would therefore like to mention briefly a proposed budget During the past 10 years, the library has been increasingly Prices of basic scientific reference books have increased 100 to 600 percent during the past 10 years, and the library has been unable to acquire many revised editions and new compilations badly needed by Department scientists. I want to state that we continually receive wonderful cooperation from the library staff. They work long and hard to provide our scientists with as much help as they possibly can. The fact remains, however, that the work of ARS would benefit considerably from the additional services that could be provided by the library with the increased funds requested. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) The National Science Foundation is authorized by law to maintain an active program of fostering cooperation and coordination of scientific information activities of Federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations. An Office of Science Information Service has been established within the National Science Foundation, in accordance with authority provided by title IX of the Defense Education Act of 1958. This Office has documentation research as its prime objective, with special emphasis on the development of systems to meet scientists' information needs. The Foundation has submitted an extensive report on its activities in this field, reproduced under part I of this report, which sets forth the fact that it is presently supporting a number of studies including (1) the information requirements of scientists; (2) information storage and retrieval systems; and (3) mechanical translations. The information submitted to the committee by the National Science Foundation is based in part upon repeated statements made to the staff that there was a serious lack of coordination and direction by the National Science Foundation on whom reliance has been placed for leadership in all civilian science fields. These allegations have been based upon the practice of the NSF to support the development of uncoordinated projects of particular agencies or segments of industry without a proper determination having been made as to our national requirements, or the initiation of a coordinated study and evaluation of the systems that would be needed to meet these requirements. Deficiencies which may exist in the programs of the NSF (i.e., lack of coordination of Federal and nongovernmental activities) are probably largely due to the limitations placed upon its activities by statutes which do not permit it to exercise operating functions. Dr. Alan T. Waterman, Director of the NSF, commented on this staff observation, as follows: In this connection, the Foundation, in carrying out all of While section 15(c) of the Foundation Act states that the Furthermore, title IX of the National Defense Education "(1) provide, or arrange for the provision of, indexing, It is, therefore, clear that the National Science Foundation is not statutorily barred from engaging in direct activities of an operating nature in the scientific information field. While the Foundation is not legally barred from such activities, it is generally proceeding on the assumption that more can be gained by close cooperation with, and in support of, existing scientific information services in the United States, both public and private, where they are functioning effectively, than by direct Federal operation of such services. The scientific information services rendered by many of the scientific societies and professional institutions to the scientific community are world famous for their quality. We believe it is essential that the Federal Government continue to cooperate with, and assist, such private groups in the achievement of long-range solutions to scientific information problems. At the request of the Subcommittee on Reorganization, following hearings held in April and May 1959, the National Science Foundation made a tentative evaluation of the program being advanced by Western Reserve University, which had been brought to the attention of the subcommittee, and awarded a contract to the University to further evaluate its mechanized systems as applied to the field of metallurgy, which is being carried on in cooperation with the American Society for Metals. Similar contracts have been awarded to the American Chemical Society and Chemical Abstracts in the field of chemistry. In commenting on the contract with WRU, the NSF stated: Members of the OSIS staff and the WRU staff had known each other personally, and had been in professional contact for some years prior to the 1959 hearings mentioned in the paragraph quoted above. The WRU staff had previously submitted proposals to, and had received grants from, the National Science Foundation. The present WRU activity being supported by the Foundation is resultant from a WRU proposal not the same as that presented to the committee mentioned. NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) A conference was held between members of the staff and Mr. Bertram A. Mulcahy, Director of Technical Information, NASA, at which it developed that the Administration was studying expansion of its information retrieval processes, but had reached no decision as to what methods, systems, or equipment would be utilized. In a letter to the committee under date of June 2, 1960, Mr. Mulcahy confirmed this conference, as follows: As I pointed out during my visit to your office, NASA is at present using traditional library methods of information storage and retrieval. Although the well-publicized expansion of technical information that must now be processed is taxing our manpower resources, we are skeptical of the "automated" systems that have been developed to date. Each of the systems of which we are aware possesses unique advantages in comparison with the "manual" methods, but none of them appears to produce an overall increase in efficiency that is commensurate with the optimism that a real breakthrough in information control may be imminent, and have therefore been reluctant to tie our processes too intimately to a system with which we might soon be dissatisfied. It is our intention that we will eventually adapt developed hardware to our needs, rather than to embark on our own research and development program in the area of information storage and retrieval. Also, we expect to make any changeover to mechanization by degrees, abandoning our present procedures one at a time. This process will, of course, require vigilance on our part to assure that various subsystems will be compatible with each other, and to avoid committing ourselves to a subsystem that quickly becomes obsolescent. OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES In a report to the committee relative to reorganization effected during the calendar year 1959, certain of the departments and agencies reported advancements made in new electronics procedures or data processing, as follows: Department of Agriculture.