bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
1
Authors: HUTTON R.S.
Published: January 2008

The importance for our national scientific and industrial future of greatly improved library and information services, to compare with those available in several other countries, is at last being recognized.
3
Authors: WEBB MAYSIE
Published: January 2008

To practising librarians and information scientists the Patent Office Library needs no introduction. Nor, of course, do I yet claim more competence than the next to give its history, offer its credentials, and expound its motives. It seems, however, useful to begin by emphasizing three main aspects of its make‐up which seem to me to display the essence of its existence and point the way to its future.
QUARTERLY DOCUMENTATION SURVEY
Authors: PATERSON G.M.
Published: January 2008

The ideal in information storage and retrieval is a computer so specialized and so perfect that scientific writers would be compelled to write so as to conform to its input demands. Before this is achieved, however, existing documentation systems should be evaluated to see whether they are put to their optimal use. In the field of electronic machine translation, both visual and aural input have serious drawbacks. Output can be in the form of rapid print‐out, automatic composition and photography with a cathode grill or baffle‐plate, or ultrarapid aural dispersement. The disadvantages of present‐day language‐language dictionaries coded for machines are discussed. The two main difficulties in the production of abstracts, the time‐lag and the need for subject‐specialists, can be overcome with author abstracts, evaluations, and analyses by the editors at time of publication, and better titles and sub‐titles. Seven types of existing memory machines are compared from the point of view of input and storage, methods of retrieval to compare items of stored information, cost, problem‐solving time, and size.
CONCERNING CONFERENCES
Authors: KING ALEXANDER
Published: January 2008

The conference, and especially the international conference, is one of the most remarkable phenomena of modern society. Infectious and insidious, it has during the last few decades penetrated to all the corners of the world. While it has reached real epidemic proportions in the USA and Western Europe, it is now to be found everywhere—ceremoniously in Asia, seriously in Africa south of the Sahara, importantly in Latin America, relentlessly behind the Iron Curtain. Not only is it rampant in the great cities of the world, but as an off‐peak support of the hotel industry it is to be found in every English spa and seaside resort, in alpine villages, Greek islands, in the Stockholm Skärgard, on ships at sea, and even in aeroplanes. I heard the other day of a conference being planned for tranquillity on Volcano, one of the Lepari Islands!
THE SOURCES OF BOOKS FOR UNDERGRADUATES
Authors: TUCKER P.E.
Published: January 2008

The Library of the University of Leeds, at the invitation of the Nuffield Foundation, carried out a survey of the borrowing use made of it by the staff, research students, and undergraduates of the university during the calendar year 1957, and a report on this survey was published in the Journal of Documentation in March 1959. The results were of value in showing in great detail what demands were made upon the library's stock by different groups of borrowers; it did not show how much use was made of the library for reading on the premises, or how much users of the University Library were able to draw upon external or private resources. The statistics for borrowing showed that undergraduate students ranged fairly widely in their borrowing, and that, for example, many of them made good use of the periodicals in their fields of studies, but it also showed that many of them borrowed from the university libraries only once or twice in a year, or not at all. What other resources had these students? How much did they read and work in the library without borrowing, and how much did they depend upon outside libraries, upon private borrowing, and upon their own book buying? Evidently a more comprehensive account of students' use of the library was needed to show the relative importance of the various means at the student's disposal in his need for books.
THE INTERNATIONAL INVENTORY OF MUSICAL SOURCES
Authors: HYATT KING A.
Published: January 2008

‘Your name? your country? who gave you those clothes?’ These famous leading questions, uttered by the shrewd Arete on seeing the much‐travelled Odysseus clad in garments belonging to her husband Alcinous, might have been echoed by the shade of Robert Eitner when confronted with the recently published first volume of the International Inventory of Musical Sources. For while Eitner would scarcely have recognized in the Inventory the principles of his own Quellen‐Lexikon, he would also have been amazed at their transformation and have wondered how and where it all happened. The format and binding of this volume are handsome, in the style of the twentieth century: the threefold location symbols begin with the letter or letters denoting each country according to the international registration of motor‐vehicles—a form of transport unimagined by Eitner. To those who tread in his footsteps, sixty years later, it is clear that without the inspiration of his great achievement the Inventory would probably have taken much longer to become a reality. Its origin must, therefore, be considered briefly in relation to its forerunner.
SOME NOTES ON STAFF AND ADMINISTRATION OF GERMAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Authors: LANGSTADT E.
Published: January 2008

The following paper is based on personal visits made to the learned libraries of the Land Nordrhein‐Westfalen in November and December 1960. My thanks are due to the Kultusminister whose invitation made possible these visits, to Professor K. H. Rengstorf of the University of Münster who suggested the invitation and gave me the utmost assistance, and to the University of Leeds for granting me leave of absence. I would also like to thank the heads of the Universities of Münster, Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen for their generous hospitality and help, and in particular the librarians and staff of the libraries for their friendly reception and for time so willingly given to answering my questions.
SURVEY OF TECHNICAL INQUIRY RECORDS AT THORNTON RESEARCH CENTRE, ‘SHELL’ RESEARCH LIMITED
Authors: MOTE L.J.B. , ANGEL N.L.
Published: January 2008

