design a computer-based system for the defined functions, write programs, and test the system in pilot implementation. Concurrently a total library system concept will be developed. Richard H. Logsdon is principal investigator for both Columbia projects. An earlier grant* from NSF is supporting the application of modern computer-based methods to standard library operations at the University of Chicago, under the direction of Herman H. Fussler. This project forms Chicago's contribution to the collaborative program. With OE support, Stanford is seeking to achieve an integrated bibliographical control system for its basic library operations through use of a time-shared, high-speed computer. Strong emphasis is being placed on visual display terminals for manipulating bibliographic data in "conversational mode." Allen Veaner is principal investigator for the Stanford project. User Manipulation Possible in Project for Remote Access to Bibliographic Files User-generated, computer-based private files will form a special feature of the University of Texas' project for the automation of selected library reference activities. A grant of $39,400 from the National Science Foundation has been made to the university to develop a central reference station incorporating microfilm cartridge files, readers, and teletype consoles for remote access to computer-based bibliographic files. The project has as its purpose the provision of rapid access to a portion of the technical periodical literature in the university library and the determination of the feasibility of providing similar access to a wider range of research material. The private files are of particular interest to the research scientist. A small group of users will set up their own computer-based private * See Scientific Information Notes, Vol. 9, No. 3, page 1. files, which may then be accessed and manipulated in special ways, permitting interpolation of additional information into the bibliographic data for future reference. Information will be developed during the last six months of the project regarding the purpose of use, style of use, and frequency of use of the system through periodic interviews with participants and examination of individuals' files. Alfred G. Dale is principal investigator for the project. Science Info Project in Econometrics Specialized information handling capabilities which may form the beginnings of an information system for the field of economics are expected to result from a project for the development of mechanization systems for biographical and bibliographical indexing undertaken by the Econometric Society in cooperation with the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth. Richard Ruggles and Nancy D. Ruggles are the principal investigators for the project, funded by the National Science Foundation at $19,000. The objective of this project is the automation of biographical and bibliographical information indexing and retrieval functions for science information in econometrics. Toward this end the Society and the Association will pursue activities in design, programing, and data banking in such a manner as (a) to utilize to the maximum the existing facili ties for automatic handling of the administrative affairs of the Society, (b) to achieve maximum compatibility with economic information sources, (c) to employ and extend the index prepared jointly by the American Economic Associa tion and the Society, and (d) to adapt and use functional capability elements of the Yale University Library mechanization project. The operating capability resulting from this project may later be expanded to provide an information system for the field of economics. Of more concrete and immediate benefit to research economists should be the decreased cost of indexing current publications, reflected in more comprehensive coverage. Priority Research Area: Applied Mathematics and "Informatics" The area of applied mathematics and "informatics" stands among the dozen high-priority research areas, ranking ahead of such areas as genetics and physics of plasmas, including controlled fusion, in the opinion of scientific councils of the major industrialized countries. A synthesis of reports from such countries as the United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Japan indicates 33 priority areas for research. The synthesis appears in the French publication, Sciences. * "Informatics" is a term coming increasingly into use to denote "information science" in French and Russian versions in the literature of these two countries. The article accompanying the table of priorities stresses the great divergence of opinion between scientists and governmental authorities. However, it says that in the case of mathematics and "informatics" governmental authorities and industrialists were the first to recognize the necessity for research and that the scientists-except in Japan-only much later come to a similar conclusion. Computer Procedures for Recording To develop procedures for automated controls for single-sheet maps in the collections of its Geography and Map Division, the Library of Congress has undertaken a pilot project funded by the Council on Library Resources, Inc. (CLR). CLR has made a grant of $33,537 to the Library for this purpose. The procedures to be developed will utilize computer technology by recording on magnetic tape such descriptive information as the full map title, call number, and dimensions of the map sheet. Once recorded, the data can be manipulated by the computer for providing bibliographic entries, publishable catalogs, cards for shelf lists, and other uses. The data can also be stored for future retrieval and more sophisticated uses as the Library's over-all automation program is developed. * See Sciences, No. 52, Novembre-Décembre 1967, pp. 23-25. The structure of the format to be used will be the Library's MARC II format. The latter has been developed in the Library's project to provide MAchine Readable Cataloging information for book materials. The project will be administered in the Geography and Map Division's Processing Section, headed by J. Douglas Hill, in cooperation with the Library's Information Systems Office. David K. Carrington, formerly librarian for the Office of Geography at the Department of the Interior, has joined the Geography and Map Division staff at the Library of Congress to serve as coordinator for the project. Viola Scandrett, computer systems analyst in the Information Systems Office, is providing technical assistance. Data Program for Marine Environment To complete a comprehensive study on a National Data Program for the Marine Environment, System Development Corporation (SDC) has signed a contract with the National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development. The $580,000 contract covers Phase II of the study and follows submission of a report on Phase I, undertaken by SDC under a $75,000 contract last year.