Scientific Advisory Bozrd
Chemical Information System

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Summary of Meeting - April 24, 1980

The following members attended the first meeting of the CIS Scientific
Advisory Board: E. L. Eliel, R. F. Finnigeén, J. G. Grasselli,

D. T. Hawkins, G. A. Jeffrey, and R. E. Maizell. R. E. Dessy and

J. Lederberg have agreed to serve on the Board but were unable to
attend the first meeting. The meeting, which was held at the

National Bureau of Standards, was also attended by G. W. A. Milne
(NIH), E. D. Becker (NIH), S. R. Heller (EPA), D. R. Lide (NBS), and
L. H. Gevantman (NBS).

The current status of the CIS was reviewed by G. W. A. Milne. Usage
of the CIS is growing rapidly; the number of subscribing organizations
has increased at a rate of about 14 per month over the last year, and
the number of on-line sessions has reached 2,400 per month. Nine

data bases are now operational, two are unser test, and eight more

are under development.

D. R. Lide explained that the driving force behind the development of
the CIS has come from government agencies which require an effective
on-line dissemination channel to serve their own laboratories, their
contractors and grantees, and the industries that they regulate. On
the other hand, much of the information in the CIS is also of interest
to a broader segment of the scientific pubiic. There is already
significant use by the academic sector and by private industry. As
other data bases are added, the utility of the CIS to the scientific
and technical community is expected to grow. Broader usage of the
CIS is desirable, in order to spread the f2xed operational costs over
a larger number of users and to show greater public benefits from the
Government investment. ,

The Scientific Advisory Board has been established to bring a broader
perspective to the planning and evaluation of the CIS. It is hoped
that the Board will provide a sounding board for the CIS managers in
regard to all technical aspects of the system. The precise mode of
operation of the Board will be developed through mutual interactions.
However, the types of questions on which the Board's advice will be
sought include:

(1) Questions regarding improvements in the utility and con-
venience of the CIS and in the quality of its present data
bases.

(2) Suggestions for addition of new Gata bases of interest to
the scientific community.

(3) Advice on means of bringing in a Larger base of users from
the academic and industrial sectors.
There was a consensus that the Scientific Zavisory Board should meet
with the CIS Steering Committee (which comrrises representatives of
the government agencies supporting the CIS) once a yéar. In addition,
it would be useful for the Board to meet orn other occasions when
travel costs can be minimized, e.g., at appropriate scientific
meetings and conferences. Efforts will be made to schedule such a
meeting in the fall of 1980.

Following its own meeting, the Scientific Advisory Board joined the
CIS Steering Committee Meeting. Members of the Board made very use-
ful input to the discussion of questions before the Steering Committee,
in particular, the proposal to eliminate the subscription fee for
educational institutions. There was also a discussion of the overall
design philosophy of the CIS (i.e., should the CIS continue as a
collection of linked search systems or should it be converted into

a Single multipurpose system) and a general discussion of new data
bases which might be added to the CIS. Detzeils of these discussions
are given in the Minutes of the Steering Committee.