College and Research Libraries Review Articles Scientific Information The Royal Society Scientific Information Con- ference, 21 June-2 July 194.9. Report and Papers Submitted. London, Royal Society, 1948, 723p. 26s. Since the close of the war the number of articles and publications concerned with the problem of bibliographic control has increased to such an extent that most individuals have felt snowed under. T h e publication under review, however, is one which contains such a mine of information that it merits con- sideration and study. T h e Scientific Information Conference was the outcome of a recommendation passed by the Royal Society Empire Scientific Conference of 1946 calling for a conference "to examine the possibilities of improvement in existing methods of collection, indexing and distribu- tion of scientific literature and of the extension of existing abstracting services." Some 230 delegates and observers were present from the United Kingdom, the Overseas Common- wealth and the United States. " T h e Presen- tation of Scientific Information," pages 26-44, was the principal address at the opening session. Given by Professor E. N . da C . Andrade, it was a scholarly historical treat- ment of the problem since the earliest times. T h e conference was organized in four sections to consider and to discuss various aspects of the problem. Editors were appointed some months beforehand to take charge of each section, and they had with assistance from others, prepared and circulated 46 papers for advance consideration. During the conference 16 working parties considered 42 specific topics and later made some 70 recommendations to the Royal Society. Section I of the Conference, under the editorship of Professor J. D . Bernal, dealt with the publication and distribution of papers containing original work. W o r k i n g Party I A examined the present format of scientific pub- lications, (Paper 14, page 368-69 shows that an examination of 176 botanical journals re- vealed 102 different sizes) and made recom- mendations for the adoption of suggested standards in keeping with those then being formulated by the International Standards Organization. Methods of reproduction of scientific papers were also reviewed and rec- ommendations made. W o r k i n g Party I B studied the importance of editorial distribu- tion and other factors in relation to the length of scientific communications. (Paper 2, pages 253-58, J. D . Bernal's "Provisional Scheme for Central Distribution of Scientific Pub- lications" drew a storm of protest from many sources.) Working Party I C was concerned with the grouping of scientific communications within existing journals. It was recognized that the scatter of papers on essentially the same subject in journals is very wide. (Paper 46, pages 589-637, dealing with the use of scientific literature, showed that the distribu- tion of reading in various journals was sig- nificant: 1821 papers described as carefully read by a group were from 427 different journals; but the distribution of papers con- sulted among journals varied enormously, one fourth of the papers being found in six journals, one half in 30, three quarters in 100, and the remaining quarter in 327.) T h i s emphasizes the "law of scattering" sug- gested by Bradford from studies of the actual distribution in journals of papers covering particular topics and shows that his con- clusions apply equally strongly to papers actually read. Working Party I D dealt with the question of organization of publication of original papers and mechanisms for their distribution. Working Party I E had the task of exploring delays in publication and in the availability of already published material. T h e recommendations made to the Royal Society by Section I while embodying no radical changes do indicate what is required for the improvement of the production and distribution of original scientific material. Section II of the Conference, under the editorship of Sir David Chadwick took up the task of what could be done to improve the arrangements for issuing and using abstracts to convey current awareness of the availability and relevance of scientific papers. T h e key- note of the conference was service to science and the scientific worker. T h e sole justifica- tion for the existence of abstracts is to serve the scientist. Y e t preliminary preparation for the conference revealed that there is an almost JULY, 1950 25 7 complete lack of factual information on how scientific men in the different branches of science actually used abstracts and for what purposes. Factual information was collected from many abstracting agencies and some in- quiries were made into the use of abstracts. T h e whole subject was referred to three working parties. One party was instructed to examine the place of abstracts in the service of scientific workers, their relation to other forms of service—such as reviews, bibliogra- phies, etc.—and to review the existing services. A second party, composed mostly of represent- atives of the abstracting agencies, compared their methods, techniques, and practices. T h e third group looked into the future. From information supplied on a small scale, (Paper 20), it would appear that abstracts account for about one third of the inquiries for original papers. One type of user of abstracts seemed to be increasing, that is, the professional searcher of the literature, particularly librar- ians in commercial organizations. In Britain such an individual is called an "information officer." In the United States we call them "literature specialists" or "bibliographical as- sistants." A diagrammatic representation of the interrelations of science and the scope of existing abstracting agencies prepared by H . J. T . Ellingham, (Paper 2 7 ) , showed at a glance present gaps and overgaps in English abstracts. It was found that in general abstracts were of two types: the informative or detailed type, or the indicative or brief type. Further it was brought out that the abstract journals differed in function, type, scope and finances. T h e y are not thus capable of easy recasting or reshuffling. Some overlap between abstract services was held to be desirable, when the services cater to readers having different interests. Such overlap is distinct from duplication. For this reason a single set of abstracts produced by a central office would not suffice for universal use. It was recommended to the Royal Society that it be invited to consult with the various abstracting agencies and to set up a standing consultative committee of abstracting organi- zations for mutual exchange of views and generally to promote cooperation. Section I I I of the Conference was con- cerned with indexing and other library serv- ices. These problems include what is normally understood by librarianship, and also go beyond it. D r . J. E. Holmstrom, general edi- tor, summarized the scope