The records of technical inquiries collected at Thornton over the last ten years have been surveyed with the object of deriving useful information from them.
BINDING OF PERIODICALS IN THE NATIONAL LENDING LIBRARY
Authors: BUNN R.M.
Published: January 2008

The binding policies for periodicals in the majority of libraries are very similar. In the main they are designed for libraries which are primarily reference libraries. Often the appearance on the shelf is the main consideration. In many cases the size of the bound volume is determined by the publisher and not by considerations of use, with the result that many libraries contain some monster volumes. The question of designing a periodical binding policy for a lending library has received very little consideration, possibly because the main lending libraries in the country—the public libraries—pay little attention to periodical material.
EDGE‐PUNCHED CARD EXAMINATION OF RETRIEVAL PATTERNS IN INFORMATION OFFICES, AND RELATED INVESTIGATIONS
Authors: SABEL C.S. , TERRY J.E. , MOSS J.H.
Published: January 2008

A survey of inquiries addressed to the Information Office of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), Harwell, is described. The objects of the survey were to collect facts about such inquiries, the work involved and methods used in answering them, and the nature of the answers obtained; to discover useful generalizations from these facts and to apply relevant generalization to the improvement of the information service at Harwell.
THE FUNCTION OF THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Authors: JOLLEY L.
Published: January 2008

‘There are,’ we are told by a one‐time Professor of English Literature at Yale, ‘three distinguishing marks of a university—a group of students, a corps of instructors, and a collection of books; and of these three the most important is the collection of books.’
REASONS FOR THE VARIATIONS IN THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF SCIENTISTS
Authors: MOTE L.J.B.
Published: January 2008

To determine whether a scientist working within the limits of a single subject makes fewer demands for assistance in information retrieval than one whose activities are not so limited.
USE OF A TECHNICAL WORD ASSOCIATION TEST IN THE PREPARATION OF A THESAURUS
Authors: PAPIER L.S. , CORTELYOU E.H.
Published: January 2008

In the current revision of an information retrieval system at the Naval Propellant Plant, terms representative of the literature of propellant technology were collected. We found that the majority of the terms fell into five basic categories, namely: fields, objects, processes, properties, and substances. These categories are being worked out for synonyms, hierarchical incorporation, and so on. The resulting list will constitute a technical thesaurus. In addition, we plan to include for each term in the thesaurus an association list of related terms that appear in other parts of the thesaurus. This list will be similar to the related terms in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' thesaurus or most ‘see also's’ of the conventional catalogue.
MECHANICAL INDEXING OF PROPER NOUNS
Authors: ARTANDI SUSAN
Published: January 2008

A proper noun entry is an index entry for the name of a particular person, place, or thing. While this type of entry is comparatively easy for humans to recognize, it is difficult to define for the purposes of computer processing. The kind and number of proper nouns which appear in a text vary to some extent with the subject matter. The ratio of proper nouns to all other text words may be higher in such subject areas as history and literature than it is, for example, in the sciences. However, in many instances proper nouns constitute a high proportion of index entries in the sciences.
USE OF THE FRIDEN FLEXOWRITER IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ATOMIC ENERGY RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT, HARWELL
Authors: WILSON C.W.J.
Published: January 2008

The Friden Flexowriter was acquired by AERE Library primarily as a better method of producing a greater number of catalogue cards and lists with less clerical and typing effort, and to provide basic records of documents which might be used at any time in the future with little additional labour.
THE LAMINATION OF DOCUMENTS
Authors: WERNER A.E.
Published: January 2008

Paper consists essentially of cellulose and, as such, is susceptible to deterioration when exposed to adverse conditions such as high relative humidity, which encourages mould growth of cellulytic organisms, and acidity, which causes hydrolytic breakdown of the cellulose molecules. This type of degradation causes a loss of mechanical strength with the result that paper becomes brittle and fragile. It is, moreover, an irreversible process so that the intrinsic strength of paper cannot be restored by any known means, and, therefore, some form of lamination will have to be adopted in which the fragile paper documents are sandwiched between two sheets of a supporting material. The classical method of lamination is that of ‘silking’—a process in which both sides of the document are covered with fine silk having an open weave which is attached by an adhesive such as starch paste or dextrin. This process has been used for a long time for the repair of valuable books and manuscripts, but it does suffer from the disadvantage that deterioration of the silk will inevitably occur unless care is taken in the choice of the quality of the silk and of the adhesive, and also the conditions of storage must be carefully controlled.
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL AND SUBJECT INDEXING: CRANFIELD AND AFTER
Authors: KYLE BARBARA R.F.
Published: January 2008

