Multiple-access programing will enable researchers to add information obtained later at any point on these three levels. Thus accretions to information about individual specimens will enrich the possibilities of in-depth searching. Even now chemical data are being added to the pilot project on rocks. By fall the Museum plans to hold a oneweek training course with demonstrations of SIIRS for museum administrators. Wherever broader acquaintance with the SIIRS concept reaches, interest in cooperating and coordinating with the program grows. On the international level, a visiting task force from the British Museum of Natural History returned home with ideas for implementation of information-handling systems on a unified basis-simpler there because of the smaller number of British museums; the British Museum is now acquiring some essential hardware. The British Museums Association has already organized conferences at Leicester and Sheffield. The British Office for Scientific and Technical Information has supported a project for the application of modern information retrieval methods to paleontological collections. In Canada the National Museum is coordinating its program with that of SIIRS to avoid duplication; its pilot project is in botany. An extensive visit to the Museum of Natural History was made by Canadian consultants. The Smithsonian will exchange magnetic tapes of formatted raw input data with the British Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Canada and contemplates similar arrangements with museums where. else Since SIIRS is expected to include the anthropological (and ethnological) collections eventually, consideration has already begun of interaction in overlapping areas with the Museum Computer Network, a consortium linking 15 art museums in New York. Analysis of Technology Transfer Project Initiated in Denver A new research project for the analysis of technology transfer has been initiated at the Denver Research Institute of the University of Denver (DRI) under a 12-month, $225,137 contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The ultimate purpose of the research is to enhance the effectiveness of NASA's technology transfer programs by providing a better understanding of the technology transfer process. A research team at DRI, consisting of R.0. Morgan, Robert Otten, and Dean Lessley and headed by Theodore D. Browne, has been assembled. The first year's objectives are: (a) to identify cases of space technology transferred to commercial use through selected NASA dissemination programs, (b) to document the circumstances surrounding these transfers, (c) to design and implement a Technology Transfer Data Bank, and (d) to analyze the resulting data to assist NASA with its technology transfer activities. DDC Services Make Record in 1967 During 1967 the Defense Documentation Center (DDC) provided 1,957,797 copies of technical reports to federal agencies, their contractors, subcontractors, and grantees. This reflects a 20% increase over the number of documents furnished by DDC in 1966. None of this distribution was automatic; each document was supplied at the request of an organization registered with DDC for service. DDC also provided 21,710 bibliographies to government and civilian organizations. DDC is the central facility of the Department of Defense for the secondary distribution of scientific and technical reports generated by Defense-funded efforts in research and development. DDC also operates computerbased data banks of management and technical information and is responsible for the development of information storage and retrieval systems. The services offered are available, without charge, to Defense and other federal activities and to their contractors, subcontractors, and grantees. The 51,688 technical reports added to the collection during the year brought the total of documents in the DDC collection to 852,696. These reports cover all areas of science and technology. Machine-Manipulatable Classification - System for Slide Collection E A classification scheme for a slide collection I will be developed for machine manipulation with the aid of a grant of $18,841 to the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Council on Library Resources, Inc., made the grant. Plans call for publication of the classification scheme and of a computer-produced book catalog of the 30,000 slides in the Santa Cruz library's collection. The projected universal I classification scheme is expected to accommodate visual materials of all academic dis= ciplines. The use of multiple access points in a 15digit number will make it possible to produce machine print-outs under a variety of headings: date, locations, personal name, subject, etc. The project involves use of punched cards and relatively low-level data-processing equipment. Systems already developed at the University are handled with a key punch, a sorter, and a rather versatile printer. The year-long project is headed by Luraine C. Tansey, slide librarian, and Wendell W. Simons, assistant university librarian. University of Akron Offers Tech Info Service to Business and Industry The University of Akron's Center for Information Services (CIS) has developed an electronic retrieval system for information on rubber, plastics, and synthetic fibers. CIS uses the system in its service of dispensing data to 24 industrial corporations and research centers in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain as well as to numerous individuals from industry and the University of Akron faculty. The system was initiated in September 1965 on campus by Panos Kokoropoulos, director of CIS, with the aid of the Division of Rubber Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. CIS provides technical information in bibliographic form and, on request, abstracts from the computerized data file. The CIS system is based on categorizing, keywording, and coordinate indexing. Specific services offered by CIS include (a) A retrospective question-and-answer service (c) Weekly awareness bulletins compiled from NLM Center in Atlanta Receives