-Reported that— A Data Processing Division was established to provide cen- Department of the Treasury.—The Acting Secretary reported: The reduction in employment in the Bureau of the Public Debt is directly attributable to the adoption of the punchedcard form of savings bonds which has made possible the adoption of machine processes in lieu of former manual methods. The new form of savings bonds was introduced in October of 1957. Since that date a total reduction in personnel of over 500 employees can be attributed to the new procedures. The Treasury Department office in Chicago is the main beneficiary of the new electronic data processing system. This office is able to show a reduction of 179 employees due to this change. The Parkersburg office accounts for the major part of the remaining reduction. The decrease in employment in that office is due to refinements and improvements in the new electronics procedures. Although the number of checks paid by the Office of the Treasurer in 1959-398 million-did not diminish from the previous year, there was a net decrease of 19 employees in the Check Payment and Reconciliation Division. This accomplishment was made possible by a continuing appraisal of procedures followed, better utilization of personnel, and more efficient programing of the electronic data processing equipment. The Department also reported that a reduction of 859 employees in the Internal Revenue Service during 1959 was due, in part, to shifting tax returns processing work from the districts where centers and that, subject to the availability of funds plans are being completed for the establishment during 1960 Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.-The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare reported to the committee that a central planning staff was established in the Office of the Director to study the entire claims process in the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance with particular attention to the application of electronic data Federal Communications Commission.-The chairman reported that an Automatic Data Processing Study Group, working with the staff of the National Bureau of Standards to investigate the feasibility of automating Commission processes, was established during 1959. Interstate Commerce Commission.-The Commission reported that, during 1959 in connection with efforts to mechanize and improve various operations to the fullest extent possible, the payroll and savings bond processes were converted entirely to electronic computing machine operation. This conversion from a manual system resulted in a reduction of seven payroll clerk positions. Records destroyed or transferred to Federal Records Centers totaled 10,472 cubic feet, saving approximately $55,400 in replacement value of equipment and value of space. Railroad Retirement Board. The Board informed the committee that part of the decreases in personnel of 109 employees during 1959 can also be attributed to adjustments which have been made in preparation for the installation of an electronic data processing system in 1960. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES-NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL The Academy-Research Council established a new Office of Documentation during the summer of 1959. This action was the result of long planning and consideration and was in answer to a need repeatedly expressed by groups in and out of the Academy-Research Council. The Director of the Office is Dr. Karl F. Heumann, formerly Research Director, Chemical Abstracts Service. Dr. Heumann was also Director of the Chemical-Biological Coordination Center of the Academy-Research Council from 1952 to 1955. His training is in chemistry and he has had a long interest in problems of scientific information. In response to a request from the staff, Dr. Heumann submitted on April 4, 1960, the following comments relative to the operations of the Office of Documentation: The scientific literature has grown at an unprecedented rate in recent years, and many scientists have felt that the difficulties of searching and using information have similarly increased, even to the point where bibliographic control was effectively lost. As a response to this situation, new methods and techniques have been proposed for dealing with this ever-growing collection of information. New classification and indexing schemes, new electronic equipment, new methods of storing information on film or magnetic tapeall these have been developed in a discipline loosely covered by the term "documentation." The Office of Documentation has three major areas of interest: (1) Advice to the National Science Foundation and others as appropriate in broad problems of scientific documentation, including the recording, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of information to serve the needs of science; (2) provision of a mechanism for the participation of U.S. scientists and documentalists in international activities relating to scientific documentation; and (3) advice and assistance to the several activities of the Academy-Research Council in the documentation problems that they encounter from time to time. Close liaison is being maintained with the National Science Foundation's Office of Science Information Service and with other interested groups. |