Many of us feel that as a result of the Cranfield experiments we ought perhaps to know something that we didn't know before and that this knowledge ought to have some positive effects on our work—the difficulty is to be sure exactly what these effects should be and what we ought to be doing about it, other than acquiring guilt feelings. During the period of the Cranfield experiments I myself have also been engaged, on a less impressive scale, with similar problems in different fields of knowledge.
BOOKSELLING TO UNIVERSITIES
Authors: BLACKWELL JULIAN
Published: January 2008

‘The library founded by the first Ptolemies was in the most splendid district in the city … where a number of scholars were maintained at public expense in order to devote themselves entirely to the pursuit of knowledge.’ The University of Alexandria acquired most of its books by the simple process of appropriating all that came into the city; these Ptolemy caused to be copied and a fair copy returned to the owner. Many university librarians must envy the Alexandrians not only the ‘most splendid district in the city’, but also this method of acquiring books. Even at that time there were booksellers in Athens, and the need for a middle man was being recognized, a need that I am sure no university librarian would dispute today.
THE NEW LOOK IN UNIVERSITY BOOKSELLING
Authors: DILLON UNA J.
Published: January 2008

A young man came for an interview recently as he wished to talk over the possibilities of making a career in bookselling. After some discussion he put a question to me: ‘You have frequently used the term “university bookselling”. Is it so different from bookselling in general?’ This was not easy to answer briefly, and on further consideration it becomes even more difficult, for it is clear that the fundamental aims of all types of bookseller are the same. They could be summed up as a, to carry as good an overall stock as capital and space permit, b, to give a good service to customers, and c, to sell as many books as possible at the best terms which can be obtained. These are common to us all, and the only difference in university bookselling is in the scope of what is required under a and b.
LES CONDITIONS D'ACCES AUX LIVRES POUR LES ETUDIANTS DU 1° ET DU 2° CYCLE EN FRANCE
Authors: SALVAN PAULE
Published: January 2008

Avant d'aborder une étude qui ne peut, disons‐le tout de suite avoir le même contenu que l'excellent article de Mr Bowyer, paru en 1963 dans cette mme revue pour la Grande‐Bretagne, il convient de rappeler brièvement les grandes lignes de la structure universitaire française et de marquer les limites de notre enquête.
NOTE ON THE ECONOMICS OF CATALOGUE CARD REPRODUCTION
Authors: GRAHAM MACKENZIE A.
Published: January 2008

During the planning period of Lancaster University Library, much thought was given to the available methods of producing unit cards for the catalogue. The prime considerations were speed of production, since it was estimated that an output of twenty thousand sets of entries would be required each year, and economy in operation; in our situation, with all capital costs being met by a direct non‐recurrent grant from the UGC, the initial outlay was not such a critical factor in the choice, but obviously had to be taken into consideration. The appearance and quality of the finished entries were also important.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Authors: GRAHAM MACKENZIE A.
Published: January 2008

It is with great regret that the Editorial Board has learned that Miss Barbara Kyle has been compelled by a serious illness to resign her appointments as Research Librarian of Aslib and Managing Editor of the Journal of Documentation, which she has held with distinction since 1962. Readers of the Journal and its contributors (among whom she has often been numbered) cannot have failed to note the smooth efficiency with which Miss Kyle has carried out the complicated task of ensuring that its successive parts have appeared punctually and in good order: the Editorial Board will continue to benefit from her wide experience, since she remains one of its members.
INFORMATION USE STUDIES PART 2—COMPARISON OF SOME RECENT SURVEYS
Authors: BARNES R.C.M.
Published: January 2008

Information‐use studies are vitally necessary in order to complement, challenge, and sharpen informed intuitive judgements, but even the broadest conclusions drawn from such studies need to be examined critically. The conclusions or their generality may sometimes be invalidated by special conditions in the survey sample, by the environment having been disturbed by the survey, by the interpretation given to questions or observations, or by the way the data has been analysed. These same factors make direct comparison of results from different surveys difficult, and make superficial comparisons misleading. Some comparisons and conclusions are certainly much less sound than the casual reader might suppose, particularly when results have been compressed and taken out of their context in the original survey. The difficulty of comparing information‐use surveys is well illustrated by the copious footnotes used by Menzel, Lieberman, and Dulchin in order to qualify the significance of the results which they compare.
A USER'S ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT AWARENESS SERVICES
Authors: BOTTLE R.T.
Published: January 2008

Before one looks at services intended to make one aware of current progress in science, one should look briefly at the structure of science and at how, and perhaps why, information is generated. It has long been an administrative convenience to divide science into a number of quite well‐defined fields such as biology, physics, chemistry, etc., and to further subdivide these, again largely for administrative reasons. Chemistry, for example, may be divided into inorganic, organic, physical, etc. branches.
THE COLLEGE BOOKSTORE IN THE UNITED STATES
Authors: ROSENBERG BETTY
Published: January 2008

