Chemical Information: A Career Alternative For Chemists

As computer networks, online databases, and various types of document delivery systems become more actively used by researchers, the need for knowledgeable and competent scientists to perform abstracting and indexing services will increase, according to the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS), based in Philadelphia. Abstracts are the concise, generally noncritical summaries at the beginning of documents. Indexes are lists of a document's contents organized by key words or phrases. A new book, Guide to Careers in Abstracting and Indexing (Philadelphia, NFAIS, 1992), points out: "In the 1990s, A&I [abstracting and indexing] services have become big business. Technology has revolutionized the basic A&I services, and a growing population of computer-savvy users poses new challenges." Even with computer databases that provide full-text documents, NFAIS executive director Ann Marie Cunningham predicts that the need for services that facilitate speedy data searches, such as those provided by the Institute for Scientific ...