Teaching Chemical Literature, Databases, and Chemical Informatics 
 

Gary Wiggins

Director, Chemical Informatics Program

Indiana University School of Informatics 
 

3-22-2004 revised 
 

The 2003 CPT Guidelines document states that a well-prepared student should emerge from a program in Chemistry with (among other things) "experience with computers, including an ability to use word processors, spreadsheets, numerical and non-numerical algorithms, simulations and computation, data acquisition, and databases for information handling and retrieval."¹  Furthermore, the guidelines note that "Chemical computation of the properties of molecular and macromolecular systems has become a familiar and important part of Chemical laboratories, and such experiences may count toward the laboratory requirement for certified majors."²  It was in part to broaden the formal opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students to enhance their Chemical computation and other computer-based skills that Indiana University developed a series of Chemical informatics courses. 
 

Chemical informatics is the application of computer technology to Chemistry in all of its manifestations.  Cheminformatics techniques are heavily used in the pharmaceutical industry, but Chemical informatics is also being applied to problems across the full range of chemistry.  Indeed, the various codes for Chemical structures that let us both view and search Chemical structures via the computer were developed by Chemical informaticians.   
 

Undergraduate informatics majors at Indiana University must select a cognate area in which to apply the informatics skills they develop.  Courses were created both for the undergraduate chemistry cognate requirement for the BS in Informatics and for a specialized MS in Chemical Informatics program.  The BS in Informatics degree with a cognate in chemistry requires a chemistry minor that has two one-hour Chemical informatics courses.  Those are C371 Chemical Informatics I (basic concepts) and C372 Chemical Informatics II (molecular modeling).   
 

Students are also encouraged to take two related courses from the information science side of the curriculum, C471 Chemical Information Sources and Services (1 credit) and C472 Computer Sources for Chemical Information (1 credit).³   We tend to view the Material covered in C471 and C472 as specialized areas in the broader field of Chemical informatics.  Many of the topics in those courses are likely to be presented in any course that introduces undergraduates to the Chemical literature.  C472 delves into more complex searching in Chemical Abstracts, Beilstein and Gmelin, and the Cambridge Structural Database. 
 

The C471 course has long been the means by which the IU Department of Chemistry satisfies the CPT requirement for Chemical literature and database instruction.  Thus, it is taken by many undergraduate chemistry majors.  As seen in the CPT Guidelines section, "Chemical Literature and Information Retrieval," there are other ways of satisfying the requirement, including integration with existing courses.⁴ 
 

Students preparing for professional work in chemistry must learn how to retrieve specific information from the enormous and rapidly expanding Chemical literature. The complexity of this task is such that one can no longer easily acquire the necessary skills without some formal instruction.  An excellent means for doing so is with a specific course, which usually would not qualify for the advanced course requirement. Other means for imparting these skills involve coordinated instruction integrated into individual courses. Library and computer exercises should be included in such instruction. In departments requiring undergraduate research, instruction in information organization and retrieval may be a part of the introduction to research. It should be recognized that adequate presentation of the subject, including an understanding of the use of Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation Index, Current Contents, PubMed, and other compilations, will generally require formal instruction. It is essential that students gain experience with online, interactive database searching, which can include some of the compendia mentioned above.⁵ 
 

In recent years, the Web has had an incredible impact on students' perceptions of how best to find Chemical information.  For any question, the great majority of students at the beginning of the C471 course (typical enrollment: 60 students) want to "google" it.  At the end of the course, it is satisfying to read the positive comments from the great majority of students whose eyes have been opened to the wealth of Chemical information sources available beyond Google. 
 

How should an instructor who has been given the task of satisfying the CPT requirements in the Chemical information area proceed?  First, despite what is said above, don't ignore the Web.  There are many reliable sources out there that can be accessed for free.  Even structure searching can be incorporated with a free tool such as NLM's ChemIDplus.⁶  If time is limited, concentrate on the computer-based material at the expense of the printed resources.  Purdue's University chemistry librarian, Bartow Culp, has put together a small list of free or cheap essential tools that every undergraduate student should be aware of.⁷