The title is a variation of the motto on the coat of arms of the state of Michigan: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice. Looking about the Journal of Chemical Education is perhaps more complicated than seeking and viewing a pleasant peninsula, but it can be equally rewarding. Because this issue marks the beginning of the JCE’s 85th year, it seems appropriate to provide some clues about where to look.

Let’s start with the printed copy that arrives by mail each month. You will find a new look in the table of contents, which now has a two-column format and a fourth page that emphasizes our copious offerings on the World Wide Web. You will also find that we have renamed the last section of the issue “On the Web” recognizing that information, media, and resources described there are now almost invariably Web-based. Beginning with this issue, Featured Molecules will always be found on the last page. If you are a fan of this collection of 3-D, interactive molecular models with links to JCE articles, you can just open the back cover to see what is new. This month there are 20 new structures, bringing the total to 401. Because essentially every article now has supporting material of some kind in JCE Online, we have removed from articles and the table of contents the familiar W that indicated an online supplement. At the end of each article you will find a list of the online supporting materials, and within the article you will be directed to supporting materials whenever appropriate.

Since 1996, when I became editor, we have gone from essentially no online material to publishing far more online than we do in print. Every article from 1924 through this issue is available in JCE Online as a PDF file for all subscribers. If you want to find anything the JCE has ever published, you can go online, search the JCE Index or browse by year, month, and page number, and navigate to the article. If your school or spouse has run out of space and you don’t have access to printed back issues, don’t worry. The JCE is providing every subscriber with access to everything. See p 25 for details.

Earlier this year, in a workshop, I learned that even long-time subscribers who read the print Journal may not have explored the JCE’s much more extensive online offerings. Here is a brief Baedeker to things you will find in the Only@JCE Online section of the Web site. JCE High School CLIC is the first place for high school teachers to visit. Looking for a classroom activity? You will find all we have ever published in CLIC. Biographical Snapshots of Famous Women and Minority Chemists summarize lives and careers that are likely to inspire and provide role models for many students. Looking for textbooks, software, or models? The ChemEd Resource Shelf is the place to go. Revising your laboratory program? Consult the Project Chemlab data base where every JCE experiment published since the mid 1950s has been categorized and annotated to help you find what you want. There are even “Web-Ed” articles that have features (such as animations or interactive spreadsheets) that can only be delivered via the Web. Check out the visualization of an electronic transition from a 2p to a 1s hydrogen-atom orbital in “How a Photon is Created or Absorbed”. (The graphic shows the midpoint of the transition.) There are also reviewed Web sites, discussion forums on chemical demonstrations, the periodic table, and other topics, and the JCE Online Store. Try them out!

An important feature of JCE Online and the ChemEd Digital Library debuts this month: a new version of an old favorite, Periodic Table Live! This interactive periodic table is now freely available to everyone. See p 22 to learn more about it. Speaking of the ChemEd Digital Library, its Web page is also brand new this month and is described on p 23. ChemEd DL’s “What’s This?” feature gives direct access to some Chemistry Comes Alive! videos. ChemEd DL supports communities that are creating Web-based instructional materials for high school, general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry and other areas. ChemEd DL also includes a wiki where you can contribute information and help us keep Periodic Table Live! up-to-date and accurate. (Scroll down to Periodic Table Live! to find the specific part of the wiki devoted to that program.) Some of these features will also be used to incorporate social networking into the Division of Chemical Education Web site, thereby increasing interactions among members of the division.

I hope it is clear that this Journal is providing its subscribers and the chemical education community with incredible value and resources. None of this would be possible without the highly skilled and dedicated staff of the JCE, about whom my first editorial, in 1996, said, “There is currently a level of talent, excitement, camaraderie, enthusiasm, and diligence that I am certain will serve the Journal well for a long time.” That has turned out to be an understatement. After more than a decade the staff continues to amaze me with their creativity and hard work. The Information Page lists them all, but I would like to call attention here to the three associate editors: Jon Holmes, Betty Moore, and Mary Saecker, who organize all of our efforts, including those involving the ChemEd Digital Library. Kudos to all!

JCE DLib Named “Best of the Web