; ,Ο /f\. ν- - ii; VW N^ ^> SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL REVIEW OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES VOL XI SPECIAL ISSUE devotee! to scientific information a in the Community 1972 ontents

1 JACQUES H. d'OLIER THE EUROPEAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD NETWORK OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION The Commission of the European Commu• nities or any persons acting on its behalf disclaim all liability with respect to the 4 ANDRÉ MAUPERON completeness of the information contained in this periodical as well as to any THE LATEST CHILD OF A GREAT FAMILY damage which might result from the use of information disclosed or of equipment, methods or processes described therein.

10 LOLL ROLLING Picture credits: p. 22 : Bauernkalender von Geser, p. 106 ; S.D.I.M. cover and drawings : Gaston Bogaert, The System of Documentation and Information for Metallurgy of the Brussels, Belgium. European Communities.

Printed in Belgium by Maison d'Edition s c 6001 Marcinelle 14 N. DUSOULIER and A. L. van WESEMAEL THE WORKING PARTY ON BIOMEDICAL INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION: WORK AND PROSPECTS

20 HERBERT BUNTROCK AGRICULTURAL DOCUMENTATION

25 RUDOLF BREE

CASH, PLEASE! Five editions: English, German, French, Ita ¡an and Dutch

29 A.A. WINTERS USER NEEDS IN AN INFORMATION SYSTEM Published and edited by: Commission of the European Commu- nities, Directorate-General Dissemina• tion of Information , Rue de la Loi 200 1040 Brussels. Tel 350040 Any article published in this Review may be reproduced in whole or or in part without restriction, provided that the source is 29, rue Aldringer, Luxembourg mentioned. Tel. 29241 The European Contribution to the World network of Scientific up in each country and when a vast international move towards the creation and Technical Information of a world-wide data-pooling system has just been translated into concrete action in the form of the IIN1S1ST scheme proposed by UNESCO and the Scientific Unions? In other wotds, what JACQUES H. dOLIER can be the role and purpose of a regional network? In his article entitled "The Latest Child of a Great Family". Mr Mau- AT ITS 157th SESSION, the EEC peron indicates the importance of a Council of Ministers decided (a) to united Europe to data producers and take steps to coordinate Member users. Admittedly, it is not up to Euro­ States' activities in the field of scien­ peans to draw up standards and define tific and technical information and the methods best suited to the needs of documentation, and (b) to approve the the whole world, but effective joint participation of the Commission's de­ planning could help to solve the large partments in setting up a European number of problems which are bound data network on the subject of metal­ to arise at each stage in the improve­ lurgy, in collaboration with the special­ ment of this world-wide network now ised documentation centres of the being set up. Europe will hold all the member countries. trump cards provided it manages to These two decisions reflect the create efficient methods of communica­ Council's desire to encourage the tion and systems, embodying as it does growth of a European regional net­ the majority of the principal difficulties work in order to coordinate efforts —linguistic problems, differences in in this field, as part of the world-wide approach, a diversity of equipment and network for the exchange of informa­ resources, and difficulties concerning tion. But why is this necessary, when the linking-up of information sources national data networks are being set which are a priori incompatible and

