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Mr. E. Q. DADDARIO,

THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER,

NUCLEAR STRUCTURE RESEARCH LABORATORY,
Rochester, N.Y., June 28, 1966.

Chairman, Subcommittee on Science, Research and Development, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. DADDARIO: Thank you for your letter of June 20, 1966, asking for comments on H.R. 15638 proposing a National Standard Reference Data System. I am presently serving as chairman of an advisory panel on nuclear data to the Office of Standard Reference Data of the National Bureau of Standards; and I feel very strongly that, at least in the nuclear data field, it is absolutely imperative to very substantially reduce the time between the publication of data in scientific journals and the appearance of the data with some degree of critical evaluation in compilations which are quickly available to people working in the field.

Principally because of the Atomic Energy Commission's interest in the nuclear data field, compilations of such data are said to be more extensive and up to date than in many other scientific fields. If so, the situation in other fields must be appalling. The lack of such compilations inevitably leads to vast duplication of effort because it is often quicker to measure physical properties in which one is interested than to search the literature to find out whether someone else has already done so. It is absolutely clear to me that major efforts must be made at once to correct this situation.

The problems involved are so complex that I can see no hope of solving them short of establishing a permanent Government office whose personnel would be involved full time in such efforts. In my opinion, the National Standard Reference Data System under the Secretary of Commerce provides the proper framework for coordinating and strengthening present data compilation efforts, expanding such activities in areas not presently covered, establishing acceptable standards for such efforts and providing a mechanism for distributing the results to scientists and engineers.

The preliminary planning that has been done by the Office of Standard Reference Data as outlined in the National Bureau of Standards publication NSRDSNBS 1 seems to me a sensible approach. The project is in its infancy, and I welcome any steps that can be taken to get things moving. H.R. 15638 will give Congressional backing to the NBS program and clearly such backing is essential. I can say without reservation that I am very much in favor of passage of this bill by Congress.

Yours sincerely,

H. E. GOVE, Director and Professor of Physics.

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Mr. EMILIO Q. DADDARIO,

E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO., INC.,
Wilmington, Del., June 27, 1966.

Chairman, Subcommittee on Science, Research and Development, Committee on Science and Astronautics, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. DADDARIO: I have reviewed your letter of June 20th with enclosures, which relate to H.R. 15638, a bill to provide for the collection, compilation, critical evaluation, publication, and sale of standard reference data.

I would support this proposal enthusiastically, and hope very much that the Bill will have the approval of the Congress. The compilation of recent data is exceedingly important to the entire scientific community, and I can think of no better agency than the National Bureau of Standards to carry that responsibility. In my very early days as a scientist, I did a small amount of work in connection with the compilation of the International Critical Tables. These have long since become out of date, and I am afraid the task of up-dating is far too great for a private institution to undertake.

As to details, the Bill seems entirely adequate for its purposes and I would have no comments to make as to procedural methods.

Sincerely yours,

C. H. GREENEWALT, Chairman.

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Hon. EMILIO Q. DADDARIO,

MELLON INSTITUTE, Pittsburgh, Pa., June 27, 1966.

Chairman, Subcommittee on Science, Research and Development,
House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. DADDARIO: On the basis of my understanding of the purpose of H.R. 15638, I am in favor of this bill. It seems to me that it will serve as the instrument enabling the Office of Standard Reference Data to proceed with its program in the most effective manner.

Sincerely yours,

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PAUL C. CROss, President.

AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE,
New York, N.Y., July 27, 1966.

Mr. PHILIP B. YEAGER,

Counsel, Committee on Science and Astronautics,
House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. YEAGER: Thank you for your letter of July 5, 1966 inviting the Amer ican Petroleum Institute to comment on H.R. 15638. After consultation with industry and staff representatives we have concentrated our comments on two points.

Our first comment is with regard to Sec. 4 which requires the Secretary to consult with other interested Federal agencies before prescribing and publishing the standards, criteria, and procedures for the preparation and publication of Standard Reference Data. We believe this consultation should be expanded to include representatives of the State and local governments, persons, firms, institutions, and associations which are covered in Sec. 3. Our experience has shown that the best design of Standard Reference Data is performed by the prospective users and not by the compilers alone. The advice of those who will be utilizing the output of this program is necessary in order to insure greater acceptability. Our second comment is an objection to Sec. 7(b). We believe that this section violates the intent of the proposed act. The first section states that it is the policy of the Congress to make reference data readily available. However, Sec. 7(b) which requires written authorization prior to copying any data compilation is antithetical to the concept of making the data available for general use. endorse the free exchange of standard data and can see no reason to restrain the use of the information by requiring an authorization prior to making a copy of any data compilation. We suggest that Sec. 7(b) be deleted. Thank you again for the opportunity to comment on this bill.

Sincerely,

We

FRANK N. IKARD, President.

163

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN,
SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY,
Ann Arbor, July 7, 1966.

Hon. WESTON E. VIVIAN,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. VIVIAN: Thank you for sending an analysis and copy of H.R. 15638. Your good distribution of the bill should bring some meaningful response on the merits or weaknesses of the bill.

From a discussion of the measure with some of our staff members at the School of Dentistry, I am able to draw the following conclusions as a consensus of their thinking:

(1) The bill, if enacted, would provide a program of some merit for many people, especially those connected with private industry where an extensive library is not readily available; and

(2) Such a reference system would be somewhat less important to a facility such as the School of Dentistry due to expertness of our professional staff and the current availability of reference data in our own library. As a general observation of the bill, close attention should be given the proposed program as to the degree of selection that would be made on data taken from the literature. Also, determination of the data's accuracy should be complete enough to make the data useful to all levels of scientific investigation.

Some analysis should be made as to what such reference data might cost an Institution such as The University of Michigan where several different schools might be ordering data.

Finally, I would urge that if a Standard Reference Data System becomes a reality, every effort should be made to include data from research and investigation done in private and public facilities in addition to that data gathered from federal agencies.

Again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on H.R. 15638.
Sincerely yours,
WILLIAM R. MANN, Dean.

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