Building Personal Knowledge Management Systems for College and University Chemistry Librarians Using XML

Abstract

This article first offers two models typical of the working lives of many of today's college and university chemistry librarians: one of the expertise required by those in their field; the other of how incoming flows of new information help them update that professional knowledge. It then proposes that eXtensible markup language (XML) be used to construct a simple, flexible, and low-cost personal knowledge database of chemical information resources to assist them. The database-building process is then outlined in broad strokes to give the reader an idea of how the process might unfold for them. KEYWORDS chemistry librarians, chemical information sources, college and university librarianship, eXtensible markup language, personal knowledge management REQUIRED EXPERTISE AND THE KNOWLEDGE FLOW THAT UPDATES ITWhat is the indispensible characteristic of academic chemistry librarians who seek to deliver value-added services and stay relevant to the students and faculty on their campuses? It is the ability to retrieve almost instantaneously pertinent pieces of chemical information resources from their own knowledge and then confidently convey that expertise to library users throughThe author would like to thank Joanna Lee and Dr. Patricia Katopol from the University of Iowa for their help and suggestions on this project.