| /jobseeker/articles/job_cheminf.html Chemical Information- Career Brief |
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. . . Is managing technical information Opportunities in chemical information include being a scientific librarian,
a technical information specialist, a market researcher or management
consultant, a technical publisher, a software developer, or a computer
programmer. Many people start their careers as document analysts or indexers
of periodical literature. Indexing often leads to working with this information
in other capacities including sales and marketing, management, programming,
and editorial development. Some indexers move into industry and become
technical information specialists. At chemical companies, they support
the research chemists by providing the background information necessary
to undertake new experiments. Outside of industry, a similar role is played
by scientific librarians who manage information for academic researchers. The educational requirement for document analysts or indexers is at least
a bachelor's degree, although a master's or Ph.D. degree may be required
to work in more specialized areas. Some areas of chemical information
place greater value on other skills and training. For example, getting
a master's degree in library science (an M.L.S. degree) is required if
you want to be a science librarian. However, information specialists who
have a career in industry say that although their job functions are similar
to science librarians, a solid foundation in science is more important
in getting a job. Eric Vogelsburg, a chemical consultant at Kline &
Company, says that business courses might be useful to those not planning
to be career scientists. He applies his chemical training to the organization
of information as a consultant. Gerald G. Vander Stouw, research projects manager of Chemical Abstracts
Services, explains that in the 1960s and 1970s, chemical information specialists
were people who used the computers to search for information. With the
proliferation of personal computers in the 1980s, he says it became possible
for individuals to search databases themselves. Now, this information
is available on the Internet, so anyone with an account can have access
to technical data. "This availability changes the role of the information specialist," he asserts. "Information specialists used to be intermediaries; however, they are now becoming expert resources. There is a real need for people with expertise in the use of databases and in chemical research techniques." . . . Is working with people . . . Is a career outside the lab "What you need to know is where your interest in chemistry fits into the overall picture," says Vogelsberg. "I always liked the theory of chemistry more than the practice of it." This statement is not uncommon for people who have made their careers in chemical information. They love the discipline of chemistry, but choose to apply it to careers outside the lab. A career in the field of chemical information enables them to keep this interest central to their work. Copyright 1994, 1997 American Chemical Society Sandra Augustine, Document Analysis and Indexing
Manager The abstracts are generally a summary of the article's content, including
key words that help to cross-reference subject matter. Abstracts briefly
describe the concepts and compounds discussed in an article. All the indexers who work with Augustine have at least a B.S. degree
in chemistry. "This training is vital for us to synthesize what is
important and what information is new. We do not make judgments on the
quality of the material, but we emphasize novel concepts and compounds
and try to present them in a form that is lucid and to the point." Augustine says her work is becoming increasingly integrated with computer technology. CAS and Beilstein are the computerized databases most widely used by chemists. There are other important abstracts services for related disciplines, such as BIOSIS, a service for biological information, and MedLine, for medical information. Bruce Slutsky, Library Science: Collection Management In many ways, the scientific librarian's job is to manage specialized
information-a lot of specialized information. When a library patron is
looking for a piece of information, Slutsky must know whether the information
will be found in a textbook, a general reference source, a specialized
reference source, or a journal paper, and whether it is accessible as
hard copy or as computerized information. Aside from managing the library's collection, Slutsky maintains and develops
the collection. Because the volume and cost of scientific literature is
increasing all the time, he must be selective about what materials will
best serve the users of his library. Patricia O'Neill, Library Science: Scientific
Research Support But O'Neill's career has not taken her far from the lab after all. "At
a big research institution like Cornell, librarians can be very involved
in research projects by making critical information accessible,"
she says. Chemists come to her for the information they need to plan an
experiment or long-term research project. This includes current periodical
literature, patents, and information stored on computer databases. Her
job is to help them sift through the vast quantities of material available
to find the one piece of information they need. "I use my chemistry training daily," she says. "When I
talk to chemists, I may not need to know how to name a compound, but I
need to be familiar enough with the nomenclature to ask them the right
questions and get a sense of what they want to find out." O'Neill comments that she is usually involved in scientific research
