I’ve decided that I’m going to let my subscription to Journal of Organic Chemistry lapse. It’s getting too expensive and they’re accumulating in my house at an alarming rate. The spouse unit is beginning to dig in her heels. My kid thinks it’s normal to have chemistry journals and molecular models all over the house.
Instead, I’ve subscribed to Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries. Much of my time is taken up with process safety and reactive hazards these days, so I may as well accept the transition. I’ll probably subscribe to OPR&D as well. It feels strange, though. I’ve had a JOC subscription since my junior year in college in ’82/’83. Carrying around stacks of journals is like carrying around blocks of wood. And, after a while the collection gets a little … odd.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
I lost JOC after about three years where I work, as well as OL. I can read them on a library list at work, and they aren’t worth what they cost to me. (I think OL costs almost as much as JACS – about $600/yr, and JOC is OK but has a lot of gick to filter.) I also never had any idea how to file and organize what I wanted to keep if not everything.
I like the remnants of Heart Cuts in OPRD – the patent comments are pretty ascerbic and amusing to me, particularly since they’re what I’d like to say sometimes.
I’d rather munchkin learn to play with mol models and JOC than the TV. At least we have lots of chemistry books.
You should let your ACS membership go as well. They’ve done nothing for chemists. We’ve been outsourced, insourced, tarred, feathered and dragged down the street behind a global pick up truck while the ACS executives yahooooo! and party on in its padded leather interior. It would be interesting to see a post one day on your analysis of the organization. Do you think their executives deserve their million dollar salaries? They say they speak for all chemists.
Showing an ACS card is like attending an interview wearing a slave collar – if the ring is polystyrene. It’s a joke.
Here is a related but different note:
Outgoing pres, Bruce Bursten noted the obvious one time saying he, like many of his peers originally came to acs as a student, joining to get cheap access to acs journals that was offered to students. He was caught hook, line and sinker.
Now, students have online access provided by the universities and no incentive to join acs.
One can sense here and in other blogs quite a disgruntled number of medium age members who feel their organization no longer represents them. What should ACS do?
With some members it is the fighting of open access that pisses them off.
With others it is an unwillingness to support the chemists vs. the businesses.
We are also plagued by salaries for administrators that are out of line with what is reasonable.
National meeting prices are out of sight – unless your organization pays for everything.
My own local experience shows most members are too apathetic to get involved. Its a problem.
Hey Gauss:
Before my last move (99) I took my JACS collection dating back to 1977 (but not the Accounts of Chem Research) and donated it for a tax deduction that was not insubstantial.
ACS used to have a program where you boxed up your journals and mailed them to a central storage and ACS shipped them to schools that needed the old journals.
It might be a good thing to do.
It might also be discontinued with online access.