It is especially critical for new chemistry professionals to able to effectively and efficiently locate the literature and information needed to perform research. The ACS guidelines for undergraduate education from the Committee on Professional Training detail information literacy competencies but it is unlikely that an incoming graduate class will have the same familiarity with the chemical literature and application in a research setting. While students are generally highly astute at navigating operating systems, multiple devices and the social network playgrounds of the day, their understanding of underlying chemical information and cheminformatics principles may be less well developed. Relevant skills range from understanding of scholarly communication issues and information and data management through basic information retrieval and searching. To support preparation of students for informed action in a digital economy, members of the Division of Chemical Information (CINF) are engaging in a variety of outreach activities, including development of competency guidelines, a repository of chemical information teaching materials (XCITR, http://www.xcitr.org) and other resources. We believe that improvements can be attained by coordinating such efforts across institutions and divisions within ACS and will discuss opportunities for input and collaboration.

Increasing importance of chemical information literacy in the life of graduate students: Contributions from the ACS Division of Chemical Information (CINF)

248th National Meeting (2014)

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