JACQUES H. dOLIER is Deputy Director at the Centre of Documentation of the Centre National de la Recherche >^fe Scientifique, Paris, and Chairman of the 1DST Group. Ì On the other hand, the European Information System). At present, scru­ centre I DST ' must of necessity be the tiny of the various possible sources of "reference library" of, as well as for information is divided between the Europe. This term is used here in its member countries, but should the need modern sence and in the context de­ arise there is nothing to prevent col­ scribed above, it being a question not laboration with other bodies in order so much of storing entire documents to obtain some of this information as of employing automated equipment from them and hence to lighten the to set tip a vast compiling system by burden on the member countries. By means of which customers can be virtue of the cooperation thus achieved, referred immediately to the most appro­ the SDIM will play the part of priate specialised departments. Those a metallurgy reference library for virtually beyond control. Such will be who benefit from this indispensable Europe. the purpose of this joint planning body, work will be the information centres the creation of which has just been of the member countries, who, although However, the pursuit of information decided upon by the Council of they have themselves made only a is always closely linked with research Ministers. modest contribution, will consequently and these two activities become inex­ Just as they will not draw up have access to an unlimited flow of tricably intertwined the minute one standards, the European organisations information from the entire European gets onto the sector of observational do not seem to contemplate providing network. To this end, a pilot scheme science, where progress is based on the services directly to data users. A great has already been decided on and is exploitation and compilation of a long number of national bodies are better extremely well described in Mr Rol­ series of classified information and qualified to do this, are closer to the ling's article entitled "SD1M" (The data. In medicine, for example, customer and are frequently cheaper. CEC Metallurgical Documentation and Mrs Dusoulier and Mr Van Wesemael Apart from this, the word "service" demonstrate how documentation me­ inevitably implies invoicing and pay­ thods (such as indexing) can become ment and it is difficult to imagine how 1 Information et documentation scienti­ an important factor in the development this could be arranged in practice. fique et technique. of research, and how continuous com- munication is established between those producing and using published docu­ ments, medical files and biomedical data, since they are all working on the same basis. In this field, therefore, the European centre would indeed be the "reference library" for Europe, at the disposal of laboratories, hospitals and the multi- disciplinary and specialised information centres of the member countries. The scheme thus outlined could well con­ stitute one of the most efficient and original tools of biomedical research in Europe. Compared with these two pilot schemes, of which one has already been decided upon and the other has just been proposed, the subject of agricultural information is a more complex one, for, as Mr Buntrock development, for no government or specialised centres, if engineers are to explains, there are already 500 agri­ financing body will accept the idea of derive the maximum benefit from the cultural information services in the a deficit which increases as the service information systems, however adequate world, not one of which can claim to becomes more efficient and the clients they may otherwise be. keep the tabs on the relevant literature grow in number. Mr Bree's appeal for In conclusion, the Community's in a satisfactory manner, and it is in cash therefore reflects a real need for prime objective should be the coor­ this area more than any other that financial backing. Even on the Euro­ dination of policies and the harmonisa­ there are a great number of highly pean scale, where it will not be custo­ specific problems. If, therefore, it has mary to establish direct contact with tion of working methods so as to derive been chosen as a subject for collective users, a financial balance must be the maximum benefit from Europe's study, it is certainly not with the created between the participation of resotirces and make the most of them ultimate aim of creating a 501st in­ each member country and interested on a world-wide scale. The second aim formation service, but in order to centre and the benefits they will draw should be a sector-by-sector approach coordinate and strengthen the facilities from the network. In general, except to the creation of a homogenous net­ already existing in the member coun­ when the promotion of new projects is work to provide a genuine scientific involved, it is better to subsidise users tries, to add to them if necessary, and and technical data bank for Europe, at rather than the producers, since this thus to set up a "reference library" of the disposal of national bodies and leaves the former a greater range of and for Europe on this subject also. forming one of the basic elements of choice and encourages technical pro­ Of course, the possibility of collabo­ the world network as defined in the gress and the most rational and eco­ UN1S1ST scheme. All this will only ration with outside bodies or centres nomic management possible on the part be achieved with the aid of qualified cannot be ruled out here. In this field, of the producers. as in others, the best course might well staff having received a training which be to aim at pooling Europe's resources In the same way as national net­ is, if not common, at least coordinated, and then to study the way in which works, the European network of and this should be the third objective. they might be keyed into the world scientific and technical information The opening of the Common Market network. will have to be able to carry out a to admit countries such as Britain does constant evaluation of users' require­ not appear likely to lead to any funda­ Whatever measures are adopted, ments. mental changes in these aims, but there is no escaping the cost of infor­ should, on the contrary, strengthen mation. A good network will provide The main elements of this evalua­ them and provide them with a firmer rapid and easy access to the document tion are presented very clearly in base and a wider hearing on the world or data required. It will be possible to Mr Winter's article, which throws light scale. select it from amongst thousands of on a number of consumer attitudes others, but such a service is not without towards a service network. In the its cost. To deny this would be tanta­ majority of cases there is in fact a mount to jeopardizing all subsequent need for relay stations, in the form of EU SPA 11-5 The latest child Where does responsibility lie? of a great family The prime task today is to speed up the application and improving of the new methods and techniques through­ out the field of scientific and technical documentation and information so as ANDRÉ MAUPERON to attain the highest performance for the lowest cost; but in spite of the difficulty of achieving the desirable degree of rationalisation, it is particu­ larly crucial to decide upon objectives and practical projects because outside NO ONE WOULD DENY that the Community the development and science and industry can only flourish organising of scientific and technical in countries where considerable efforts, data-processing and documentation is backed by the nation's intellectual and going ahead rapidly. These develop­ material resources, are devoted to them: ments, however, call in their turn for hence the nations are quite naturally proper organisation of responsibility. prompted to define and then set up In the past, information and docu­ scientific, industrial, economic and mentation were to a large extent left social policies that will enable them to to individual initiative, but now the allocate their resources in an efficient, scale of organising effort and the cost harmonious and balanced manner; in of the infrastructures to be set up are particular, the assigning of funds and such that the public authorities must equipment and the training of research take a hand; their tasks will generally scientists, engineers and technicians are consist in the setting up and efficient a matter of perpetual concern to running of systems, the fostering of government authorities. research and development, the training of qualified staff, the development of On the other hand the organising of international collaboration and, increas­ the documentary resources which have ingly, assistance in the publication of accumulated, too often purely through research findings. force of circumstances, has only re­ cently awakened interest at high levels. Thus the Third Ministerial Con­ People are only now realising that ference on Science, held in March scientific information is an essential 1968, recommended the member coun­ l working tool for the world of today, tries of OECD to "take the appro­ and that it knows no frontiers. The priate steps to establish, within their astounding speed of progress in the Government, a single, high-level 'focus', to be responsible for all the sciences has had an appreciable effect country's activities concerning scientific on the problems of spreading scientific and technical information". information, making them both keener and more complex; at a more general Steps towards the application of this level, it has become clear that the recommendation were taken in most of concept of independence has for many the Community countries. Generally nations lost part of its meaning and its speaking, it is now possible to identify formerly essential character; they have the competent ministerial authorities. had to recognise that they can only For historical reasons there are still noticeable differences as regards the survive through cooperation. And what powers, means of action and effective is more, although the recent develop­ role of the various national bodies. It ments in technology, particularly in is essential, however, that the national data processing and data transmission, bodies within the Community be de- have helped to solve a great many problems, they have generated others in ANDRÉ. MAUPERON is Division Head regard to organisation, standardisation, 1 at the Directorate General Dissemination harmonisation and economics. Organisation for Economic Cooperation of Information of the CEC. and Development. veloped efficiently and along the same lines as quickly as possible, not merely to carry out the home duties assigned to a national authority, but to enable 'Ú^I^ÍÍÍÒ them to take a full share in Com­ munity and international activities.