‘In ten years, more or less, it seems certain that the college bookstore will become very nearly the most important, and perhaps the most import‐ant, book outlet in America.’
THE ANSWER?—THAT IS THE QUESTION
Authors: HORNER G.W.
Published: January 2008

R.G. Collingwood, a writer we all looked into in the thirties, said that it was not the answer that was of first significance but the proper framing of the question. (Chekhov had already observed, of art, that in Anna Karenina not a single question is answered, but the problems are perfectly stated.) Such ideas would seem relevant to the work of reference libraries only in so far as they amount to a near‐dismissal of it. They are here advanced as a kind of handle to the suspicion that certain of its recurring difficulties may belong to a fairly labyrinthine area of permanent human responses.
DOCUMENTATION SERVICES AND LIBRARY CO‐OPERATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Authors: WALFORD A.J.
Published: January 2008

In 1951 Barbara Kyle and I presented a joint paper on ‘Co‐operation between libraries specializing in the social sciences’ at the 1951 Library Association Conference, Edinburgh. That brief survey dealt with documentation services and library co‐operation in Britain at the time. Undoubtedly advances have been made since then and we can see more clearly the gaps and anomalies, particularly as compared with corresponding achievements in science and technology.
LANGUAGE AND CLASSIFICATION
Authors: FOSKETT D.J.
Published: January 2008

One of the least studied aspects of information retrieval is the relationship, on the linguistic plane, between the language of enquirers and the terms used by indexing systems. Much of the writing about system structure assumes that these are equivalent, that every enquirer is honest enough to call a spade a spade, and that the problems of designing descriptor languages for use in indexing he in the field of definition. This partly accounts for the sudden leap to fame of the thesaurus; for while a dictionary merely gives definitions of words one by one, a thesaurus, being slightly more refined, gives descriptive analyses in terms of synonyms and near‐synonyms, sometimes grouping them into sets based on some common characteristics.
USING CLASSIFICATION IN TEACHING INDEXING
Authors: MILLS J.
Published: January 2008

The status of cataloguing and classification, Siamese twins if ever there were such, has undergone some sharp ups and downs in Britain and America in the past generation. Until the beginning of the post‐war period, for example, we had in Great Britain the extraordinary situation whereby an exhaustive examination in the pair was the sole content of the basic chartering examination for librarians. By successive revisions of their examination syllabus, the Library Association reduced the emphasis on the subject until a point was reached when, by the operation of exemptions, a graduate entrant could become a chartered librarian without having had any sustained instruction in the fundamentals of cataloguing and classification as such.
NOTES ON CATALOGUING IN SPECIAL LIBRARIES WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON AUTHOR AND NAME ENTRIES
Authors: KYLE BARBARA R.F.
Published: January 2008

Catalogues of special libraries are primarily finding tools, and not repositories of exemplary cataloguing. Author and name entries, no less than subject entries, should be evaluated from the point of view of information retrieval. Multiple entries on unit cards generously used may well be justified not only on grounds of efficiency but also on grounds of economy. Stationery, duplicating, and space for extra cards are often cheaper than man‐hours spent in thinking, argument, and fruitless searches. Entries for periodical articles should not be separated from the main catalogue. Series entries in numerical order should include reasons for any deliberately excluded items. A study is made of two possible inquiries and of how far author and name entries may usefully be made for ‘sponsors’ as well as authors of publications. The use of agreed abbreviations is advocated as an economy. Biographee entries should be made in the author catalogue for studies of the work of specialist organizations. Use of book‐reviews for finding critiques of works of such organizations is suggested. Case studies of actual searches should form the basis in compiling a cataloguing code for special libraries.
COURSES ON THE STRUCTURE AND USE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE
Authors: WOOD D.N. , BARR K.P.
Published: January 2008

An account is given of courses on the structure and use of scientific literature which have been run at the National Lending Library for research students, university librarians, and academic staff of universities. A meeting of university librarians has been held to discuss the problems of organizing similar courses in British universities and a brief account of this meeting is given. Appendices include programmes of the various courses and questions which were used during practical literature searching sessions.
A FURTHER NOTE ON THE ECONOMICS OF CATALOGUE CARD REPRODUCTION
Authors: RATCLIFFE F.W.
Published: January 2008

The recent article on the economics of catalogue card reproduction by A. G. Mackenzie contains a number of observations in the use of offset litho which are completely at variance with experience in the University Library of Newcastle upon Tyne. The decision was taken early in 1964 to introduce unit cards and to seek a speedy method of reproducing them. As the University was new only in the matter of its charter there was no direct non‐recurrent grant from UGC to meet costs. The Friden Flexo‐writer was out of the question and after examining the available systems, the choice finally settled on the Multilith Model 80.
STUDIES AT THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST ON REAL‐TIME COMPUTER CONTROL OF BOOK CIRCULATION
Authors: KIMBER RICHARD T.
Published: January 2008

