College and Research Libraries Review Articles Where Facts Are Scientists' Approaches to Information. B y M e l v i n J. V o i g t . C h i c a g o : A L A , 1961. 81 p. ( A C R L M o n o g r a p h N o . 24) $2.50. " I n f o r m a t i o n storage a n d r e t r i e v a l " is a phrase w i t h a futuristic ring, b u t it denotes processes which have b e e n carried on, in o n e way o r a n o t h e r , f o r ages. O n l y lately has the sequence o f file now, find l a t e r b e e n dignified by such an impressive title, a n d o n e tends still to associate the phrase w i t h m e c h a n i z e d i n f o r m a t i o n processing. T h i s small v o l u m e considers i n f o r m a t i o n retrieval as it is now practiced by scientists, using the abstracts, indexes, j o u r n a l s , a n d o t h e r tools which are available. N o t e n o u g h time, the a u t h o r feels, has b e e n spent in asking basic questions a b o u t the ways scientists find the i n f o r m a t i o n they n e e d . A study of c u r r e n t usage m i g h t give useful h i n t s f o r the im- p r o v e m e n t of o l d e r tools a n d the design of new ones. T h e aim o f the study was to d e t e r m i n e how a n d where scientists locate needed facts; t h e m e t h o d was a series of interviews with individual scientists and groups of scientists, some 225 in all. T o e l i m i n a t e possible language bias, t h e study was caried o u t in S c a n d i n a v i a , where most scientists can use English, G e r m a n , a n d F r e n c h — t h e langu- ages of t h e p r i n c i p a l i n f o r m a t i o n s o u r c e s — with n e a r l y equal facility. T h r e e different " a p p r o a c h e s to i n f o r m a t i o n " were identified: T h e c u r r e n t a p p r o a c h , o r " k e e p i n g u p with the l i t e r a t u r e ; " the everyday a p p r o a c h , o r the search f o r specific facts in the course of t h e researcher's daily work; and the exhaus- tive a p p r o a c h , in which all p e r t i n e n t in- f o r m a t i o n on a t o p i c is desired. All of the e x i s t i n g r e f e r e n c e tools in the field were used, b u t t h e i r i m p o r t a n c e varied according to the scientist's a p p r o a c h — h i s reasons f o r m a k i n g the search. F o r the cur- r e n t a p p r o a c h , o r l e a r n i n g of new develop- ments, c o n t a c t with o t h e r scientists e i t h e r in person o r by c o r r e s p o n d e n c e was f o u n d to be q u i t e i m p o r t a n t . F i n d i n g the informa- t i o n rapidly seemed to b e the d e t e r m i n i n g f a c t o r i n choice o f sources f o r the everyday a p p r o a c h , since the scientist's associates a n d t h e standard h a n d b o o k s , reviews, encyclo- pedias, etc., were most widely used. T h e ex- haustive a p p r o a c h , predictably, m a d e m u c h use o f articles in periodicals, j o u r n a l s , a n d p r i n t e d reports, as well as i n d e x e s a n d ab- stracts to locate t h e m . T h e a u t h o r p o i n t s out t h a t n o single source of i n f o r m a t i o n can b e a d e q u a t e for all a p p r o a c h e s a n d suggests that the perfec- t i o n of m e c h a n i c a l tools f o r exhaustive lit- e r a t u r e s e a r c h i n g is less i m p o r t a n t t h a n im- p r o v e m e n t in sources used f o r the c u r r e n t a p p r o a c h . T h e s e sources m i g h t b e made m o r e useful by adding m o r e specialized in- d e x i n g a n d a b s t r a c t i n g services f o r the nar- rower fields, by the f u r t h e r use of mechan- ical methods in t h e p r e p a r a t i o n of biblio- g r a p h i c a l services, a n d by i n t e r n a t i o n a l co- o p e r a t i o n in the p r o d u c t i o n of i n f o r m a t i o n sources w i t h i n a given field. M a c h i n e s a l o n e will n o t save the scientists a n d l i b r a r i a n s f r o m b u r i a l b e n e a t h the i n c r e a s i n g mass of p u b l i s h e d m a t e r i a l , b u t a c o m b i n a t i o n of old a n d new techniques should e n a b l e them to k e e p p a c e . — R i c h a r d W. Ryan, Library of Congress. Machine Translation Computers and Common Sense—the Myth of Thinking Machines. B y M o r t i m e r T a u b e . N e w Y o r k : C o l u m b i a Univer- sity Press, 1961. 136p. $3.75. A n u m b e r of weighty subjects are dis- cussed in this slender b o o k : m a c h i n e trans- l a t i o n , l e a r n i n g machines, m a n - m a c h i n e re- lations, t h e m e a n i n g o f m e a n i n g , and the need for criticism in science. M u c h of the b o o k deals with a t t e m p t s to formalize, i.e. 4 5 2 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S to express in terms of rules, language, a n d l e a r n i n g . S i n c e these a t t e m p t s have n o t been a n d are n o t likely to be successful, D r . T a u b e concludes that the m e c h a n i z a t i o n of language t r a n s l a t i o n a n d l e a r n i n g a n d (by i m p l i c a t i o n ) of abstracting a n d i n d e x i n g is n o t possible. T h e a u t h o r writes interest- ingly, o f t e n amusingly, b