# Presentation: 312233

## Biofuels:  From An Information Perspective

***Kathleen Vazoulas Sands***
***USDA’s National Agricultural Library***

## Objectives

*Status of Information*
*How to Find Information*
*Solving Information Overload*

## Biofuels

*Interest in biofuels is sweeping not only the nation, but the world as well*
*Relieve our dependence on petroleum oil *
*Environment issues*
*help slow global climate change*
*reduce emissions*

## Communication and Information Flow

*Characteristics at the present time*
*Information coordination is poor*
*Wealth of information available *
*Not being shared in an organized manner*
*Difficulty navigating*

## Multidisciplinary Nature

*Diversity of scientific disciplines involved*
*Sciences*
*Chemistry*
*Physics*
*Agriculture*
*Biology*
*Environmental Science*
*Economics*

## Diversity of People

*Scientists*
*Farmers/Agricultural Producers*
*Government*
*Public*
*Private Companies*
*Other key stakeholders*

## Factors Influencing Information

- More literature and discussion
- Expanding organizations and companies
- Policy push
- Advancing technology

- New processes to learn
- Impacting research projects and policy
- Competition for best technology among organizations

- More literature and discussion
- Grants for research and technology
- Increase use of technology

## Information Resources

*Where people are looking for information*
*Databases *
*ABI Inform - **4,685*
*Academic Search Premier*
*AGRICOLA **(Agricultural Online Access) - **2,030*
*AGRIS - **4,081*
*Applied Science Technology*
*CAB Abstracts **- **3,206** *
*Chemical Abstract Service/SciFinder Scholar*
*Chemical Business Newsbase - 5,726*
*Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology Abstracts - 1,320*
*Current Contents - **5,710*
*EI Compendex - **7,175*
*Fuel and Energy Abstracts*
*Lexis Nexis*
*Science Citation Index/SciSearch - 5,119*
*Science Direct*
*Scopus - **134,277*
*Web of Science*

**Note:**  Numbers represent the approximate number of records on biofuels in each database at the current time

## Information Resources

*Where people are looking for information*
*Databases*
*AGRICOLA*
*Books*
*Journals*
*Articles*
*Conference Proceedings*
*Experiment Station Publications*
*Extension Service Publications*
*Theses*

## Search AGRICOLA 	http://agricola.nal.usda.gov

- Search AGRICOLA 	_[http://agricola.nal.usda.gov](http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/)_

## Information Resources

*Where people are looking for information*
*Science-based journals*
*Biodiesel Magazine*
*Energy Policy*
*Biomass and Bioenergy*
*Journal of Biobased Material and Bioenergy *
*Chemical and Engineering News*
*Science (AAAS)*
*Agricultural Research*

## Information Resources

*Where people are looking for information*
*Newspapers*
*Local*
*Star Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities*
*Great Falls Tribune*
*National*
*Washington Post*
*New York Times*

## Information Resources

*Where people are looking for information*
*Conferences*
*American Chemical Society*
*National Ethanol Conference*
*Biofuels America Conference and Expo*
*World Biofuels Markets Congress and Exhibition*
*National Biodiesel Conference*
*World Renewable Energy Conference and Expo*
*World Refining and Fuels Conference*
*Biomass and Biorefinery Deals*
*Biodiesel Finance and Investment Summit*

## Information Resources

*Where people are looking for information*
*Internet Resources*
_*[National Biodiesel Board](http://www.biodiesel.org/)*_
_*[DOE-Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy](http://www.eere.energy.gov/)*_
_*[Biodiesel Blog + News](http://biodieselblog.com/)*_
_*[Biodiesel America . Org](http://www.biodieselamerica.org/)*_
_*[USDA’s NAL Technology Transfer Information Center](http://ttic.nal.usda.gov/)*_
_*[DOE- Information on Biofuels Policy and Legislation](http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/legislation.shtml)*_
_*[LOC-Thomas Database](http://thomas.loc.gov/)*_
_*[Nasdaq](http://www.nasdaq.com/)*_
_*[US Patent Database](http://www.uspto.gov/patft/)*_
_*[AgNIC](http://www.agnic.org/)*_
_*[Land Grant System](http://www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/partners/state_partners.html)*_

