Лако-красочные материалы — производство

Books are the mainstay of the researcher and educator. They contain the collected wisdom and knowledge of humankind. Somewhere, sometime, someplace there has been published a book on every topic known to man. Finding the book that has the vital piece of information needed is the key, of course. It is doubtful that any library will ever be complete enough, although there are some corporate libraries that do try.

Books range from the academic to the practical. Some are readily accessible to the average reader, some are not. Some are oriented to providing an overview of the entire technology, some concentrate on a minute portion thereof. And some books are simply the hardback version of conference proceedings, some are peer reviewed, some are not. There are no textbooks for adhesives and sealants technology (although some come close) simply because the technology is not taught at more than one or two institutions of higher learning (and then typically only a semester’s worth) across the entire United States.

Most technical books have a limited shelf life, with a limited production run made by the publisher. Review copies are typically sent to a number of journals and trade press for write-up and promotion. A few publishers keep extra copies of published technical books for a period of time, typically until the inventory runs low, at which time the rest of the books are sold at discount to mass marketers. Finding copies of older technical books is like finding the lost treasure of the Incas, and the rule is: Buy it when you find it.

Many older companies in the industry still have a decent library with a good collec­tion of older books, but some companies have eliminated libraries from their budgets (a very shortsighted practice), which puts more books into the used book stores. It is unlikely that the local or even big city library has any texts on adhesive or sealant technology— there just is not much demand for them and the money can be better spent elsewhere. A good source for determining if a desired book is still available is to go to the reference desk at the local library and request the location of Books in Print. It is a relatively compre­hensive review that uses information provided by individual publishers. Some universities and colleges maintain a decent library for their technical schools, and may carry a selec­tion of books on adhesive and sealant technology and related subjects, but since the topics are not usually taught, this is a questionable pursuit.

Appendix B provides a listing of a variety of books that are directly related to adhesives, sealants, their use and processing. By no means is this listing comprehensive, or considered a complete bibliography. It is very difficult to leave out any book that is related to adhesives and sealants, because each author has his/her point-of-view, his/her own organization of the subject matter, and differences in coverage of different topics. For the most part, books published by companies within the industry are excluded since many promote their products. So much has changed with the technology in the past 10-15 years that many books from the period prior to 1980 have been excluded, even though there may be some uniqueness about certain of these books. Many of those older books are referenced in more current publications. Each edition of books deemed important is listed, since many changes occur with an update, not always for the better.

One book in the listing should be available to every researcher for chemical information, even though its main subject is not directly about adhesives. In 1998, Wiley-Interscience published How to Find Chemical Information—A Guide for Practicing Chemists, Educators, and Students, third edition, by Robert E. Maizell. This book is a clear and lucid guide book for finding information of all types in the chemical industry, and contains numerous references. In addition, this book provides considerable detail on certain types of information tracking approaches and programs. Also covered well are sections on developing a search strategy and maintaining current awareness.