College and Research Libraries ABSTRACTS (Abstracts given below are selected from those prepared for publication in Research in Education by the ERIC Clearinghouse for Library and Informa- tion Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Unless otherwise noted, copies of the following documents are available, by purchase, in microfiche or hard copy, from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service, National Cash Register Co., 4936 Fairmont Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20014. Orders must include ED or LI number.) On the Development of Social Science In- formation and Documentation Services (Interim Report). Final Report on Mechanized Information Services in the University Library. Phase !-Planning. Part 11. By Ralph Bisco. Los Angeles: UCLA, Institute of Library Research, 1967. 88 p. (LI 000 504, available 'from Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, as )'B 178-442, MF-$0.65 HC-$3.00). This paper concerns information services by libraries for social scientists. A brief sur- vey is made of the present state of both computers and telecommunication equip- ment. Projected information transfer net- works are described, with emphasis on the role libraries are expected to play in them. Empirical studies of user needs are de- scribed in some detail and their implica- tions are explored. The special needs of so- cial scientists are emphasized. An eight- point program is presented for immediate improvement of library services through mechanized computer information services. To meet the various needs of social scien- tists libraries must improve access to their present store of printed materials and microforms, and they must develop capa- bilities to service "fugitive" materials such as conference papers and proceedings. They can usefully add a capability to acquire and provide access to banks of quantitative, empirical social science data. A bibliogra- phy of 169 items related to the content of the paper is included. Development Program for a Center for In- formation Sciences. Final Report on Mechanized Information Services in the University Library. Phase !-Planning. Part 9. Los Angeles: UCLA, Institute for Library Research, 1967. 41 p. (LI 000 502, available from Clearinghouse for 278/ Federal Scientific and Technical Infor- mation, as PB 178-442, MF-$0.65 HC- $3.00). The development of mechanized infor- mation services in a university library has the following design goals: ( 1) the center for information services should be oper- ational, ( 2) it should be a general purpose system, ( 3) it should be adaptable, ( 4) it should be replicative, ( 5) it should en- courage increased receptivity and use, and ( 6) it should be designed so that library personnel can operate it. Implementation of such a library service requires the de- velopment of operating computer programs, the organization of an appropriate admin- istrative structure, and the installation of adequate but economic computing ma- chinery. This part of the final report dis- cusses the developmental program for each of these issues. It is estimated that four years will be required to complete the succeeding three phases: phase 2-detailed system design, phase 3-programming and test, and phase 4-implementation and initial operation. Particular attention is giv- en to the tasks involved in phase 2. The Harvard Library, 1966-1976, Report of a Planning Study ... Cambridge: Har- vard University Library, 1966. 90 p. (ED 024 409, MF-$0.50 HC-$3.68). The decade 1966-1976 and its implica- tions for the Harvard University Library are the subject of this report. The prob- lems examined include library collection policies, the impact of computers and other technical innovations on the library's op- erations and services, availability of ad- ditional resources and possible savings through interlibrary cooperation, and ques- tions of personnel, space, and finance. One major conclusion of the report is that an annex to Widener should be constructed. A I . second conclusion is that by 1975/ 76 an additional $2,100,000 per year over the 1964/65 budget will be needed to pur- chase library materials, as well as an ad- ditional $6,800,000 for other library ex- penditures. Appendix A provides tables and charts describing various aspects of the Harvard Library's operations by years from 1953/54 with extrapolations to 1975/76. Appendix B gives statements on individual units of the library. The Library and Human Memory. Final Report on Mechanized Information Serv- ices in the University Library. Phase I -Planning. Part 13. By Donald A. Nor- man. Los Angeles: UCLA, Institute of Library Research, 1967. 22 p. (LI 000 506, available from Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Infor- mation, as PB 178-442, MF -$0.65 HC -$3.00). This paper discusses the differences be- tween the storage problems encountered in a large library and those encountered in the human memory. Some of the properties of the human memory system and some of the major issues which affect the inter- action between human users and the exist- ing library systems are outlined. The prob- lem of browsing is used as an exemplar of these properties. Five operations in hu- man information processing are described: ( 1 ) sensory transduction, ( 2) attention and acquisition, ( 3) short-term memory, ( 4) long-term memory, and ( 5) retrieval. A description of a program. Scope Edi- tor, used for editing simp}~ manuscripts and programs, is used as an illustration of the form of recommended interaction which can occur between the user and the auto- mated library. A suggestion is made to en- large this, giving the worker at his own desk immediate access to the entire library col- lection. It then becomes possible to con- template giving every user the equivalent of his own personal research librarian, his own personal files, and his own personal references without detriment to others, pro- vided the new techniques are applied with imagination and, above all, with under- standing of the powers and limits of hu- man beings. Abstracts I 279 The Library of Congress as the National Library; Potentialities for Service. A Re- port to the National Advisory C ommis- . sian on Libraries. Washington: Library of Congress, 1967. 74 p. (ED 025 286, MF -$0.50 HC-$3.04). This report presents a statement of the Library of Congress's view of its position as the National Library of the United States. The library has developed from a small parliamentary library to serve the Congress to a library that performs more national-library functions than any national library in the world. Its organizational po- sition in the Legislative Branch has not and need not inhibit its further development as a national library, but legislation to recognize its present de facto national-li- brary role would be beneficial, as would a permanent commission on libraries and in- formation to point up national needs and to advocate solutions and funding. Fifteen functions which the library might expand or undertake, if it were recognized as the de jure national library and were supported accordingly, are listed and suggestions re- garding necessary action to enable the li- brary to carry out the expanded services are made. The most important proposals of the last decade for a national «information system" are outlined and the distinction made in these proposals between libraries and library systems on the one hand and evaluation and retrieval systems on the oth- er is rejected. The library sees the basic problem in an effective national library and information network as an access problem. The access problem is essentially a file problem, i.e., one of bibliographic control, on which the library is making inroads through its program to automate its central bibliographic record. Preliminary Specifications (Hardware and Software) for a Center for Information Services. Final Report on Mechanized Information Services in the University Library. Phase !