search instructions that are provided to meet your needs.

DOE Information Bridge uses initials only as well, but allows some
variation in the search using those initials: They also provide good
instructions.

> "Smith"
>
> "Smith, J."
>
> "Smith, J.D."
>
> "Smith, J\*"

Other helpful hints:

-   NTIS does NOT include [all]{.underline} of the government\'s
    technical reports, contrary to popular belief. It is best to search
    the specific databases for energy and NASA/NACA reports, etc. There
    is some overlap for more recent years, but you may not be able to
    count on it.

-   Searching the free NTIS database can often bring very different
    results than searching the one to which we might subscribe. You get
    a more focused search on the subscription database and you get to
    view more detailed results, such as abstracts.

-   Portal searches, while very helpful and sometimes productive, often
    provide differing results from a focused search of an individual
    database covered by the portal search. Each database has individual
    search features which can render more precise search results. The
    author search is a perfect example how differing results might
    result from a portal search and a specific database search.

-   Be prepared, web sites change overnight. More is added. Parts are
    taken down. In this unsettled time following September 11, 2001 and
    the subsequent military and governmental activities, things are
    changing. Security, financial and political reasons could change
    many web sites we have come to depend on even more than usual.

5.  **"I am doing an in-depth research paper on a topic and I need to
    gather articles and publications on that topic."**

This type of question, no matter what the topic, requires the use of
many resources to fulfill the request. There is usually not just one
resource that will answer the question. Government web pages and
databases may be just some of the resources required to help the user.
As a government information specialist, it is your job to learn how to
guide them to at least the government resources available to further
that research. Practice and experience are very helpful. Some subject
expertise is very valuable. But for the inexperienced, new web pages can
now guide you, your library users and other staff members to the right
databases. Then using your skills as a librarian can help, even in
subject areas where you have no expertise. Your biggest piece of luck is
having the person who is seeking your help be able to express their
needs in ways that help you understand their subject as well as provide
some of the subject terms that will prove fruitful in selecting and
searching database. Helping them with search strategies and terminology
can be a real challenge, especially when it is not your subject field.
Different databases might use different terminology for the same
concept. You often need to use common names and/or scientific names,
whether it is biology or chemistry. Some products have acronyms and/or
many names, whether chemical or product name. The [NIOSH Guide to
Hazardous Chemicals](http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npg.html) is useful
when trying to identify a chemical, its various names, CAS number, and
major facts and words to describe the chemical. Different spellings,
especially with foreign languages and translations, have proven
challenging to all of us. Be prepared, if you are serious about helping
your users, for results eluding you and the user at first. But if you
help each other and use your skills in doing searches, soon you will
find the process somewhat easier. You just need to build your skills and
have a network to help with the tough ones.

Questions 1-4 have already outlined various search strategies that can
be employed in finding relevant citations:

-   Search your catalog and other major library catalogs. This is most
    useful when searching for monographs, books, and documents.

-   Identify and search relevant databases for reports and articles.
    Some of these databases may not be free, but commercial. Use the
    ones at your disposal and be ready to suggest other resources to the
    user. Other libraries or fee-based searching are the usual such
    resources.

-   Search agency web pages for both full-text web publications and
    citations to relevant publications.

-   Search [INFOMINE](http://infomine.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/search?govpub),
    [Google Uncle Sam](http://www.google.com/unclesam) and similar sites
    to identify where to search for more databases or publications.

-   Occasionally what you may need is on an agency CD-ROM. A search of
    INFOMINE or an appropriate catalog might help identify which one.

-   Portals and Gateways can be very useful in identifying where a
    search might prove successful. The [Energy
    Portal](http://www.osti.gov/EnergyFiles/), [NASA
    portal](http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/NTRS), and [NTIS
    SciTech Resources](http://www.scitechresources.gov/) and can prove
    very useful in [selecting]{.underline} a database to search in more
    detail. Portal searches are very general. It is best to go to the
    full database and search that more completely and in greater detail
    if your portal search did not yield what you needed. So in addition
    to the portal searches across databases, guides to databases help
    with the initial choice of databases to search in detail. The [UC
    Indexes and Abstracts
    Databases](http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~kcollins/dbinfom.html) and the
    [GPO Agency Publications
    Indexes](http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/api/index.html)
    are further starting places.