of the section in his "General Remarks" pages 77-93. Section I I I dealt with the provision for retrospective searching—that is, the problem of how to ar- range literature references in such a way that a searcher will turn up those references that will satisfy the need for any particular request for information. T h e problem of bibliographic control in the sciences is to make certain that when a scientist needs to know what has already been done and thought regarding any topic whatever, he can be given quickly the per- tinent references, not only those for material in his own library, but also for those appearing in any existing publication. Since there is no way of knowing which of the millions of items already published or being published are likely to be needed, it is necessary to devise economical techniques for the mass processing of literature references in order to give access to specific information. Holmstrom lists four specific methods now being used: 1. Indexing the names of subjects in alpha- betical order, e.g., L . C . subject headings or Index to Chemical Abstracts. 2. Classifying the subjects under symbols which serve to pinpoint their positions in a logically constructed map of knowledge, e.g., L . C . or Dewey, or the U . D . C . 3. Coding the subjects under symbols which can then be mechanically selected, e.g., punched cards, Bush-Shaw Rapid Selector, or U N I - V A C . 4. Coding the shapes of certain classes of objects under symbols which can be mechani- cally selected, e.g., the Dyson or Gordon- Kendell Davison systems of chemical notation. Six working parties discussed the work of Section I I I under the following headings: ( 1 ) Classification, (2) Methods of reproduction, (3) Mechanical indexing, (4) Training and employment in information work, ( 5 ) Guides to the literature, and (6) Translations. In this connection two new and interesting de- velopments were brought before the confer- ence. One was an adaptation of punched cards invented by D r . J. Samain of Paris. T h i s involves a typewriter-like keyboard whereby up to 24 six-letter words can be punched directly in a single card and a selector able to pick out those cards which carry any desired word or combination regardless of the position or sequence in which these occur on particular cards. T h e second was a method 282 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES of reproduction—a Dutch process of semi- dry diazo printing, pages 147-49. T h i s method, already in operation for the dis- semination of abstracts on "fiches" (folded index slips) has implications for publishing and for card production in libraries. Section I V under the editorship of H . M u n r o Fox considered "Reviews," "Recent Advances," and "Annual Reports of Progress." It was pointed out that there are two main purposes for these types of publications. T h e first is to gather together and present for the specialist the progress which has been made in a whole subject during a period of time or to review the state of knowledge in a particular branch of a subject. T h e second is to provide scientists with knowledge of what has been going on, not so much in their own field but in. other fields. Reviews may well be written to suit several levels of interest. For example, a review of a particular aspect of physical chemistry may be written for physical chem- ists, for chemists in general, in a simpler form for other scientists or even in a still simpler form for the intelligent layman. T h e whole conference points up the fact that scientists have evolved in the course of years a remarkably effective system for pro- viding themselves with information, but the system is suffering from strain and requires renovating and strengthening. In order to do this there needs to be more research into how scientific information is used.—Thomas P. Fleming, College of Physicians and Surgeons and School of Library Service, Columbia Uni- versity. Source Material on Meteorology Meteorological Abstracts and Bibliography, Vol. 1, no. 1. Boston, American Meteoro- logical Society. January 1950. $3.00 per year. T h e important role played by military avia- tion in the settlement of the last world conflict awakened much interest in aeronautics and allied sciences. Meteorology, in particular, rose to a position of great significance in the field of applied science. College and research librarians were besieged by demands for com- prehensive source material in meteorology. Professional meteorologists realized that the poorly organized material was a definite handi- cap in the pursuit of basic research and in the exchange of ideas in their field. Technical librarians soon recognized the gaps in their reference collection: ( 1 ) T h e r e was no com- prehensive meteorological bibliography being published anywhere in the world, and (2) there was no meteorological abstracting serv- ice comparable to those existing in nearly all the other fields of science. Meteorological Abstracts and Bibliography vol. 1, no. 1, dated January 1950, sponsored by Geophysical Research Directorate, A . F . C . - R . L . and the American Meteorological Society, with the cooperation of the Library of Congress, is the latest of many sincere attempts to provide a comprehensive, inter- national, bibliographic and abstracting service for meteorology. Each issue will contain: ( 1 ) A review of 20 to 30 scientific journals, part of an asymp- totic plan to evaluate the contribution to meteorology of some 15,000 technical journals; (2) approximately 150 abstracts from ma- terial of current interest; (3) a cumulative annotated bibliography on a special phase of meteorology [vol. 1, no. 1, Atmosphere Pol- lution (240 entries), Aerobiology, Artificial Precipitation, Hail, Tornadoes, etc. to fol- low.] M . K . Rigby, outstanding American bib- liographer, editor, and D r . C . E. P. Brooks, dean of British meteorologists, corresponding editor, have done a creditable job on their first issue. Important features of this journal are: international coverage; objective evaluation of periodicals in the light of their contributions to the field of meteorology; succinct annota- tions ; and an excellent index. T h e MAB subject heads each bibliographic entry. It is the only permanent international abstracting journal to have such a feature. These subject headings, however, are too specific for the small and medium-sized libraries, and the large and highly specialized libraries will have to make a conversion before integrating MAB subject headings with their catalogs. These subject headings are also inconsistent, some are qualified by the term "meteorology." Others that obviously should be qualified are not. T h i s failing and other problems, e.g., the magnitude of the field to be covered, and the journal's lack of that pres- tige which comes only with age and tradition, will be solved with the passage of time. JULY, 1950 25 7