Gary D. Wiggins

Librarian Emeritus

BA, Indiana University, 1966.
MA, Indiana University, 1968.
MLS, Indiana University, 1971.
PhD, Indiana University, 1985.

E-mail: wiggins at indiana.edu

Mailing Address

2003 S. High Street
Bloomington, IN 47401 USA

Research and Creative Activities

I had a strong interest in the use of the Internet and the World-Wide Web by chemists and other scientists as both a complement to the formal system of publication and as a potential replacement for that system. As a consequence, I was interested in methods of coding chemical structures and data for presentation on the Web, XML and Chemical Mark-up Language (CML), and the associated efforts to apply metadata to chemical objects. I was a participant in the NIH-funded Chemical Informatics and Cyberinfrastructure Collaboratory project at IU, and in the Reciprocal Net, an NSF-funded project of the IU Molecular Structure Center that is part of the US National Science Digital Library program. Another area of interest was the scholarship of teaching and learning about scientific information sources, particularly in chemistry. In that regard, we maintained for many years at Indiana University a portal to chemistry Web sites, CHEMINFO, and a guide to Web sites of interest to chemists, Selected Internet Resources in Chemistry (SIRCh). In 2006/2007, I converted the SIRCh pages to Wiki format at: http://cheminfo.informatics.indiana.edu/cicc/cis/index.php/SIRCh:_Selected_Internet_Resources_for_Chemistry

Teaching and Administration

From 1976-2004, I taught a one-semester-hour course entitled "Chemical Information Sources and Services". In 2006, the lecture notes for that course were migrated to a Wiki format at: http://cheminfo.informatics.indiana.edu/cicc/cis/index.php/Main_Page.

In the fall of 2001, we began to teach both undergraduate and graduate programs in chemical informatics at Indiana University. On July 1, 2003, I assumed the position of Director of the Chemical Informatics Program in the School of Informatics where I helped develop the Graduate Certificate in Chemical Informatics Program, the MS in Chemical Informatics, and the Chemical Informatics track of the PhD in Informatics. On October 1, 2007, I retired from Indiana University.

Service

As liaison to the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), I advised many graduates of the joint SLIS/Department of Chemistry MLS/MIS Chemical Information Specialist Program over the years. In the past, I have had the privilege of chairing both the Special Libraries Association Chemistry Division and the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information (CINF). In 1998, CINF bestowed on me its highest honor, the Herman Skolnik Award, and in 2003, the CINF Meritorious Service Award. In 2007, I was selected to received the Patterson-Crane Award of the American Chemical Society's Columbus and Dayton Sections. That same year, the Special Libraries Association elected me to its Hall of Fame.

On a personal level, I am a musician of sorts (I play trombone). In 1978, I founded the Bloomington Community Band, an organization which is thriving today with nearly 70 members and a vibrant concert schedule. I also play in the HornBones, a group consisting of one horn and five trombones.

Curriculum Vitae
Internal Studies and Reports

Updated: 29 March 2008