Office Hours in Merkert 124 – Every Thursday 11am - 12noon

Hello, if I have not already met you, I am the Chemistry Librarian at Boston College. While my office is located in O’Neill, I am often in Merkert – and always on Thursday mornings from 11am - 12noon for my weekly office hours in Room 124 (first Thursday of each month in Merkert 212, the Chemistry Reading Room, see below). I am also happy to meet with you at other times in Merkert. I’m here to help in any way that I can with your information needs, and I do that through:

• Reference Help: Contact me by phone or email, or when I’m just walking down the hall. I can help with such questions as:
  
• Finding property data
  
• Search tips for making the best use of SciFinder, Reaxys and the Cambridge Structure Database, amongst a host of other useful databases
  
• Problems with accessing materials that we have here at BC
  
• Locating resources not at Boston College
  
• Setting up literature alerts
• Library Instruction: I often provide library instruction for scheduled classes in Chemistry. These classes may provide broader overviews of various research tools, or they may be very specific sessions focused on a particular tool (SciFinder or Reaxys) or on finding a particular type of data (crystallographic data, for example) depending upon the needs of the class. I also provide sessions for research groups.
  
• Collection Development: I work closely with Professor Lawrence Scott, the Chemistry Department Library-Faculty Liaison, as well as the rest of the Department, to ensure that the library collections in O’Neill Library are serving the needs of the department. Please contact me if you have book or journal requests.

Since October 2009, important chemistry boooks selected by faculty have been relocated to the Chemistry Reading Room in Merkert 212. These materials are accessible to those with key privileges. Please contact Sally or Dale Mahoney (617-552-1735) if you have any questioms about this pilot project.

Here are a few links that you may find useful:

Research Guide for Chemistry
A guide to the most important chemical literature resources at Boston College

Online Databases for Chemistry
Here is where you’ll find information on how to access SciFinder Scholar and other databases important for Chemistry

The Boston College Libraries’ Homepage

Holmes
The Boston College Libraries' Online Discovery Tool

Electronic Journals at Boston College

Finally, a few general purpose databases that can be extremely useful:

Web of Science
Use this database for citation searching back to 1945

WorldCat
WorldCat will help you locate materials at other libraries, whether they are in the Boston Area, or wherever you happen to be attending your next conference or meeting

Dissertations and Theses
Access to full-text dissertations since 1997, and to citations and abstracts since 1861 (for North America; internationally since 1988)

U.S. Patent Office
Access to the full-text of U.S. patents