Award for Audiovisual Communications Work The National Audiovisual Association (NAVA) Annual Award has been given to the National Medical Audiovisual Center, a component of the U.S. Public Health Service's National Library of Medicine (NLM). The Center was cited for "great public service in the development and execution of its audiovisual communications program." The award was accepted at the Center in Atlanta by James Lieberman, NLM associate director for audiovisual and telecommunications and director of the Center. The National Medical Audiovisual Center is a pioneer in the field of biomedical communication. It is the originator and currently sponsor of the Community Medical Television System, a prototype 2500 megahertzian (mhz) system which links 11 Atlanta medical installations in a line-of-sight teaching system. The Community Medical Television System, which will serve as a prototype for others across the nation if proved feasible, is one innovation which helped win the NAVA Award for the Center. Scandinavian Technical Info Center in United States Changes Management The Scandinavian Documentation Center in Washington, D. C.-SCANDOC-is now managed by Sinikka Koskiala. Mrs. Koskiala was formerly head of the documentation activities. at the Finnish Graphic Arts Research Institute in Helsinki. SCANDOC, established in 1960, had been headed for three years by Nils L. Gram of Norway. SCANDOC is sponsored by the national research councils and academies for the technical sciences in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden through their joint Scandinavian Council for Applied Research. The center serves to facilitate the exchange of non-classified technical documents between North America and Scandinavia. It has supplied Scandinavian users with about 50,000 documents from the United States and Canada. SCANDOC, a nonprofit organization, has proved a useful tool for rapid distribution to Scandinavian users of non-classified research reports and other technical publications not readily available through regular channels. SCANDOC also assists North American institutions and scientists in procuring technical documents from Scandinavian sources. It responds to requests for information and literature within defined fields of knowledge. Further information can be obtained from SCANDOC, 2136 P Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; telephone (202) 265-6000. GRANTS AND CONTRACTS The following grants and contracts were awarded by the National Science Foundation during December 1967 and January 1968 in support of improved dissemination of scientific information: RESEARCH AND STUDIES Human Relations Area Files, $7,325 toward an automated, comprehensive, East Asian bibliographic system. Pittsburgh Regional Library Center, $18,775 for evaluation of a union list of serials. INFORMATION SYSTEMS American Institute of Physics, $239,300 for direct costs toward development of a national physics information system. American Institute of Physics, $143,300 for direct costs for maintenance of a computer store of physics information. American Mathematical Society, $43,000 for preparation and publication of a cumulative subject/ author index for the journal, Mathematics of Computation for 18 months. The American Museum of Natural History, $157,000 for a bibliographic service in herpetology. University of Chicago, $8,800 for publication of Spectroscopic Astrophysics for 12 months. DOMESTIC SCIENCE INFORMATION National Bureau of Standards, $30,500 for support for the work of the Task Group on Interchange of Scientific and Technical Information in Machine Language for 5 months. Herner and Company, $26,136 contract for the preparation of Current Research and Development in Scientific Documentation No. 15. Joint Committee on the Union List of Serials, Inc., $37,000 for the serials data program. FOREIGN SCIENCE INFORMATION American Geographical Society, $17,300 for the selected translation journal, Soviet Geography: Review and Translation. Soil Science Society of America, $45,000 for the translation journal, Soviet Soil Science, Vol. 1968. Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics, $24,600 for a monograph, Problems of Hydrodynamics and Continuum Mechanics. American Institute of Chemical Engineers, $18,400 for the selected translation journal, International Chemical Engineering, Vol. VIII (1968). American Society of Civil Engineers, $22,600 for the translation journal, Hydrotechnical Construction, Vol. 1968. Tunis, Agence Tunisienne de Public-Relations, $13,025 Tunisian dinars (equivalent to $25,000) under the Special Foreign Currency Translation Program. Entomological Society of America, $12,600 for the translation journal, Entomological Review, Vol. 47 (1968) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, $479 for partial support of the IEEE International Convention to be held in New York, N. Y., during March 1968. American Chemical Society, $3,542 for support of the Symposium on Notation System to be held in San Francisco, Calif., during March and April 1968. Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 1,575,000 Israeli pounds (equivalent to $525,000) under the Special Foreign Currency Translation Program. Central Institute for Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, Warsaw, Poland, 5,400,000 zlotys (equivalent to $225,000) under the Special Foreign Currency Translation Program. Planning of Asian Library Services and Pilot Project in Ceylon Plans for long-term library development for Asia emerged from a meeting held by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) and the Government of Ceylon in Colombo, Ceylon, in December. Eighteen experts at the meeting on National Planning of Library Services in Asia worked out general targets for 19681983 and a specific plan for Ceylon. The principles of planning worked out at the meeting will be embodied in a model plan for public and school library development in Ceylon, scheduled for implementation as long-term project of Unesco, commencing in 1968. This project will be another of Unesco's pilot projects in library