in discussions aimed at defining a nationwide network. The task force completed its work during the year and issued its final report. In setting about its work, the task force determined that it would assess the current status of school library media centers and work toward developing a concept of the potential role of school libraries relative to networking.

The task force met several times and held two open forums during meetings of the American Library Association (ALA). These forums, co-sponsored by ALA and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), publicly presented some of the initial considerations of the task force and elicited input from educators and professional librarians working with children and young adults.

The final report of the task force is entitled, The Role of the School Library Media Program in Networking. The report recognizes the essential part that school libraries can play in a nationwide resource sharing network. Through networking, young people will have a full opportunity to gain exposure to the variety of information resources they will need in later life. The document establishes the rationale for inclusion of the school library media program in networking endeavors, analyzes the contributions school libraries can make, studies the benefits to users, touches on inherent problems, and finally, makes a number of recommendations targeted toward agencies and specific group actions.

Task Force on Computer Network Protocol

This task force completed its work during the year and issued its final report. If a coherent nationwide network of library and information services is to emerge, some part of that network will almost certainly involve computers. The task force addressed itself to a fundamental problem in computerized communications: presently, a great many information services for libraries-especially bibliographic services are being implemented on different hardware configurations all across the country. In order to make these different services available on a nationwide basis, certain new standards must be developed that specify the procedures for carrying on a computer-tocomputer dialogue in a nationwide bibliographic network.

The task force report, A Computer Network Protocol for Library and Information Science Applications, may form the basis for standardization in this important area. The report outlines methods for ensuring efficient and accurate communication regardless of differences in computer architecture or operating systems.

As such, the proposed protocol represents the clearing away of a major, time-consuming, technical roadblock which would otherwise impede the establishment of a coherent nationwide library network. The document also points to several areas which need further inves

tigation. Among these are provision for the orderly growth and extension of the protocol, a "registry" of conventions regarding its use, and further research into standards for message content. The report also recommends that some means be sought for testing the concepts contained in the protocol in a realistic environment. Without such a test, the protocol recommendations will remain an unfinished first step toward intersystem communications. Subsequent work at the Library of Congress has helped prepare an implementation plan for such a test and the Library of Congress monitored the contract for this plan.

Task Force on American National Standards

Committee Z39

A remarkably complex set of standards underlies the provision of effective library and information services. Responsibility for overseeing the development of a large number of those standards falls to the Z39 Committee of the American National Standards Institute. The ANSI Z39 Committee has been an important focus for the creation and adoption of standards pertaining to library work, documentation, and related publishing practices since its inception in 1939. Yet the effort has depended for its existence on the patience and goodwill of a few individuals who have contributed their time and enthusiasm to this cause.

A task force was established to look at the present arrangements under which the standards committee operates and to make recommendations that would establish those operations on a sound and reliable basis. The task force was jointly sponsored by NCLIS, the National Science Foundation and the Council on Library Resources. Meetings of the task force began during the previous Fiscal Year, and ended with a final report issued in the current year. The report makes a number of recommendations to ensure a stable future for this standard-making activity. In general, it sets out the requirements for a planned and carefully managed approach to standards development. The report recommends an expansion of the scope of the Committee and discusses organizational alternatives, appropriate membership, possible sites for a secretariat, and the all-important question of funding. Without appropriate funding, the Committee cannot hope to take the aggressive posture needed for developing the many standards so vitally necessary to the library and information science community.

Bibliographic Control of Nonprint Media

Increasingly, the material available through libraries is being produced in forms other than the traditional printed form. Films,

phonodiscs, audio cassettes, videotapes, slides and a wide variety of other formats are becoming more and more popular. Yet the ability to access this material through currently available bibliographic tools is quite inconsistent. Descriptive standards for cataloging are much better suited to traditional printed materials, and the bibliographic files that have been developed give proportionately better access to these works.

The Commission, in conjunction with the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), has taken the first steps toward correcting this serious gap in bibliographic coverage by undertaking an inventory of existing bibliographic files on nonprint media and an analysis of the elements in the records of each file. This survey confirmed the need for improvement, since it uncovered the fact that the only data element common to all of the bibliographic files examined was the title.

Another step in the process was the development of a preliminary set of specifications for bibliographic records of nonprint media. Papers identifying these preliminary specifications were widely discussed at sessions of national meetings of three major concerned professional societies, the Association of Educational Communications and Technology, the American Library Association, and the American Society for Information Science.

The final report of this project takes into account many of the suggestions received during these discussion sessions. The report, entitled Problems in Bibliographic Access to Non-Print Materials: Final Report, is due to be published early in 1979. This document explores attitudinal problems as well as operational impediments that prevent incorporating bibliographic data relating to audiovisual materials into ongoing network activities. The study found that most of the elements necessary to build a successful bibliographic network for audiovisual materials are already in place. The report emphasizes the use of recognized cataloging standards, and suggests that a further study should be initiated touching on overall economic and management questions and integration with larger networking efforts.

Library Photocopying in the United States

During the previous Fiscal Year, NCLIS joined forces with the National Science Foundation and the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) to support a national study of photocopying in all types of libraries. The study was published at the beginning the current Fiscal Year and provides valuable information on the volume and characteristics of library photocopying in the United States. Completed just prior to the effective date of the new Copyright Law, the study can now serve as a benchmark against which changes in photocopy practices as a result of the

new law can be measured. This project represents a particularly important piece of research that can aid the Congress in understanding the likely effects of the Copyright Law.

Advisory Committee on the National
Periodicals System

During the year, NCLIS took further steps to implement the recommendations of its earlier task force on Access to Periodicals. The study produced by that task force, entitled Effective Access to the Periodical Literature, A National Program, envisioned the establishment of a three-level National Periodicals Systems. In this system Level 1 would consist of local, state and regional library systems responsible for meeting a substantial portion of routine needs for periodicals. Level 2 would comprise a comprehensive periodicals collection dedicated for lending and photocopy service to meet the majority of unfulfilled requests derived from Level 1. Initially, a single National Periodicals Center would be developed, but experience and demand may warrant more than one. Level 3 would be created from existing national libraries and other unique collections used to back up the first two levels. Two of the recommendations from the task force were that a design study of the proposed Center be undertaken, and that an NCLIS Advisory Committee on the entire system be formed.

The Council on Library Resources, at the request of the Library of Congress, has conducted the design study, and that work has resulted in a technical development plan. At about the same time, NCLIS designated an Advisory Committee on the National Periodicals System. Among other things, this Committee will review the technical development plan and give its advice to the Commission. The members of this Committee are listed in Appendix IVB.

Library of Congress National Data Base Project

The Commission continued its sponsorship of a study, which is being carried out at the Library of Congress, concerned with the design of a national data base configuration for bibliographic information. A particularly important aspect of this study is that it focuses on the provision of authority control systems across institutional boundaries. The bibliographic control systems used in our nation's libraries are many and varied. If a comprehensive approach to using the valuable cataloging data developed as part of each system is ever to become a reality, many questions must be resolved regarding the compatibility of these disparate schemes. Some of the background tasks underway as part of this study are:

1. An analysis of the various cataloging rules and subject heading systems followed by the nation's libraries.

2. Investigation of the reference tools used and required for determining authority relationships.

3. A statistical analysis of the entire Library of Congress machinereadable cataloging file to determine properties of its data elements and the dynamics of its growth as compared with derivative files.

Eventually, as a result of this and similar studies, it should be possible to distribute some of the responsibilities for authority control to many different agencies participating in the construction of a widely distributed bibliographic data base.