Franklin & Marshall College

MSD Sheets on the F&M AppleShare Network

The complete collection of Sigma/Aldrich Material Safety Data Sheets is available on the College's network: zone-Hackman, fileserver- MSDS Server, item-MSDS on CD-ROM. You can gain access to this information from any computer connected to the network. Detailed directions for connecting are given below.

How to Use the Network

1. Pull down the Apple menu at the upper left corner of your screen and select Chooser. That will open up a window that looks something like the one below. Any devices or services your Macintosh is set up to use will appear in the panel at the upper left.

2. In the upper left-hand corner of the Chooser window, find and click on the AppleShare icon.

3. In the lower right-hand corner of the window, check to make sure that the AppleTalk Active button is selected. Click on this button if it is not. Once you do that, you will see in the panel at the lower left the various "zones" on the F&M Network. Your zone will probably be selected. Scroll through the "zones" until you see Hackman zone. Select this zone by clicking on it once.

4. In the upper right-hand corner of the Chooser window will appear the names of all the servers in the zone you selected. Scroll to and select the server MSDS Server and click OK. A dialog box will appear giving you the option of connecting as a Guest or a Registered User. Click on the Guest button, then click OK.

5. Once on the server, you will be presented with another dialog box showing the various items available on that server. Click once to choose MSDS on CD-ROM and then click OK. Close the Chooser window. A fileserver icon will appear on the right side of your Macintosh Desktop.

Please do not click the box to open this item at system startup time. Opening server volumes when they are not needed results in unnecessary traffic on the server and the network and causes everyone's service to deteriorate.

6. Double click on the fileserver icon to see the contents of MSDS on CD-ROM. Find and double click on the program alias MSDS_MAC._US to search the MSDS collection by chemical name, formula, catalog number, or CAS number.

(Go to the instructions for information about using this program.)

The network, program combination can be slow! Up to 20 seconds may elapse from when you double click on the program alias to when you are presented with an Accept screen. If the mouse pointer changes to a watch-face and starts "ticking" be patient. Clicking or typing during this time may only result in greater delays.

Tip: If you want to by-pass these first six steps the next time you need an MSDS, click once on MSDS_MAC._US, pull down the File menu, and select Make Alias. The next time you need an MSDS, double click on the alias to start the search program.

7. When you have quit the MSDS_MAC._US program you will discover two file-server icons on your desktop, MSDS on CD-ROM and SIGALDMSDS2. The second server is the CD-ROM drive where the MSDS collection resides. To disconnect from the fileservers, select both icons, pull down the File menu, and select Put Away.

Connecting as a Guest will allow you up to an hour of continuous use of the MSDS collection. If you have not finished looking up MSDSs, in all likelihood you probably will be able to log back on immediately. If you feel you need a longer period of continuos use please contact Dave Stutts, EH&S, x4153.

Go to Instructions for Using MSDS_MAC._US.