development and is expected to serve as a stimulus for similar projects in other countries. Among recommendations to Unesco resulting from the meeting are the support of national surveys for library development in several Asian countries, the addition of library and documentation personnel to the Unesco regional office in Asia, and the establishment of regional facilities for library education in Asia. The delegates agreed on the following elements of planning for library development in Asia: (a) a central agency (such as a national library) should provide leadership for planning and coordination of the implementation of such planning; (b) legislation should provide the base for new or improved services; (c) the resources of the total library system (d) arrangements should also be made for the (e) professional education at various levels should Based on the present state of development of library service and literacy in many of the Asian countries, the general target recommen INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES ded for public library expenditure over the 15year period was 75 cents per capita. For elementary school libraries, 1% of total school expenditures was suggested, and for secondary school libraries, 2.1%. For college and university libraries, 5% of total expenditures was considered a minimum. John G. Lorenz, Deputy Librarian of Congress, served as a consultant to the meeting; and among United States observers attending was Ralph Esterquest, director of the International Relations Office of the American Library Association. OAS Experts Recommend Development Program with Information Aspects Means for promotion of scientific and technological research, teaching, and information in the countries of North, Central, and South America have been recommended by the Group of Experts in Science and Technology designated by the Organization of American States. The program proposed by the Group of Experts will utilize the existing scientific and technological institutes of the region to serve the entire region, with special attention to the relatively less-developed areas. Among multinational and support actions proposed are the strengthening of the scientific and technical infrastructure of the countries of the region and provision of the necessary link between the infrastructure and the development process. The institutes involved will make available all of their resources and in turn will receive assistance under the program in such essential aspects as the improvement of their library services. The 24 multinational programs proposed will cost an estimated $15,000,000 during the first year of operation. Chairman of the Group of Experts is NobelPrize-winner Bernardo A. Houssay, who is also chairman of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas of Argentina. The United States is represented in the Group of Experts by James R. Killian, chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation. Royal College of Art Working on An automatic cartographic cartographic information system that will produce maps of any scale or projection is under development at the Royal College of Art in its cartographic laboratory in Oxford, United Kingdom. A grant of over a quarter of a million pounds from the Natural Environment Research Council will enable the College to switch to computer operation of the work it has undertaken since in 1966 in the field of experimental cartography. Use of a new automatic (German) plotting table and a PDP9 computer will permit rapid and accurate conversion of lines, points area on maps, field sheets, etc., into digital information on magnetic tape. The information can then be retrieved in the form of maps in any scale or projection desired directly onto reproduction material. The project's staff of about 12 is directed by D. P. Bickmore. The group is concerned with the organization of cartographic data banks in many of the newer fields of geographical interest and initially with setting up feature coding systems, positional reliability gradings, etc. In addition to work on problems of automatic cartography, studies are also being made in the techniques of communicating cartographic information. NSF Funds U.S. FID Representation Funds for United States representation in the International Federation for Documentation (FID) are being supplied for the eleventh consecutive year by the National Science Foundation. Support in the amount of $53,425 is going to the U. S. National Committee (USNC) for the FID to carry on its activities from October 1, 1967, to September 30, 1968. The U. S. National Committee provides for U. S. representation in this international, nongovernmental organization. The FID's program is concerned with scientific and technical information problems. U. S. participation in international FID study committees is encour aged and implemented by the USNC/FID. At the present time the U. S. is represented by 33 members on 13 committees. Secretariats for two of these international committees the Universal Decimal Classification Committee on Earth Sciences and the Committee on Linguistics in Documentation-are located in the U. S. The latter, with the encouragement and assistance of USNC/FID, was established in 1966, with a secretariat at the Center for Applied Linguistics. Unesco Supports Archival and Library Projects Support for development of training programs and material for librarians and archivists has been provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). Unesco has concluded contracts with the International Council on Archives (ICA), International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), and the assistant director of the Lenin State Library to these ends. Under its contract ICA will prepare (a) A professional training program for archiv- IFLA will prepare (a) A Manuel sur la législation bibliothécaire, (c) A second edition of the work entitled Planning O.S. Churberyan of the Lenin State Library, Moscow, will make a study of the role of libraries, documentation services, and archives in economic and social development. |