## Where people are looking for information
Gray Literature/Invisible Web
USDA – CRIS (Current Research Information System)
DOE-Biomass Document Database
Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group-Chapter Six
Bioenergy Feedstock Information Network
Directory of Open Access Journals
DOE – Information Bridge
National Technical Information Service
OSTI – Energy Citation Database
GrayLIT Network

*Gray Literature/Invisible Web*
_*[USDA – CRIS (Current Research Information System)](http://cris.csrees.usda.gov/)*_
_*[DOE-Biomass Document Database](http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/document_database.html)*_
_*[Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group-Chapter Six](http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/Chapter6.pdf)*_
_*[Bioenergy Feedstock Information Network](http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/main.aspx)*_
_*[Directory of Open Access Journals](http://www.doaj.org/)*_
_*[DOE – Information Bridge](http://www.osti.gov/bridge/)*_
_*[National Technical Information Service](http://www.ntis.gov/about/overview.asp?loc=6-1-0)*_
_*[OSTI – Energy Citation Database](http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/)*_
_*[GrayLIT Network](http://www.osti.gov/graylit/)*_

- Information Resources

## Information Resources

*Searching difficulties*
*Terms in literature vary *
*topic’s multidisciplinary nature *
*resource’s focus within topic *
*vocabulary used in the text*
*Terms are used interchangeably, sometimes causing confusion*

## Information Resources

*biofuel(s)*
*bioenergy*
*renewable energy*
*sustainable energy*
*ethanol*
*biomass*

* **biodiesel*
* **cellulosic*
* **(bio)butanol*
* **gasohol*
* **fuel alcohol(s)*
* **feedstock(s)*

*Searching Tips*
*Try searching multiple times with different words*
*Try searching terms such as:*

*Contact the experts at NAL, DOE, DOT, DOC, DOI, or EPA*
- _[www.usa.gov](http://www.usa.gov/)_

## Information Resources

*How people are obtaining information*
*Library reference services*
*literature searches*
*relevant resources*
*legal/standards information*
*publications in print or online*
*customized help *
*obtain these services through a variety of media*

## Information Resources

*How people are using information*
*Research projects*
*Start companies*
*Acquire grants*
*Teach others*
*Write policy*
*Prepare conference talks*

## Current State

## Future

## Coordinated Information System

*This system would create and provide:*
*A central source*
*Organization*
*Coordination*
*Easily accessible resources*
*Full text *
*Specialized bibliography of resources*
*Subject specific information products *

## National Agricultural Libraryhttp://www.nal.usda.gov/ttic

- National Agricultural Library_[http://www.nal.usda.gov/ttic](http://www.nal.usda.gov/ttic)_

- _[www.nal.usda.gov](http://www.nal.usda.gov/)_

## National Agricultural Librarywww.nal.usda.gov

- National Agricultural Librarywww.nal.usda.gov

*Web site links*
*Information Centers*
*Online and in-print journals*
*Reference services*
*USDA research projects*
*DigiTop on-site*
*Thesauri (*_*[AGRICOLA](http://agclass.nal.usda.gov/agt/agt.shtml)*__* and CABI)*_

## USDAwww.usda.gov

- USDAwww.usda.gov

*USDA Research, Education, and Economics*
_*[Agricultural Research Service](http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm)*_
_*[Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service](http://www.csrees.usda.gov/)*_
_*[National Agricultural Statistics Service](http://www.nass.usda.gov/)*_
_*[Economic Research Service](http://www.ers.usda.gov/)*_

## Conclusions	

- Conclusions

*Organize and share information immediately*
*Partner to enhance information availability*
*Connect researchers and their information to each other, and to other interested parties*
*Develop a national coordinated information system for biofuels*
***The National Agricultural Library is continuing to look at ways in which this can be done!***

## Thank you!

*Please visit the Web site below to view this presentation after the conference:*
*http://www.nal.usda.gov/downloads/Chicago *
*Kathleen Vazoulas Sands*
_*[AgRef@nal.usda.gov](mailto:AgRef@nal.usda.gov)*_
*(301) 504-5755*