College and Research Libraries National Referral Center for Science and Technology SEMANTICS plagues us aij. It is under- standable that this should be the case when an infoJ.!llation center sets out to define the terms on which successful mechanized retrieval depends. That this should be the case also when trying to draw the line be- tween a "reference" service and a "refer- ral" function is less to be expected. Yet the distinction that marks these two con- cepts has often been a problem for the National Referral Center in conveying an understanding of the role it is playing among the many organizations and insti- tutions which today are striving to bridge the gap between producers and users of scientific and technical information. The National Referral Center for Sci- ence and Technology was conceived as a central point at which data would be gathered, not on scientific and technical subjects, but on the extremely varied and increasingly numerous activities which, in some form, accumulate, process, and dis- seminate scientific and technical informa- tion. Using these data the center would- as it is already doing-help those in need of information by putting them in touch with those who can provide it. This role of intermediary deserves emphasis. The center does not acquire scientific or tech- nical literature, it does not index articles, nor does it process reports. It does not respond directly to technical questions, it does not prepare bibliographies, nor does it retrieve evaluated data. It does help strengthen and straighten the pipelines carrying today's heavy information flow by functioning as a "switching mecha- nism" within the complex scientific and technical community. MAY1964 BY JOHN F. STEARNS Mr. Stearns is Chief of the National Re- ferral Center ... which is in the Library of Congress. Established in the Library of Congress with the support of the National Science Foundation, the center was given three basic tasks :/to identify all significant in- formation resources in all fields of science and technology, including the social scien- ces, and to "catalog" them in the greatest possible detail in terms of scope, char- acteristics, and capabilities; ~h.insure full utilization of these resources by suggest- ing to inquiring organizations or individ- uals where their needs for specific ma- terials can best be met and by publishing directories and listings of information re- sources in selected fields; jnd to examine, on the basis of actual operating experi- ence, the interrelationships within the na- tion's scientific and technical information network. In clarifying the first task and in de- scribing just what it means by an informa- tion resource, the center has again run into semantic obstacles. Most of us think of sources of information in the bibliograph- ic sense of a specific jourri·al or a particu- lar report, and we wish to find the title and page which provide the immediate solution to our problem. The center is concerned with sources of information in this. generally understood sense only inso- far as it informs someone in search of a particular document where appropriate document collections are located. The term "resource" was chosen to indicate not books or pages, but places and people. Special libraries, whether within the 205 academic, industrial, or government framework, rank high among the resourc- es with which the center hopes to estab- lish continuing cooperation. Data and document centers, and indexing and ab- stracting services are also important in- formation resources. The Center's inter- ests extend, however, to the many capa- bilities which are built in to meet special needs of a particular organization, but which are in many cases known only to those within the organization. An in- formation resource may consist of the background knowledge a<;;cumulated in connection with research performed by a government or private laboratory. It may consist of a collection of botanical specimens typical of a particular geo- graphic area, of specialized studies made in support of the work of an agricultural experiment station, or of consulting ser- vices provided by a professional society through its members. During the past several months the Center has asked thousands of universi- ties, professional societies, trade associa- tions, government agencies, and private industrial firms just what kinds of re- sources exist and has attempted to estab- lish a register on which to draw for its referral services. The question posed is in essence: "What do you do?" The details needed in answer to this question, how- ever, go far beyond general statements on subject specialization, size of collections, or reference or consulting services which are available. A physics library, for ex- ample, may be particularly strong in a narrow area of the field. It may include holdings that are valuable because they provide complete coverage of the litera- ture for a particular time period, or be- cause they include foreign materials. The center must know where such strengths lie, years of coverage, and the languages represented. A professional engineering society may announce that it provides reference and consulting services. Since few agree on what is to be assumed under this general statement, the center attempts to establish whether reference service in- cludes answers to technical questions and bibliographic assistance, the extent of such assistance, and whether consulting services are provided by the staff of the society or through referral to society members. Of particular importance to the center are the conditions or restric- tions which govern the use of a particular resource. Much of the wealth of scientific and technical information accumulated by private research groups is, for many rea- sons, not available to "outsiders." The center wants to find out what part is avail- able and to what extent it is available. Similarly, government-sponsored activi- ties are often described as accessible only to "qualified persons." The center wishes to know the qualifications needed. For the small, specialized library, limited staff and time are often a matter of concern which the center must take into account in making referrals. All these considerations are essential not only in order that a requester may be referred to the resource most appro- priate to his specific need but also to avoid referral to a resource which re- stricts its services to special users. Although constant additional "input" will be necessary for a long time to come if the center is to consider itself truly knowledgeable with regard to the tens of thousands of resources which serve to meet the demands of today's science and technology, it tackled its second stated task by initiating referral services last spring. Relying on the records already accumulated on a few thousand resources and on the skill of an experienced referral staff, the center has during these brief months handled requests which are about to pass the one-thousand mark. Both spontaneous comments and solicited feed- back from those who have received re- ferral assistance have indicated that the "road sign" which the center represents is welcomed by many who are trying to 206 