ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


482 /  C & R L N ew s

Letter

Humor and creativity: Chemists

To th e  E ditor:
N orm an D . Stevens asks in  his article, “H u m o r 

an d  C reativity: M usic,” C & R L  N ew s, April 1989, 
p p .274-76: “W hoever h e ard  of a funny chem ist or 
ch em istry  lib r a r ia n ? ” F u lly  re a liz in g  t h a t  M r. 
Stevens is unconsciously (?) needling us to  praise by 
first him self debunking th e species (does he h ave a 
g ran t from  th e  A m erican C hem ical Society for free 
publicity?), I fall victim  to his lure. H aving been 
m arried  to a funny chem ist for m ore th a n  33 years, 
an d  closely associated w ith  his d e p artm en tal col­
leagues for alm ost as long, I can u n equivocally 
state th a t chemists have as good an d  as b a d  a sense 
of hu m o r as any other group and are p ro b ab ly  far 
guiltier of p u n n in g  th a n  most. My experience w ith  
chem istry lib rarian s is nil, b u t science lib rarian s— 
tem p ered  perhaps by th e  lightheartedness of phys­
ics, biology an d  geology—have vied successfully 
w ith  th e ir fellow O berlin lib rarian s in puckishness, 
friv o lity  a n d  sly h u m o r .— D in a  S c h o o n m a ke r, 
H e a d , S p e c ia l C o lle c tio n s  a n d  P r e s e r v a tio n , 
O berlin College, Ohio.

N o rm a n  Stevens responds:
Anecdotal evidence, such as th a t cited by Mrs.

Schoonm aker, fails to  disprove m y original conten­
tion about th e unfunniness of chemists an d  chemis­
try  librarians. As associate editor for inform ational 
science of th e Journal o f Irreproducible Results, 
an d  a regular reader of th a t infam ous jo u rn al, I am 
w ell a w are  of w h a t passes for h u m o r am ong chem ­
ists even as I note th a t m y fellow associate editors 
include those w ith  specific responsibility for bio­
chem istry (1) and chem istry (2). Some of it I enjoy 
b u t m uch of it, like m uch of chem istry, is over m y 
head. As for chem istry librarians I suspect th a t they 
are so busy keeping th e  chemists h ap p y , especially 
by protecting th eir d e p artm en tal libraries from  th e 
th re a t of centralization, th a t they have little tim e 
for creativity and hum or. So far, a t least, no chem ­
istry lib rarian , and indeed no science lib rarian  of 
any kind, has responded to  m y challenge to subm it 
examples th a t dem onstrate th a t they too are h u ­
m an. Perhaps Mrs. Schoonm aker, an d  others, will 
send along ap p ro p riate examples of “puckishness, 
frivolity and sly h u m o r. ” If th ey  do, I ’ll be h ap p y  to 
apologize in a fu tu re com m entary and com pilation 
o f w h a t does e x ist.—N o rm a n  D . S teven s, 143 
H anks Road, Storrs, C T  06268. ■ ■

INNOVATIONS

Using Innovacq to create a subject guide 
to periodical indexes

B y M argaret S. F er g u so n

Reference Librarian 
San Jose State University

a n d  C hristina A . B r u n d a g e

Reference Librarian 
San Jose State University

T he San Jose State U niversity (SJSU) reference 
desk is very busy and students often w a it in line to 
get service. SJSU has one m ain  lib rary  w hich serves 
all students an d  faculty, an d  librarians m ust assist 
w ith  all types of questions, from  business to  music. 
W hy n o t provide students w ith  a tool such as a sub­
ject guide to periodical indexes, w ith  w hich they

could help themselves? T h e guide w ould b e of as­
sistance also to librarians w ho m ig h t n o t be fam il­
ia r w ith  all available indexes an d  to patrons w ho 
w a n t to do an exhaustive search of th e  periodical 
lite ra tu re  in a field. In  order to  m eet these needs, 
w e created th e Subject G uide to Periodical Indexes 
(SGPI).