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

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Joanna Lee and Dr. Patricia Katopol from the University of Iowa for their help and suggestions on this project.

Notes