at the beginning of a project and, again, at its final stages. "But,"
she adds, "I do not have to do all the repetitious laboratory work
in the middle." In the past, pharmaceutical chemists would screen thousands of compounds
in the lab to see if they would be useful for the development of a certain
drug. Today, they can do this same kind of screening at their computer
terminals with computational chemistry software. One such process is called
similarity searching; it allows the scientist to input a chemical structure
and screen the database for other molecules that are likely to have similar
efficacy. Fisanick explains that similarity search software works in a variety
of ways. "You can screen for molecules of a similar size and shape
or for molecules with a complementary shape." He notes that these
are useful in ligand and receptor interactions where the drug is targeted
to interact with a certain molecule in a lock and key fashion. The software
can also be used locate substances with similar structural or molecular
property characteristics. The advantage of similarity screening is that
it can provide new leads. The problem-solving aspect of developing this software is what Fisanick
likes most about his job. "I'm not involved in drug design, per se,
but I know that some of the techniques we are developing will be useful
to drug designers and other scientists in the future." David Saari, Technical Information Services Saari's primary function is to conduct the preliminary research needed
to plan an experiment or new project. To do this, he will perform an information
search in periodicals and on-line databases. Saari then helps the research
chemists make decisions on how to proceed with their job. "If you
have an information scientist who is responsible for the preliminary research,
you maximize the efficiency of everyone's work," he says. An in-house
technical information center can save a company a lot of money compared
with paying a consultant to do this kind of research. Another part of Saari's job is to keep up to date with patent literature
in the areas where American Cyanamid has a business interest. "We
do not want to spend research money on things for which we cannot obtain
a patent. It is my responsibility to be the eyes and ears of the organization
when it comes to what is in the patent literature." It takes special
skills and a trained eye to do this. "Looking for patent information
that might be relevant to our business can be like looking for a hole
by describing the donut. What you want to find is an absence of information." "As much as I love chemical theory, I was not enamored with the
practice of chemistry," she says. After getting a master's degree
in organic chemistry, she became a chemical indexer and moved into a management
position for database publishing. Her story is a good example of the numerous
opportunities in chemical information that begin with indexing. ISI is a secondary information publisher that gets its information from
scientific journals and creates databases of bibliographic information.
Opportunities at her company include the translation of foreign journal
articles, product development of new software, sales and marketing of
the company's products, and editorial development to identify other areas
of scientific information that could be included in the database. Lawler travels approximately 25% of the year, often overseas to meet with foreign publishers. She went back to school to get an M.B.A., which she believes has been pivotal in her ability to advance in her career. "If you are not going to work in a lab but will work in another area of the chemical industry, I would advise you to pursue an M.B.A.," she says. "There are more career opportunities with a science degree and an M.B.A."
Eric Vogelsberg, Market Research and Management
Consulting Vogelsberg explains that Kline's clients are usually companies seeking
advice on developing business strategies. "They often want to know
if they should continue to invest in a business, maintain their investment,
or decrease their investment with an eye to potentially pulling out of
the business." As a consultant, it is Vogelsberg's job to help his
clients make this decision. Vogelsberg conducts in-depth market analysis to determine the business
climate for the company's products. For example, Vogelsberg identifies
whether the market is growing or shrinking. He evaluates the environmental
regulations that may affect the manufacture of the product, and he determines
what the company's competitors are doing. Depending on what the client
has requested, Vogelsberg will present this information to the client
or he will prepare a business strategy for the company." To enjoy this kind of work, you have to be interdisciplinary; you cannot
have tunnel vision. "Management consulting," he says, "requires
good communication skills, the ability to organize information and draw
conclusions, a fair degree of technical knowledge, and an ability to see
the information you gather in a broad perspective. It is a service business,"
he adds, "and thus there is a high level of responsibility to handle
the stress of performing all these tasks to the satisfaction of the client." WORKING CONDITIONS PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOB OUTLOOK
FOR MORE INFORMATION Special Libraries Association (Chemical Division) WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW American Chemical Society, Education Division, 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036; (202) 452-2113.
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