Real‐time, or on‐line computer control of circulation records, is being studied at The Queen's University of Belfast. This paper describes in simple terms the real‐time method of operating a computer and suggests a library model based on this. Two experimental real‐time computer library situa‐tions are described: at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M. M. Kessler is operating an indexing system which is capable of possible expansion to library catalogue size, while at the IBM Los Gatos Library an experimental ordering and cataloguing system is operating. Plans for the circulation control experiments at Queen's University, Belfast, are presented and discussed. They provide for interrogation of the loan file to provide information about any book on loan, and for automatic recall and reserve routines. The experiments will also include cost analyses.
STUDENT ATTITUDES TO THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: A SECOND SURVEY AT SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY
Authors: LINE MAURICE B.
Published: January 2008

In May 1965 a survey into student attitudes to the Library of Southampton University was carried out by questionnaire with a sample of 322 under‐graduates. The aim was to assess the effect, if any, of the considerable measures taken since the 1962 survey. Uncontrolled factors, mainly related to the rapid expansion of the University, may, however, have affected the results. It appears that, except for social science students, there were few improvements in attitudes and use, and that seminars had little measurable effect. Possible explanations for this are offered, and the place of reader services in a university library discussed. Other items covered by the survey include the use of libraries in Halls of residence and of Southampton Public Libraries, which in both cases showed a sharp decline since 1962, the number and cost of books bought by undergraduates, and their use of libraries in vacations.
THE DIVERSITY OF TEXT‐LENGTH AMONGST SYSTEMS OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS
Authors: REED J.B.
Published: January 2008

Fifty systems of scientific and technological abstracts in English were examined for variation in length of unit texts, both between them (in respect to average value) and within them (by way of internal variation). Approximate methods only were used. Information content of the texts was not considered.
SUBJECT INDEXES AND AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL
Authors: LYNCH MICHAEL F.
Published: January 2008

Index entries from the subject indexes to CA can, in general, be converted to ‘normal’ or title‐like phrases by applying simple tests to the positions of prepositions and conjunctions in the entries. Other, more complex, entries can be transformed after somewhat deeper analysis. These manipulations are a necessary preliminary step to the use of the subject‐index language in retrieval. A scheme is outlined for automatically compiling and editing subject indexes by transforming descriptive phrases with regular structure and vocabulary. These transformations, based on the formal structure of language, are shown to be admirably suited to computer manipulation.
THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEEDS OF USERS FOR THE DESIGN OF A CATALOGUE: A SURVEY AT THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE
Authors: KENNEY LARAINE
Published: January 2008

The Central Library and Documentation branch of the ILO conducted a survey of users' needs to enable it to adapt its catalogue system to deal with the problems of scattered offices and a wide range of subject‐interests. A cross‐section of the CLD's users was interviewed, and filled out questionnaires which dealt with documentation needs in general, but focused in particular on the use made of the existing catalogues and what users ideally required. Results confirmed that the existing catalogue was too inaccessible, and indicated the type of indexes which, used in a system of co‐ordinate indexing, could make documents more easily known and available.
INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION DEPARTMENTS
Authors: COLINESE P.E.
Published: January 2008

The different activities which may occur in industrial information departments are enumerated. Principal education needs are for: courses in librarianship which also teach a science to first degree level; more initial and postgraduate courses in information science in the provinces; improved foreign language competence among information workers; more opportunities to obtain higher, including research, degrees in information work and for approved researches in industry to be recognized for the award of higher degrees; full‐time and part‐time refresher courses in information work. Ways of meeting the needs are considered and it is shown that a number of steps have already been initiated and promise to benefit industry, but the shortage of teachers in information work may be a serious problem.
COTERMINOUS OR SPECIFIC: A REJOINDER TO HEADINGS AND CANONS
Authors: PERREAULT JEAN M.
Published: January 2008

The concept of cotermineity leads to conceptual (subject) surrogation that matches the document against the most relevant sector of the classification, and focuses it there as closely as possible. These ideas have as much place in normal (author/title) surrogation, despite the Canons of Ascertainability and of Permanence (Ranganathan). Alphabetical cataloguing is (or can be) as systematic as classified cataloguing, but only if such a principle as coter‐mineity is given sway there. Nominal surrogation is not best distinguished from analytical bibliography by such Canons, since these latter lean too much on transcription and too little on systematization, and since they assume that nominal surrogation deals with books rather than works.
TOWARDS THE IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL OF VARIABLES IN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL EXPERIMENTATION
Authors: SARACEVIC TEFKO , REES ALAN M.
Published: January 2008