** Phase II work plans have evolved from technical specifications drafted by representatives of participating agencies on a Data Management Advisory Panel, Joachim Weyl, the appointed chairman of the Panel, and the Council staff. The two-stage study is expected to determine whether ocean-related data can be used in significantly more effective ways in the support of marine sciences and ocean-based economic activities. The six parts of Phase II are analysis of the needs of data service customers, delineation of marine data and the means for handling them, evaluation of data functions, design of data program implementation plans, design of a National Marine Data Planning System, and data program synthesis. Further details of the data management study and a review of the current state of marine sciences information management may be found on pages 113-120 of Marine Science **See Scientific Information Notes, Vol. 9, No. 4, page 9. Affairs-A Year of Plans and Progress, prepared by the Council.* Panel members represent the following Council member and observer agencies: National Science Foundation, Atomic Energy Commission, Smithsonian Institution, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Science and Technology, and the Departments of Commerce, Interior, Navy, Transportation, and Health, Education and Welfare. The Panel has an outside chairman, Joachim Weyl of the National Academy of Sciences. GRANTS AND CONTRACTS The following grants and contracts were awarded by the National Science Foundation during February-March 1968 in support of improved dissemination of scientific information: CHEMICAL INFORMATION University of Pittsburgh, $120,000 for continuing a Chemical Information Center Experimental Station. DOMESTIC SCIENCE INFORMATION Smithsonian Institution, $150,000 for the operation of the Science Information Exchange. FOREIGN SCIENCE INFORMATION American Fisheries Society, $15,955 for translation journal, Problems of Ichthyology. American Geological Institute, $102,066 for translation journals: International Geology Review, Doklady -Earth Science Sections, Paleontology, and Geochemistry International. American Geophysical Union, $136,800 for translation journals: Soviet Hydrology, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics, Physics of the Solid Earth, Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, Geodesy and Aerophotography, Oceanology, and Geotectonics. Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, 380,000 Indian rupees (equivalent to $50,000) under the Special Foreign Currency Translation Program. International Council of Scientific Unions, $10,000 for continued partial support of the ICSU Abstracting Board. Library of Congress, $21,280 for partial support of the publication of the World List of Future International Meetings. NOLIT Publishing House, 2,187,500 Yugoslav dinars (equivalent to $175,000) under the Special Foreign Currency Translation Program. Special Libraries Association, $55,783 for operation of the Translations Center. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, $9,700 for translation journal, Theory of Probability and Its Applications, Volume XIII, 1968. Soil Science Society of America, $15,250 for translation journal, Soviet Soil Science, Vol. 1968. INFORMATION SERVICES American Society of Biological Chemists, $2,500 for The Journal of Biological Chemistry, "Xographic Illustration of Lysozyme Model." * See Page 21. American Society for Testing and Materials, $26,900 for preparation of a CODEN of periodical titles. Boston University, $12,900 for preparation of an International Bibliography and Trend Report on the Sociology of Marriage and Family Behavior. Regional Science Research Institute, $13,200 for publication of the Journal of Regional Science. The Geological Society of America, $480,000 for accelerated publication program of the Geological Society of America. University of Chicago, $8,800 for publication of Spectroscopic Astrophysics. University of Idaho, $6,950 for publication of a monograph on North American Indian Sorcery. University of Miami, $9,430 for publication of Stomatoped Crustacea of the Western Atlantic. University of Miami, $6,450 for publication of Dinoflagellates of the Caribbean Region. University of Miami, $6,360 for publication of A Revision of the Genera Brissopsis, Plethotaenia, Palaeopneustes, and Saviniaster. William Marsh Rice University, $14,400 for publication of a journal, Public Choice. INFORMATION SYSTEMS American Institute of Physics, $1,400 for maintenance of a computer store of physics information. American Mathematical Society, $23,500 for Committee to Monitor Problems in Communication. Columbia University, $200,000 for library system development for a large research library. The Econometric Society, $19,000 for development of mechanization system for biographical and bibliographical indexing. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $125,150 for continuing the Technical Information System. University of Texas at Austin, $39,450 for automation of selected library reference activities. RESEARCH AND STUDIES Princeton University, $158,775 for research on the improvement of automatic and computer-aided indexing and related means of information access. State University of New York, $9,400 for demand models for books in library circulation systems. System Development Corporation, $137,400 for document representation techniques. University of Michigan, $73,300 for integrative mechanisms in literature growth. SPECIAL PROJECTS University of Arizona, $55,200 for preparation of a prototype machine-readable subject index for desert environments information. GENERAL NEWS Chemical Info Center Set Up at University of Pittsburgh To Serve Individual Users & Improve System by Means of Feedback To experiment with providing chemical information to individual researchers and students as well as small independent industrial users, the University of Pittsburgh has established a Chemical Information Center Experimental Station. Many benefits are anticipated: The system will help individual researchers adjust to the new techniques of obtaining information through mechanical means. Feedback from the users will improve the system. And new relationships will grow among the professional society, academia, and individuals. A National Science Foundation grant of $120,000 will support the first phase of establishment of the Center and utilization of its feedback for modification and design changes in the developing, discipline-oriented Chemical Information System, fostered by the American Chemical