Course Objectives:

Students will gain a knowledge and understanding of the literature and terminology of science, medicine and technology. What to read in both science and medicine in order to keep up-to-date is discussed.

The class covers scientific communication, including preprints and the use of the Internet. Collection development in the sciences, medicine, and technology with an emphasis on serials is discussed. Both medicine and the fast growing field of alternative medicine are covered. The following abstracts and indexes are discussed in detail: BIOSIS Previews, Chemical Abstracts, Ei Compendex, EMBASE, Gale Group Trade & Industry Database INSPEC, MathSci, MEDLINE, and Science Citation Index. In addition, Wilson's General Science Index, Applied Science & Technology Index, and Biological & Agricultural Index are discussed. The patent literature, both U.S. and foreign, is covered. Fraud in both science and medicine is covered. Examples of the use of STN system for chemical, engineering and math questions are also given. How to provide for the information needs of sci-tech executives is discussed.

Concepts of the class are emphasized through problem sets that require manual and online searching, using DIALOG, and the Internet. These problem sets are drawn from ?real on-the-job? questions requiring the use of the regular DIALOG files, not the ONTAP learning ones.