Experimentation in information science has suffered from lack of definition and deficiencies in experimental design and control. With the absence of such control it is often difficult to determine what has in fact been tested and under what conditions. The reproducibility of experiments, if desirable, is consequently open to doubt. Inadequate attention has been given to experimental design with even less care devoted to the provision of procedures for the successful execution of experiments. This paper identifies the essential elements necessary for valid and reliable experiments in the testing of retrieval systems. The variables (components and sub‐components) operating within the context of retrieval systems are enumerated, defined, and discussed. Models, experimental design, and methods of controlling variables in actual experimental situations are illustrated. The meaning of ‘control’ in retrieval experiments is discussed. Attention is given to sources of experimental bias which contaminate research findings. Specific points are discussed with reference to experimentation undertaken in the Comparative Systems Laboratory at Western Reserve. Variables and sources of bias are those identified and manipulated in experiments performed on the basis of an IR system model, incorporating components related to purpose: discipline, users, file size; and to functions: acquisition, input source, indexing language, coding, file organization, question analysis, search procedures, and dissemination. Each of these components is analysed separately and numerous variables operating within the components are grouped into those associated with system mechanics, human factors, or human‐system interaction. Since a multiplicity of variables associated with these components operates within any retrieval system it is argued that any experimental design, as a minimum, must take into account the formulation of adequate procedures regarding the control of all the enumerated variables.
THE CITATION CHARACTERISTICS OF ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH LITERATURE
Authors: MEADOWS A.J.
Published: January 2008

The citation characteristics of papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (especially for the years 1963–5) have been examined as a means of studying the usage of astronomical literature in the United Kingdom. The decrease of usage with age has been investigated and the decay half‐life determined. Particular attention has been paid to the immediacy effect, and to its possible variation in different sub‐fields of astronomy. The citations have also been separated according to journal of origin. As a result of this study, a quantitative estimate has been made of the titles and backruns that are required to satisfy a given percentage of the demand for astronomical research literature in this country.
TESTS ON ABSTRACTS JOURNALS: COVERAGE OVERLAP AND INDEXING
Authors: MARTYN JOHN
Published: January 2008

In a previous paper (J. Doc. 20 (4) 1964, 212–35) a series of tests on the coverage, overlap, and indexing of abstracts journals were described. Briefly, these were carried out by selecting recent, comprehensive bibliographies on specific subjects, searching the appropriate abstracts journals via the author indexes to determine the number of references given in the bibliography that were abstracted, then consulting the subject indexes to try to locate those references which are known to have been abstracted. A further eight bibliographies have been studied, and the results are reported here.
ESTIMATES OF THE NUMBER OF CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL PERIODICALS
Authors: BARR K.P.
Published: January 2008

Published estimates of the number of scientific and technical periodicals currently being published are analysed. A new estimate is put forward based on the experience of the NLL in attempting to build up a comprehensive collection of the world's scientific and technical periodical literature.
USE MADE OF PUBLIC REFERENCE LIBRARIES: A SURVEY OF PERSONAL USERS AND TELEPHONE, TELEX, AND POSTAL INQUIRIES
Authors: CLEMENTS D.W.G.
Published: January 2008

An account is given of a survey carried out by OSTI in May‐June 1966 on the use made of thirty‐three public reference libraries in England, Scotland, and Wales, covering both personal visitors and telephone, Telex, and postal inquiries. The results include the more important factual information collected and show the large extent to which public reference libraries are used as a source of technical and commercial information by a wide range of users, especially in local industry, commerce, and public services.
THE BRADFORD DISTRIBUTION
Authors: LEIMKUHLER FERDINAND F.
Published: January 2008

The distribution of references in a collection of pertinent source documents can be described and predicted by the relation where the parameter ß is related to the subject field and the completeness of the collection. The model is used to predict the reference yield of abstracting journals in a search for thermophysical property data. It is used also to explain differences among various literature studies of the past in terms of differences in subject and comprehensiveness of search. The model is derived from S. C. Bradford's ‘law of scattering’ and is called the Bradford Distribution.
COMPUTER MANIPULATION OF CLASSIFICATION NOTATIONS
Authors: HINES THEODORE C.
Published: January 2008

While there has been discussion of the computer manipulability of classification notations from a theoretical viewpoint, there has been little, if any on practical filing. A practical filing rubric, with explanation of machine filing concepts, is presented here. Some observations on the suitability of Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal notations for computer search follow.
AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT SELECTION WITHOUT INDEXING
Authors: HUTCHINS W.J.
Published: January 2008

Given the demonstrable deficiencies of indexing and indexes as means of document analysis and selection, a system is proposed which matches uncondensed and unanalysed texts with search requests and semantically equivalent transformations derived from them. The method utilizes the results of machine translation and structural linguistics in syntactic analysis and in semantic classification with adaptations to the requirements of a document selection system.
RESEARCH NEWSLETTERS IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES—A NEGLECTED LITERATURE SERVICE
Authors: WYATT H.V.
Published: January 2008

A number of informal biological newsletters have a limited circulation. In addition to social news some of these contain information about research in progress, research material, and select bibliographies—these are called research newsletters and an analysis is made of the contents and scope of twenty‐two of them. The bibliographies are of several types and that compiled from the publications of the recipient's newsletter is discussed and its cover compared with that of Biological Abstracts. Suggestions to improve the usefulness of the research newsletters are made.
A STUDY OF CROSS‐REFERENCING
Authors: KOCHEN MANFRED , TAGLIACOZZO RENATA
Published: January 2008

The problem of determining the optimal cross‐reference structure for a given index and for a given community of users is discussed. A cross‐reference structure is represented as a graph in which the nodes are index terms and the links are relations between index terms. In order to clarify the concept of ‘level of cross‐referencing’ the characteristics of cross‐reference structures are studied. Some measures of cross‐reference distributions are suggested as a means of comparing the cross‐referencing levels of subject indexes. Types of relations linking the terms of cross‐references in existing indexes and thesauri are examined. The implications of the study for the construction and testing of indexes and thesauri are discussed.
THE DESIGN OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE LITERATURE OF ROCK MECHANICS
Authors: GRALEWSKA A.
Published: January 2008

This case history describes an information system, using data‐processing techniques, with the following characteristic features: it is designed to serve an interdisciplinary group of workers, whose literature is widely scattered; the users themselves are taking an active part in the development and operation of the system; the large back‐log of past literature is being processed into the system with minimal effort; a variety of tools for both current awareness and retrospective search is being developed, with subject approaches via title words, keywords, facet codes, broad subject codes, and user profile codes; the relative value of these approaches will be evaluated; some of these tools are manually searched, others will be mechanically searched; some are derived from simpler data‐processing equipment, others from the computer; the system is integrated so that all these tools are derived from a single intellectual and clerical input; the system can be flexibly expanded to incorporate more literature, more users, more complex use, and wider subject scope.
THE DERIVATION AND APPLICATION OF THE BRADFORD‐ZIPF DISTRIBUTION
Authors: BROOKES B.C.
Published: January 2008

Any statistical regularities found in documentation should be fully exploited to produce estimates or predictions and to save documentalists work. But present formulations of the Bradford distribution demand penetrating search for peripheral papers and tedious computation in application. The present paper shows that the Bradford distribution is closely related to the Zipf distribution. It requires data on only the most productive journals, is mathematically simple and amenable to graphical methods if a proposed idea of the ‘completeness’ of a search is accepted. For comparability of results, certain conditions, which include a specified minimum level of productivity of journals, need to be standardized. A standard form is suggested. It is found, however, that a modified form of the Bradford distribution is required when Bradford‐type collections of journals are merged into larger collections, when ‘saturation’ of the most productive journals occurs.
THE PARAMETRIC DESCRIPTION OF RETRIEVAL TESTS
Authors: ROBERTSON S.E.
Published: January 2008

Some parameters and techniques in use for describing the results of tests on IR systems are analysed. Several considerations outside the scope of the usual 2 x 2 table are relevant to the choice of parameters. In particular, a variable which produces a ‘performance curve’ of a system corresponds to an extension of the 2 x 2 table. Also, the statistical relationships between parameters are all‐important. It is considered that precision is not such a useful measure of performance (in conjunction with recall) as fallout. A more powerful alternative to Cleverdon's ‘inevitable inverse relationship between recall and precision’ is proposed and justified, namely that the recall‐fallout graph is convex.
ON THE GEOMETRY OF LIBRARIES
Authors: BOOTH A.D.
Published: January 2008

It is shown that to minimize access time to a library collection the items should be arranged so that the access point is distant from individual books in inverse order of their frequency of use. This is shown to lead to several interesting geometrical arrangements for library stacks. The library as a push‐down store would mean that after any book has been withdrawn it is replaced at the head of the shelf, all other books being pushed down to accommodate it. The frequency‐ordered arrangement leads to increases in access efficiency by as much as ten times. Finally an analogy is drawn between such a push‐down arrangement and and human memory as a push‐down store in the brain.
CATALOGUING AND CLASSIFICATION IN BRITISH UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Authors: FRIEDMAN JOAN , JEFFREYS ALAN
Published: January 2008

As we indicated in the first part of this study, the second part was to be a cost analysis of cataloguing and classification, comprising a picture of the activities in the libraries—the division of labour, the distinction, if any, between professional and non‐professional work, the grades and salaries of staff employed on the various tasks, and the amount of time spent on each. It should be made clear at the outset that no detailed cost analysis was attempted, but we hope to have given a general picture of the amount of time spent on cataloguing and classification in relation to certain other tasks in the libraries covered by our survey.
THE PARAMETRIC DESCRIPTION OF RETRIEVAL TESTS
Authors: ROBERTSON S.E.
Published: January 2008

Two general requirements for overall measures of retrieval effectiveness are proposed, namely that the measure should be as far as possible independent of generality (this is interpreted to mean that it can be described in terms of recall and fallout), and that it should be able to measure the effectiveness of a performance curve (it should not be restricted to a simple 2×2 table). Several measures that have been proposed are examined with these conditions in mind. It turns out that most of the satisfactory ones are directly or indirectly related to Swets' measure A, the area under the recall‐fallout curve. In particular, Brookes' measure S and Rocchio's normalized recall are versions of A.
THE USE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE PERIODICAL LITERATURE
Authors: WOOD D.N. , BOWER C.A.
Published: January 2008

The paper presents the results of a survey of the use of social science periodicals carried out at the National Lending Library during a period of four weeks in 1968. Three‐quarters of the requests came from universities and industrial organizations and over 90% of the requests were for English language publications. Over a fifth of the requests were for seventeen titles. There were marked variations in the subject matter requested by different types of organizations and although the overall ‘half‐life’ of the literature proved to be 3½ years this figure varied considerably from one subject to another. Concerning the sources of references, it was discovered that compared with scientists and technologists social scientists make relatively little use of abstracting and indexing publications. Appendixes include a copy of the questionnaire used in the survey, a list of titles requested six or more times, and a list of abstracting and indexing publications cited five or more times as sources of references.
SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERATURE USE IN THE UK AS INDICATED BY CITATIONS
Authors: EARLE PENELOPE , VICKERY BRIAN
Published: January 2008

A sample of citations made in 1965 United Kingdom social science literature has been analysed according to subject, bibliographic form, country of origin, language, and date, and comparisons made with citations from science and technology literature. The relative sizes of the outputs of and demands for literature in these fields are estimated, and the subject distribution of citations within social science. The interrelations between source and cited subject are discussed. Use as indicated by citation is compared with use measured by loan demand on the National Lending Library.
FIRST THOUGHTS ON DAINTON
Authors: RICHNELL D.T.
Published: January 2008

The task of reviewing the Dainton Report in a short space and at short notice is a formidable one. It contains recommendations of fundamental importance to the library services of the future and there is evidence of a serious intention on the part of Government to act on at least some of these recommendations. It is, therefore, necessary to express as clear a view as possible of the extent to which librarians and information scientists support them. Since there is an almost inevitable tendency in discussing such a report to dwell at greater length on points of doubt and disagreement than on those of wholehearted agreement, it should be said at the outset that in many of its fundamental proposals the Dainton Report is a good one.
EURATOM THESAURUS AND UDC
Authors: MAROSI A.
Published: January 2008

The purposes of a subject index in a small information service are examined and the organizational aspects of the Big information Centre and the Small Service in relation to the descriptor level are analyzed. The advantages of co‐ordinate indexing versus the conventional hierarchical classification in meeting complex information needs are pointed out. Through an evaluation of the flexible structure of the thesauri, the lower‐level but otherwise similar vocabulary needs of the small service are discussed. The use of the UDC to effect the level transitions required to adapt the thesauri to the needs of the Small Service is examined. It is shown how an improved subject index for the Soreq book collection has been constructed by the combined use of the EURATOM Thesaurus and the UDC. Examples to illustrate the design of this index are given. In the interest of expanding the co‐operation between the small Service and big centre, the idea of a multi‐level thesaurus is proposed.
NATIONAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS
Authors: CARTER CHARLES F.
Published: January 2008

One of the surest ways of delaying progress is to appoint a committee to answer the wrong questions. Any attempt to ask the right questions will then, for several years, be frustrated because Ministers will look silly if they start another investigation so soon. Lack of progress is even more assured if the original committee consists entirely of interested parties (so that its conclusions can be dismissed as biased in their favour) or alternatively contains no one with expert knowledge of the field under review (so that the conclusions can be dismissed as amateurish). The Secretary of State, in appointing the Dainton Committee, included no professional librarian or information scientist. However, the effect of this is offset by the fact that he set them a question to which the answer is, by general consent, obvious:
A PUBLIC LIBRARY VIEWPOINT
Authors: MAIDMENT WM R.
Published: January 2008

The National Library should be the last place to which a reader will go for books or information; in other words, the mass need should be met by local or special services and the national facilities reserved as suppliers of last resort. The Committee recognize this in defining their purpose as seeking to identify what is necessary at national level ‘to supplement the services of the public, university, and special libraries, and of the existing information services’. This approach necessarily involves an accurate assessment of the specified services, since any misconceptions about them would invalidate the conclusions on what is needed to supplement them and render irrelevant any recommendations on how to provide it.
A SOCIAL SCIENCE VIEW
Authors: CLARKE D.A.
Published: January 2008

Since research in the social sciences is predominantly library‐based, social scientists must have a particular interest in the best possible organization of library services; and so they will particularly welcome the main recommendation of the Report, that the library departments of the BM (including the NRSLI), the NCL, the NLLST, and the BNB should be brought within a single administrative framework.