Grace Baysinger is the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Librarian at the Robin Li and Melissa Ma Science Library at Stanford University and one of the Co-Editors of the new, digital-first ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. What is your area of research? As a Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Librarian at a major research university, my areas of responsibility include […]
What is your area of research?
As a Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Librarian at a major research university, my areas of responsibility include building and managing collections; providing reference, instruction, and consultation to current students, postdocs, faculty, and staff; and supporting technical projects such as federated search services. Understanding how scholarly publishing ecosystems and discovery search services work has helped me ensure that resources and services meet our users’ needs.
What was your reason for working on the new ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication?
The ACS Style Guide is a classic resource used by many scientific disciplines. Because librarians help support a wide range of information needs, they have a unique perspective about content that might be included in the new ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. Participating in this project offered an opportunity to provide a meaningful contribution to users and librarians.
What are you most excited about with the new ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication?
Because the 3rd edition of the ACS Style Guide was published over a decade ago, there was an opportunity to both update and to envision what new content was needed. For example, content includes new chapters about chemical safety information needed in publications, discovering and promoting discovery, and open access and open science. The chapter on references is format-blind, focusing on the types of resources. In addition to the content, the opportunity to provide input about the online interface is interesting and fun.
Why is the new ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication so important to your line of work?
The information in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication will be helpful to students writing term papers, graduate students learning about scholarly publishing and communication, and seasoned professionals who are working in a rapidly evolving information environment. It will also be useful to educators as well as to authors where English is a second language. While I work in academia, the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication will be useful to authors in all sectors of the chemical enterprise.
What one piece of advice would you give for young chemists?
Take time to learn the “landscape” of scholarly communication and scholarly publication so that you are able to make informed choices about publishing, promoting, sharing, and reusing your research. Reading the ACSGuide to Scholarly Communication is an excellent way to help you ramp up quickly.
Why would someone in your industry (corporate, library, education, academic research) benefit from the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication?
The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication will help users use their time effectively and efficiently. Consulting guidelines, information, and tips will help ensure manuscripts need minimal revision. Because the content will be updated twice a year, it will strive to keep pace with evolving needs.