Society operations. The Center will use as a base data obtained from the Chemical Abstracts Service Computer System, as well as data obtained from other suitable sources. The Center will expose new and pilot chemical information services to a broad group of users under carefully controlled conditions. It will elicit feedback information for augmenting or altering these services. The project will be operated by the university's Department of Chemistry, with Edward M. Arnett as principal investigator. Social sciences expertise at the university will aid in assessment of the system as it affects the users and as they affect it; human engineering and feedback mechanisms will receive particular attention. The university's computer center, already on a pilot "direct access" basis, will provide the mechanized operations capability. The project also will utilize the experience of the university's Knowledge Availability Systems Center. This chemical information project is the first one in the United States attempting to serve several universities, institutes, small industrial users, and individuals through a single centralized complex. A CAS-connected test center is already operating at the University of Nottingham in England, with financial support from the Chemical Society of London and the British Office of Scientific and Technical Information. CAS previously has taken advantage of the existence of automated information systems in several large industries to made experimental arrangements for their use of its new information products, and it has supplied services to a few government agencies. SLA Translation Center Receives The Translations Center of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) is rapidly becoming a national clearinghouse for access to translations of foreign scientific and technical literature. To assist in the support of the Center this year and to facilitate its assumption of extended functions, the National Science Foundation has granted SLA $55,783. SLA has taken on translation announcement responsibilities formerly carried by the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information. SLA's semi-monthly Translations Register-Index has become the single United States announcement and indexing publication through which availability of both non-government and government-sponsored translations can be determined easily. The Center also continues as the sole central source of announcement and supply for non-government translations. The Clearinghouse's U.S. Government Research and Development Reports now announces only government-sponsored technical translations. SLA operates the Center at the John Crerar Library in Chicago, Illinois. The Center collects English translations of scientific and technical literature from all languages. The cost of distributing individual translations, as requested, is covered by a fee charged for the service to the users. Under nine previous grants since 1956 NSF has assisted in the support of the Center. NSF funding covers that part of the cost of collecting, cataloguing, and preparing the announcements for translations which is not covered by the service charge to users. It is expected that user inquiries and the volume of service will increase when a Cumulative Index to the entire collection of over 130,000 translations, being prepared with NSF support, is published this year. NSF Supports Herpetology Bibliographic Service of Museum of Natural History A new bibliographic service in herpetology, coordinated with a similar existing project in ichthyology, has been established at the American Museum of Natural History. The National Science Foundation, which had earlier funded the pilot ichthyology project, has now made a grant of $157,000 to the Museum for the herpetology project. The Museum regards these bibliographic projects as the initial steps in its plans to set up a formal bibliographic service for information on cold-blooded vertebrates, which in turn should lead to development of a center for bibliographic information in systematic zoology. The herpetology project, under the direction of Herndon G. Dowling, is planned as a sixyear effort. NSF support for the first two years will permit implementation and testing of the proposed indexing codes and machine techniques and comparison of them with those being used for the ichthyology project and other bibliographic activities. Tasks to be accomplished during the two years of the NSF grant comprise (a) preparation of a bibliographic index to cur- The first list appears in the current issue of Herpetological Review. (c) preparation of a comprehensive bibliography and index of the retrospective herpetological literature and entry of the data on punched cards; (d) testing of the indexing codes and machine techniques to ensure that the punched-card files will provide an adequate means for effectively selecting and retrieving literature references on the basis of taxonomic, geographic, subject, and other significant indexing categories; (e) development of a file of important items of literature, such as original taxonomic descriptions and generic revisions, on 3M "Filmsort" cards and cross-indexing of this file to the bibliographic files; and (f) provision of listings of current titles in the herpetological literature to the BioSciences Information Service of Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS), and coordination and cooperation with BIOSIS and other organizations on such matters as indexing, coding, machine handling, and the distribution and sale of the project's bibliographic products and services. Library Construction Grants To assist construction of medical libraries at seven leading medical schools, the United States Public Health Service has awarded $8,217,178 in grants. The awards, made under the authority of the Medical Library Assistance Act (P.L. 89–291) and administered by the National Library of Medicine, are $1,432,246 to Wayne State University Medical School; $1,010,000 to to the School of Medicine Library, Boston University; $536,331 to the Library of Science, Brown University; $1,295,595 to Paul Himmelfarb Library, George Washington University; $1,765,636 to Scott Library, Jefferson Medical College; $1,636,077 to School of Medicine Library, University of Nebraska; and $541,293 to the Library of Science and Medicine, Rutgers-the State University. In addition to making possible construction grants, the Medical Library Assistance Act authorizes programs of assistance to healthscience libraries for resources, training, research, publications, and the development of Regional Medical Libraries. More than $10 mil lion has been awarded under these programs since the Act was signed into law by President Johnson in October 1965. |