C(!LLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES choose paths in finding the address they are looking for. The inquiries received to date cover an interestingly broad spectrum. They have dealt with such subjects as radiation sh:ielding; heat transfer in relation to rocket nozzles and thrust chambers; cor- rosion resistance of galvanized steel; ap- plication of cryogenic materials to the freezing of food products; cause and ef- feet of the deterioration of paper; care of laboratory animals; human problems posed by automation; fiber optics; solu- tion mining; germicidal agents in use with air conditioning; cooling systems for ruby lasers; ultrasonic techniques for cardio- vascular monitoring; methods of cutting living bone tissue; behavior of marine animals during solar eclipses; sea farm- ing; geomorphological data confirming or rejecting the hypothesis of an expanding earth; national resources for brain re- search; and structural design require- ments for the housing of elephants. These requests have come from individuals, edu- cational institutions, government agencies, professional and other nonprofit organi- zations, and private industry. How such requests are handled may best be illus- trated by specific examples. The information specialist of a refining company who wished to locate sources of information on solution mining was referred to the Northern Ohio Geological Society, the United States Patent Office, the Michigan College of Mining and Technology, the Colorado School of Mines, and to a private company. In ad- dition, the Engineering Societies library was suggested as a more general resource. To the records management director of another company concerned with the cause and effect of the deterioration of paper, the center suggested that he con- tact the Office of Records Management at the National Archives, the Virginia State library, the Prevention of Deteriora- tion Center, and the Technical Associa- tion of the Pulp and Paper Industry. MAY 1964 The graduate student who wrote to the center for information on methods of cut- ting living bone tissue was referred to the National Library of Medicine, the Science Information Exchange, the Brooke Army Medical Cente~ in Texas, and the Army Medical Equipment Development Labo- ratory in New York State. In these cases, as in all others, a brief description is given of the kinds of data, material, and services provided by each resource cited to indicate to the inquirer the nature of the assistance he may ex- pect. The more background the center is given in terms of sources which someone in search of information may already have tapped and the purpose the request- ed data is to serve, the more effective the center can be in pinpointing the most suitable resource and in opening channels of exploration, thereby achieving its for- mally stated goal of "insuring the full utilization of existing resources." There is a two-way-street aspect of the center's function which deserves particu- lar emphasis and which bears discussion as it relates to college and research li- braries. The center is vitally interested in obtaining information on the activities of such libraries and hopes that they will list their capabilities with the center. Equally important is what the center can do for the librarian. Referral functions are an integral part of any effective li- brary, but in many instances workload and other considerations may limit the extent of such services. The National Re- ferral Center provides a point of recourse to which the librarian may tum or to which he may direct his clients. The two- way street implies that the center wishes to insure use of local resources by know- ing where they are and what they can do and at the same time provide support for these resources in cases where satisfaction of a request presents a problem. Limited operational experience has already indi- cated that many persons are not aware of the library facilities that are available 207 in their immediate area. The center wish- es to create this awareness and encour- ages inquirers to turn first to the resourc- es that are geographically most convenient to them. The center also hopes to assist libraries through its publications program which is now being developed. Directories describ- ing information services in various subject fields will be issued and regularly updated, providing ready tools for librarians in handling questions requiring referral. An- nouncement will be made when these di- rectories become available. Under consid- eration, also, is a system of cataloging for eventual mechanized retrieval of the data which are being gathered. This system must cover not only subject specializa- tion, but language input and output, type of services, operational limitations, or- ganizational affiliations, sponsorship, and administrative statistics. Those who have dealt with the problem of cataloging books, journals, and reports are in a par- ticularly good position to understand that this is a task which will require both in- genuity and time. Its third function, "examining the in- terrelationships within the nation's scien- tific and technical information network," the center will be able to approach only when its knowledge is sufficient for ready retrieval of all significant information re- sources in a given field and when the inquiries received by the center have reached statistically meaningful numbers. Such analysis will in effect be a balancing of the books, showing whether existing resources are adequate to meet informa- tion needs as reflected by those who have turned to the center for assistance. Looking farther into the future, the National Referral Center also foresees ex- ploration of information resources abroad. The letters of general inquiry which have come from information centers in foreign countries show that the information prob- lem is a universal one. The center hopes that it will eventually be in a position to serve as a linkage not only within the na- tional but also within the international in- formation network. •• More about Statistics THE FOLLOWING LETTER has been received by the President of ACRL in answer to a letter sent to the U.S. Commissioner of Education by George M. Bailey, executive secretary of ACRL at the request of the ACRL Board of Directors, and published in CRL in March (page 110). 208 I want you and the members of your Association to know I appreciate the many letters received during the past month commending the Office of Educa- tion and specifically the Library Services Branch on the publication of "Li- brary Statistics of Colleges and Universities, 1962-63." You may be sure that we shall continue to work to improve both the quality and quantity of the returns, the speed of publication, and the analysis of the results. We value your efforts to help and encourage us. Francis Keppel, U.S. Commissioner of Education NoTE: Supplementary statistics for approximately 20 per cent of col- lege and university libraries will be published this year for 1962-63 by the Library Administration Division of ALA. They will be available, at cost, for distribution at the LAD booth during the St. Louis Conference. • • t . COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES I