CAS entered the electronic information age slowly. Before the 1980s online access to CAS databases went through commercial vendors. On November 1, 1980, CAS introduced CAS ONLINE^®, which provided access to about one-third of CAS' substance records. Gradually, other segments of the Registry were added as search capacity increased. Although initially limited, CAS ONLINE permitted bench chemists, as well as information experts, to identify substances by specified molecular structures, something difficult, if not impossible, to do with printed materials. Although searching has been augmented over the years and the display of CAS Registry records has improved, the most remarkable advantage researchers derive from CAS ONLINE remains the ability to perform structure-based searching of the CAS database.

In 1983 CAS introduced CA File, which enabled subscribers to retrieve post-1967 bibliographic references. Other enhancement followed but by the 1980s CAS began planning a new online network, one that grew out of an agreement between the American Chemical Society and the German scientific organization, FIZ Karlsruhe to create an international network of databases to include areas beyond chemistry and chemical engineering. The result was STN^SM International – the Scientific and Technical Information Network.

STN^® offered access to CAS files and Physics Briefs. Initially, the creation of STN provided European customers access to CAS files and search systems. Eventually, CAS databases would become available globally. As the CAS web site puts out: "STN^® is an online database service that provides global access to published research, journal literature, patents, structures, sequences, properties, and other data."

Dale Baker – who had ushered CAS into the digital age – retired in 1986 after serving as director for 28 years. Ronald Wigington, who had been director of research and development, succeeded Baker as director with no change in the emphasis on moving CAS toward the delivery of electronic information services. Wigington left in 1991 and was replaced a year later by Robert Massie who came with solid experience in publishing.

Massie's first challenge was to insure CAS' financial well-being. At the same time, he wanted to guarantee CAS' leadership in providing scientific information. To further the latter, CAS moderated its price increases – to keep old and attract new customers – and it strengthened product development. This meant in the 1990s even greater emphasis on electronic services as CAS embraced the Internet and World Wide Web as tools for distributing information. In 1995 CAS introduced CAplus^SM, a database covering literature worldwide in chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, and related sciences since 1967.

The major product launch in the 1990s was SciFinder^®. Much research went into the development of this forward-looking tool. Although the Internet was still in its infancy, CAS recognized the need for a new mode of data searching and retrieval. The rapid increase in personal computers – manned by computer-literate scientists – meant that it would be possible to put chemists in direct connection with CAS databases. In 1991, CAS began to look into creating a desktop research tool and the next year created a product development team. This group solicited views from CAS staff members and from customers. From users, the CAS researchers learned that scientists wanted more control over research and direct access to information. Moreover the team understood that most scientists were not familiar with the language of information retrieval; accordingly, the search mechanisms had to be conversational and intuitive. In other words, users should not be asked to learn a command language; instead, they should be able to sit at their computer and use the system without training.

After extensive testing of prototypes by pharmaceutical and chemical companies, SciFinder was launched in 1995. From the beginning it allowed for simple interaction with the search system. The complex algorithms and other tools that buttress the Registry and other CAS files remain in the background. In 1997 SciFinder Scholar^TM appeared; it is a version of SciFinder for chemistry students and faculty; while the two are similar, universities can arrange for access by simultaneous users, making it an effective campus-wide tool.

CAS quickly adapted to the World Wide Web is it became popular in the closing years of the 20th century. Web-related initiatives undertaken by CAS include creation in 1994 of a its Web site; introduction of Chemical Patents Plus in 1996, which covers U.S. patents since 1974; STN Easy, also in 1996, to make access to some STN databases even easier; ChemPort^® in 1997, a joint service with ACS Publications to provide links from the records in the searchable databases to full-text journals and patents on the Web; a whole host of new STN products, including STN Express^TM, STN AnaVist^TM, and STN^® on the Web^SM; and many others.

By 2007 – when CAS celebrated its 100th anniversary – its databases demonstrated the exponential growth in scientific publishing and research. Those databases contained more than 27 million records of journal and patent literature, more than 170 million citations, and more than 30 million substance records in the CAS Registry. In the words of Robert Massie, "CAS celebrates one hundred years of service to world science as an integral part of the American Chemical Society. That is a century in pursuit of a single mission--to provide access to chemical and related information that speeds and enables scientific discovery to improve people's lives."