u t the t o n e of his a r g u m e n t raises some d o u b t as to the au- thor's d e t a c h m e n t , an essential characteristic of a critic. T h i s D r . T a u b e himself seems to sense when h e states in his i n t r o d u c t i o n that at times his a r g u m e n t becomes q u i t e devious a n d difficult to follow. " A f t e r a l l , " he tells us, " i f the f o x twists a n d turns, so must the h o u n d . " Briefly, h e r e are some of his a r g u m e n t s : F o r m a c h i n e translation of languages, lan- guage A has to be formally (mechanically) t r a n s l a t a b l e i n t o language B . T h i s presup- poses t h a t languages A a n d B can be trans- lated i n t o f o r m a l e l e m e n t s A a n d B a n d that there is a one-to-one r e l a t i o n s h i p be- tween e l e m e n t s A a n d B . D r . T a u b e claims that n e i t h e r supposition is true. Chess play- ing by c o m p u t e r is cited as the classic ex- a m p l e of m a c h i n e l e a r n i n g . D r . T a u b e dis- tinguishes b e t w e e n learning the rules of the game a n d learning to play the game. T h e l a t t e r l e a r n i n g process c a n n o t be mechan- ized. T h e rules of chess can be formalized, b u t at a cost. D r . T a u b e estimates that a forty-move g a m e requires 1 0 1 2 0 instructions. L e a r n i n g to play chess, a n d by analogy l e a r n i n g , is n o t a f o r m a l process a n d can, therefore, n o t b e mechanized. T h i s b o o k can b e read on at least two levels. O n a r a t h e r unsophisticated level, it reassures l i b r a r i a n s that t h e i r j o b s will n o t be taken over by computers. D r . T a u b e does m o r e t h a n this. H e questions the validity of t h e work of l e a d i n g researchers in the fields u n d e r discussion. A b o u t ten years ago, D r . T a u b e i n t r o d u c e d the U n i t e r m system of c o o r d i n a t e i n d e x i n g and a l o n g with it levelled some serious charges against tradi- t i o n a l indexes. T h i s is n o t the t i m e n o r the place t o discuss these charges. Suffice it to say that t h e questions are still u n d e r d e b a t e a n d t h a t D r . T a u b e ' s words and deeds have s t i m u l a t e d work in this field to the benefit of t h e profession. I n w r i t i n g this book D r . T a u b e has o n c e again put o n his armor, b u t this time against an army of o p p o n e n t s who are ahead of the times (in fact, way out ac- cording to D r . T a u b e ) instead of b e h i n d the times. T h e r e is n o d o u b t that this b o o k will stimulate thought a n d a c t i o n on these i m p o r t a n t p r o b l e m s . — G . Jahoda, Esso Re- search and Engineering Co. Photocopying Photocopying from Bound Volmnes. By W i l l i a m R . H a w k e n . C h i c a g o : A L A , 1962. xvi, 2 0 8 p . ( L T P P u b l i c a t i o n s , N o . 4) $ 5 . 0 0 . F o r the past several decades, libraries have acknowledged a responsibility n o t only for selecting, acquiring, a n d organizing books b u t also for t r a n s m i t t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n by methods o t h e r t h a n c i r c u l a t i n g library ma- terials. S i n c e the 1930's, m i c r o p h o t o g r a p h y has b e e n the primary m e t h o d of intermed- iate transmission. A l t h o u g h full-size copying was first developed in 1839, it was n o t u n t i l 1950 that techniques were p e r f e c t e d (xer- ography, transfer reversal) which gave li- braries a tool f o r direct, full-size copying f r o m b o u n d volumes. S i n c e that time the m a r k e t has b e e n flooded with a bewildering variety of e q u i p m e n t , all of which seem to promise the ideal solution to the informa- t i o n transmission p r o b l e m . R e c o g n i z i n g the impossibility o f the aver- age l i b r a r i a n ' s e v a l u a t i n g the myriad claims of c o m p e t i n g types of e q u i p m e n t (one ma- c h i n e has b e e n m a r k e t e d by six c o m p a n i e s u n d e r six different trade names!) the L i b r a r y T e c h n o l o g y P r o j e c t , u n d e r a g r a n t from the C o u n c i l on L i b r a r y Resources, commissioned W i l l i a m H a w k e n to analyze a n d r e p o r t o n all varieties of b o o k copying devices, exclud- i n g microfilm. O v e r the p e r i o d of a year, M r . H a w k e n tested twenty different copying machines. T h e r e p o r t thoroughly covers the g e n e r i c types of copying methods so that the reader is familiarized with the basic differences be- tween c o n t a c t reflex (diffusion-transfer-re- versal, t h e r m o g r a p h i c , gelatin-dye-transfer) a n d o p t i c a l copying methods. E a c h type has c e r t a i n problems as well as advantages, which are well summarized, a n d the a u t h o r evaluates t h e p e r m a n e n c e of the copy pro- duced by each m e t h o d . O f p a r t i c u l a r value is the detailed analysis of each m a c h i n e tested. T h e a u t h o r has given m a c h i n e specifications, price, exposure S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 2 453