-Planning. Part 10. Los Angeles: UCLA, Institute of Library Re- search, 1967. 43 p. (LI 000 503, avail- able from Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, as PB 178-442, MF-$0.65 HC-$3.00). 280 I College & Research Libraries : May 1969 The general conclusions of the planning study on Mechanized Information Services in the University Library are that such services represent a desirable, even neces- sary, extension of the library's b"aditional functions. Preliminary specifications for such a library-based "Center for Informa- tion Services" (CIS) are presented in this report. Covered are three sets of issues: ( 1) administrative issues, including the or- ganization of the CIS within the library, its administrative relationship to other cam- pus activities, its staffing, its method of op- eration, its service load, and its financing ; ( 2) hardware issues, including the li- brary I CIS computer configuration, its re- quirements for space, and its relationship to other campus computing facilities; ( 3 ) software issues, including the requirements for generalized programs to handle file management and search, reference retrie- val, text processing, numerical processing, and on-line processing. A Small College Information System: an Analysis and Recommendations. By Anne W. Schumacher. St. Paul: Hamline Uni- versity Library, 1968. 157 p. ED 024 488, MF-$0.75 HC-$6.36 ) . This study was undertaken to provide a detailed look at the functions currently be- ing performed by a small, liberal arts col- lege library and to develop some recom- mendations concerning its future role. The major questions studied in the report are ( 1) how satisfactory is the present library facility in supporting the information-relat- ed activities engaged in by members of the faculty and student body? and ( 2) if th e library facility is not providing ade- quate support, what alternative solutions are feasible? Data on three components of the information system-the users , the li- brary, and external sources-were collect- ed by m eans of structured interviews, ob- 8ervation , published materials , and re- search reports and studies. The basic rec- ommendation of the report is for a funda- mental shift in the college library's role from an information storage facility to an information switching center. N ew Dimctions for the City Unive1·sity Li- braries; Papers Presented at an Insti- tute (New York, April 18, 1968). By Betty-Carol Sellen and Sharad Kark- hanis, eds. New York: Library Associ- ation of the City University of New York, 1968. 81 p. (LI 001 253, MF- $0.50 HC-$3.32). The purpose of this institute was to con- sider the ways in which various phases of interlibrary cooperation could be developed in a large and geographically scattered sys- tem composed of many once autonomous units which have developed independently up to the present. Attending the institute were librarians from the City University of New York and other large academic libraries in the area as well as adminisb·a- tors and other college librarians interested in inter-library cooperation. Papers present- ed at the institute discussed: ( 1) the li- brary complex in the State University of New York and the various cooperative proj- ects and plans in that system; ( 2) the uni- fication of the City University and how it will affect the building of physical facil- ities , including libraries; ( 3) research li- brary cooperation on a national level; and ( 4) the cooperative programs between the University of North Carolina and Duke University as examples of library cooper- ation in a metropolitan area. Appended is a selective bibliography of twenty-four items on library cooperation. ]oint Design and Development of Library Systems. Final Report on Mechanized Information Services in the University Library. Phase !-Planning. Part 12. By Ralph M. Shoffner. Los Angeles: UCLA, Institute of Library Research, 1967. 35 p . (LI 000 505, available from Clearing- house for Federal Scientific and Techni- cal Information, as PB 178-442, MF- $0 .65 HC-$3.00). This is a summary report on the sym- posium on "Joint Design and Development of Library Systems." The major result of the symposium was a plan whereby in re- turn for the funding necessary to support meetings of and informal communications among a small project team of individuals working in different library systems cur- rently in the process of mechanization of some clerical process, the team would put their results-systems design, computer pro- grams, operations manuals-on deposit for use by others. A final design and imple- mentation report would also be written. The program specifications, general features of it, and operation and initiation of the project are discussed in detail. Key issues are presented with a brief characteriza- tion of the various possible answers as well as the consensus of the group concerning each . A Pilot-An On-Line Library Acquisition System. By Francis Spigai and others. Corvallis: Oregon State University Com- puter Center, 1968. 117 p. (ED 024 410, MF-$0.50 HC-$4.76). This report presents documentation of files, of file organization, and of forty- two of th e modular program subroutines us ed in a pilot project devised by the Ore- gon State University (OSU) Computer Center to simulate procedures in the Ac- quisitions Department of the OSU Library. A total of 224 bibliographically verified Abstracts I 281 requests for monographs, thirty vendor names and addresses, and sixty-two cam- pus departments having library fund allo- cations comprise the three files constituting the main data base for the pilot project. Fixed field formats are used for biblio- graphic input; the vendor file uses a var- iable field input. Searching is on both fixed and variable lengths and the initial meth- ods of accessing elements in the files are through table lookup, sequential match, and algorithmic search and retrieval strat- egies . The modes of interaction among the computer configuration, the programming system and the user in the project are on- line, real-time, time-sharing, and conversa- tional. Documentation of programs in this report assumes the use of a cathode ray tube terminal as the input/ output device; however, these same programs have since been modified for use on the teletyp e- writer. An area of programming not in- cluded is the algorithmic search used for locating the main entry. ••