The USC Libraries is a system of 23 libraries on the University Park and the Health Sciences campuses. USC Libraries has several general research libraries and discipline specific libraries.
The Science and Engineering Library serves disciplines in life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. You should also be aware of several other related libraries. The Norris Medical Library, on the Health Sciences campus, will have materials geared toward medicine and science research with a medical emphasis. If you ever work on a project or assignment that has a legal issue, you may need to consult the Law Library, which is a separate library on the UPC campus.
If you have any questions, reach out to a librarian here
Assistance available during the hours listed below, with the exception of holidays:
Help via Chat: Monday–Thursday, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Friday 12:00 noon–4:00 p.m.
Help via Email: 7 days/week
Help in person: Monday–Friday, 12:00 noon–4:00 p.m.
Reference Desk in the Los Angeles Times Reading Room - 1st floor
Doheny Memorial Library
3550 Trousdale Pkwy
Los Angeles, CA 90089
(213) 740-4039
You will be exposed to several different resource types while studying Chemistry here at USC. The USC Libraries serves the role of providing access and instruction on these various resources.
Books: Various books on Chemistry are available in print and e-book format at USC Libraries. Use Libraries Search to find books in your topic of interest.
Chemical Dictionaries: In Chemistry, finding authoritative and reliable information is extremely important. If a boiling point is off by several degrees, this can cause real problems within the lab setting. Chemical dictionaries exist to provide authoritative and reliable chemical information. These resources provide basic information like boiling point, melting point, molecular formula, molecular weight, etc., but these dictionaries also provide chemical characteristics like color, odor, etc. and safety information like first aid.
Journals: A journal is usually a scientific "magazine" that focuses in a particular discipline or topic. Journals are the primary mode of scientific communication between researchers. There are thousands of journals in every topic, discipline, field, etc. Journal availability is listed as a range of years. For example, you may see 1940- or 1940-present; they both mean the same thing. Exceptions may indicate the journal is still currently being published or is embargoed.
Articles: An article is the individual research publication from a researcher or group of researchers that is published in a journal. Often you will be given an article citation. A citation provides the author, article title, journal title, volume, issue, year of publication, and page numbers. Citations can be formatted in one of a hundred different ways, but in Chemistry you will mostly see ACS (American Chemical Society) Style.