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Lorrin Garson receives Herman Skolnik award at ACS Fall National Meeting

Lorrin, trained as an organic chemist, has worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist (Riker Laboratories, a division of 3M Corporation), was on the faculty of the University of Tennessee from 1967 to 1974 in the College of Pharmacy, and joined the staff of the American Chemical Society in the Publications Division in 1974 as a Senior Research Associate in the Research & Development Department. In 1984 he became the Head of the Advanced Technology Department, in 1995 Chief Technology Officer for the Publications Division, in 1998 Director, Information Technology/Publications, and in 2002 Chief Research Scientist. For the past 30+ years he has been involved with the development of methods to acquire and disseminate chemical information electronically including database development, traditional online systems, optical media, World Wide Web, etc. He led the technical development for creating the ACS Journals on the Web (1997) as well as the ACS Journal Archives (2002) in which all ACS journals starting in 1879 were made available. He holds a B.A. in chemistry from the University of California at Riverside, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Maine. He retired from the ACS in January 2004.

LW: How did you feel about being awarded the Herman Skolnik award? You are among a prestigious group of individuals.

LG: I was really surprised and know many of the past awardees like Gene Garfield, Fred Tate, Ben Weil, Bill Wiswesser, Russ Rowlett, Dale Baker, Gary Wiggins, Stu Kaback, Steve Heller, Bill Milne, and Frank Allen. I certainly don't see myself in their league.

LW: Describe your tenure at the ACS and the first ACS peer-review system?

LG: I came to the ACS in 1974, then in 1978, John Tom Keys joined the ACS staff to work on this project with me. The first peer-review computer system was deployed in 1979. At that time, we chose the journal Biochemistry as the first journal because the Editor and all Associate Editors were in one location. Telecommunications were very expensive and primitive at that time so having all the editors in one place simplified things. Hans Neurath, who was the Editor, and his colleagues were very helpful in defining system requirements and extraordinarily patient during the initial deployment. Prior to 1979 many journal editorial offices used 3X5 cards for managing editorial operations; cards for submitted manuscripts and cards for reviewers. Boxes and boxes of cards everywhere!

LW: How was it being part of the launch of the ACS Web editions?

LG: Very rewarding. When I joined the ACS staff in 1974, I expected the journals would be delivered electronically within five years. Was I naïve? When we did launch the 26 journals at the ACS meeting in Las Vegas in September 1997, there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony with numerous smiling dignitaries. I think Joan Shields was the Chair of the ACS Board of Directors at that time. The previous day we had had serious computer problems and I know it was “dicey” whether we would have a live demonstration. At the time my palms were sweaty because I knew all was not well, but I didn't say anything to anyone about these difficulties and fortunately all went well. Sometimes it's best to hide your concerns with a silly grin.

LW: What are the burning issues that publishers face today?

LG: I assume you are referring to STM publishers. Coping with continuously rapid change is a significant challenge. Established publishers are likely to face new competitors that can more rapidly adapt new technologies and business models. Conservative publishers are particularly vulnerable. Commercial publishers, who publish about 95% of the world's primary chemical information, could potentially see revenues eroded in which case they would cease publishing money-losing journals. Should that happen there would likely be significant pressure on the ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry to publish an increasing portion of the chemical literature. The scientific literature continues to increase somewhere between 5-10% a year, depending on the scientific discipline, which in itself puts pressure on publishers, editors, reviewers, libraries—all parties in the scientific enterprise.

LW: What are you doing now that you've retired from the ACS?

LG: With Anne Coghill, I'm co-editing the ACS Style Guide which is currently in production. The new edition will hopefully be available sometime in the first half of 2006. There will also be a Web edition made available. Our three granddaughters (ages 10, 6 and 2) live just two miles from us so we're fortunate in being able to see them frequently. They are tremendous fun! Also my wife and I enjoy cruising a great deal and since I've retired we've taken cruises across the Pacific Ocean and around South America. We recently returned from a 35-day cruise to Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, the Shetland Islands, Norway, the Netherlands, England, Ireland, and the Faroe Islands. We enjoyed nice cool weather while you folks sweltered in a typical Washington, D.C. summer. Now that I have more time, I've returned to bicycle riding (riding 100-150 miles a week) and I've become a serious amateur photographer—but still a dilettante. I have a rocking chair, but haven't had time to sit in it yet.

Lorrin has presented at numerous conferences and meetings and is an established author. View a complete list of publications and presentations by Lorrin [198K PDF].

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