-   [Patents](http://www.uspto.gov/) on the web can prove more fruitful
    in a search for information than I would have first believed. As an
    example, in assisting a professor search for information, we found
    an adequate amount in normal sources. As he read through some of the
    sources we found, he kept seeing mention of a patent which he wanted
    to see. We went to the Patent web page, pulled up the patent full
    text and found information not found in other searches:

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-   New bibliographic citations

-   Detailed descriptions of the processes and science of the topic

-   Links to related patents

-   New terms we could use in further searching

6.  **"How do I locate the publications cited in these government
    databases?"**

Actually getting copies of the publications cited in the databases can
be a challenging part of the process. Databases like NTIS sell most of
the products they cite. Many students cannot afford to purchase these
publications and many libraries only purchase them selectively. Through
the depository system, many libraries have selected various series of
government technical reports over the years. Those that have been
cataloged by GPO have records available, especially after that magic
year 1976. Some libraries have utilized the serial nature of monographic
series to shortcut the method of cataloging these publications. They do
not catalogue each monographic title, but at least track by series
number. For instance, our library kept track of what NASA CR numbers we
had in our collection, though we did not always have cataloging records.
Thus, if we use a bibliographic database and get a full citation that
includes report numbers, we can locate a technical report. And we are
not alone in utilizing this system. That helps us as librarians who know
how to use the system to find individual publications, but it may not
help the library user or people searching our catalogs find them. Lack
of cataloging funds for GPO and others has made tracking some of these
publications difficult\--unless you have developed that knowledge built
up over years of experience.

So, after checking your own collection, what should you do? Here are a
few suggestions:

-   Search some major online catalogs such as
    [MELVYL](http://www.melvyl.ucop.edu/). In this case, because
    Monographs and Serials are in separate catalogs (at least for now),
    check the Melvyl Catalog for monographic titles and the California
    Periodicals for the series, just in case the monographs were not
    individually cataloged but only their series was traced. You may be
    able to identify a library likely to have the publication. Then use
    interlibrary loan.

-   Check with your Regional Depository Library. For those titles and
    series sent through the depository system, this has proven to be a
    very helpful source.

-   Use the Item Lister to see who selects specific item numbers for the
    technical reports you want. It is like a union list and can be a
    pointer to some possibilities. If the library you contact does not
    have what you need, often they can tell you who does.

-   Some of the web pages provided by agencies include what is in their
    libraries and available for loan.
    [EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epahome/resource.htm) is a good example.

-   A growing number of technical reports are available full text on the
    web page of the agency. Search and see.

-   The CD-ROMS issued by agencies and sent to selecting depository
    libraries have selected technical reports included on them. Some,
    like those from USGS, have a CD-ROM that is just one title. The user
    must then use the CD-ROM to either download the report or view it.
    EPA and others have disks with major publications included.

-   [DTIC](http://www.dtic.mil/) (Defense Technical Information Center)
    has many Defense Department and other unique technical reports
    available for sale. Their database can help identify them, but the
    library must then purchase them. You MUST be a registered library to
    purchase any reports from DTIC. If you have a government contract of
    some type, you are eligible to purchase their documents, and most
    large universities meet that requirement. But as many of us have
    seen from their demonstrations here at Depository Conferences, a
    growing number are available on the DTIC web site for free. Watch
    for changes and improvements to this database system.

7.  **"The government has issued standards/regulations/test methods,
    etc. on this chemical in the air (as an example). Can you help me
    find it?"**

> Both the *Code of Federal Regulations* and the *Federal Register* (on
> [GPO Access](http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html)) are
> sources for technical information. As regulations are being proposed
> and discussed, what is placed in the *Federal Register* many times
> contains either the text of a report or makes reference to it. Many
> users must have the right test method or the current standard and how
> agency experts arrived at this standard. I never cease to be surprised
> what I find in these 2 sources. [How]{.underline} I find them is
> another matter. It often takes a combination of resources to finally
> gain what I want.

-   Though full text of both the F*ederal Register* and *Code of Federal
    Regulations* is available online, sometimes that is not as readily
    productive as one might think. Here, terminology is very important.
    It helps to know when searching for allowable limits on a specific
    chemical that you may be looking for a PEL. That knowledge, combined
    with the name of the chemical and the agency issuing the
    regulations, might help a good deal in either pinpointing the title
    and section or narrowing the search for the right one.

-   The paper index to the *Code of Federal Regulations* issued by CIS
    (now LEXIS/NEXIS) is often the most useful guide to finding what is
    needed. By browsing the index, the proper terminology may become
    obvious. Or the agency or agencies and their CFR title numbers most
    likely to be useful will become evident. The more specifically you
    can narrow your search, the better results you get.

-   With some idea of where to look within the *Code of Federal
    Regulations*, browsing the publication can be more productive than
    using the online version, in many cases. Or it can supply the terms
    which make searching the web version more productive.

-   Checking the *Federal Register* citations provided in the *CFR* can
    often yield technical reports or information. Both of them may
    provide citations to the information your user needs and start you
    looking for that resource.

**Summary**

Thus you can see that while looking for scientific and technical
information may not be simple, there are many methods you can employ to
at least begin searching for answers. While being an expert may be
useful, it is not always necessary. If you establish good search tools,
build up experience, and know where to go for help, you too can become
known as a competent searcher for scientific information.