Birth of a Community project

It was not by chance, therefore, that on 31 October 1967 the Council asked the Committee for Medium-Term Economic Policy: "to examine the ways and means of setting up a Com­ munity system to process and dissem­ inate technical information or of co­ ordinating the national data systems..." The Community STID policy as it was thought more important to The Scientific and Technical Re• indicate what structure and functions search Policy (PREST) Group set up The objective was twofold—the it should have: the practical details can by the Committee for Medium-Term gradual establishing of a European then be arranged in the light of these. Economic Policy appointed a Working IDST network, capable of providing Step by step the network should Party on Scientific and Technical In• all users with selective information on link up: uniform bases: and, to ensure the devel­ formation and Documentation (1DST) a) the national and all other IDS'!' and requested it: opment and efficient running of this network, the dovetailing of the national centres set up in the Member States a) to propose the content and forms of IDST policies within a Community which serve users: cooperation to be set up at the policy. The European "network" con­ b) the sectorial documentary systems, Community level on 1DST policy cept seems more appropriate than including the European or national matters; "system", because it recalls the tele­ associates of broader international b) to recommend, after analysing the communications networks to which the documentary systems: requirements and the completed or users resort, whilst the structural or c) the data banks and probably certain envisaged projects, stich operations organisational differences between these management information systems; as could usefully be undertaken in networks do not affect their use. d) the telecommunications network the four fields of metallurgy, agri­ linking the centres and systems; culture, medicine and patents. The network e) the referral centres which direct the In the light of the circumstances user to specialised centres. already described above, the IDST The European IDST network has not The mode of operation of the net­ Working Party recognised the urgent been defined down to its least details work will be freely chosen by the need for action within the Community: the necessity stems from the specific needs of economic, social, scientific, technological and industrial develop­ ment in the Community as it now is and, a fortiori, as it will be after en­ largement; it is rendered even more acute by the need to safeguard Europe's interests in her developing cooperation with the other major countries. The IDST Working Party proposed action along two lines, one relating to the Community's IDST policy whilst the other dealt with the various tech­ nical sectors which the Working Party had been asked to study. national units composing it, in the light retrieval services and the progress of such criteria as maximum economy achieved in search processes have con­ and facility: even if some of the units siderably enhanced their efficiency and in the network operate on a commercial precision without having raised the cost basis, the network will have the charac­ in proportion to the improvement. ter of a European service to the public, and this, as will be seen further on, The language question, on the other will be reflected in the services ren­ hand, is an expensive matter and con­ dered by the network to its customers. sequently puts Europe at a disadvan­ As to the practical details of organ­ tage, particularly in regard to the isation, the conditions to be fulfilled United States; the compromise solution so as to achieve the link-up of the of computerised multilingual thesauri systems and an adequate degree of is relatively satisfactory in some fields compatibility will be of fundamental but it is to be hoped that the research importance. on automatic translation, which ought to be stepped up, will find the right The European network, whose inter­ answer soon. nal structure will be decentralised to a Obviously the fact that the science of large extent, must function as a uni­ documentation is still growing up gives form public service that guarantees all it a very dynamic aspect; nothing is users the same types of service under rigid as yet, there are no final answers the same conditions: it will have to and every day brings new progress. But cover all sectors and branches of these constant improvements cost science, including their economic and legal aspects, and above all it must be money and add more to the already suited to the needs of the users. In substantial budgets allocated to the particular it must: service of the users; it is not really pos­ sible today to invoice these services at a) be exact and complete, without giv­ cost price, mainly for psychological ing too much irrelevant information; reasons: the user, or rather the finan­ b) supply the information in a lan­ cial controller behind him, does not guage understood by the user: readily see why he should suddenly be c) be quick: faced with further expenditure over and above the considerable but "tradi­ d) be as cheap as possible. tional" sums that have always been Out of these somewhat conflicting spent on books, newspapers, journals requirements the first, which consists and reports. It must be admitted, more­ in not overwhelming the user with a over, that no documentary system is at mass of document that do not answer present capable of supplying the ideal his needs, seems relatively easy to meet; information, i.e. immediate, complete the automation of the documentary and pertinent; the experimental nature of most systems is hardly in keeping The following will have to be elabo­ Rational development of network with a substantial payment, in the view rated in the context of international and creation of new systems of the users, especially considering that collaboration, within the European net­ It is necessary to compare the nation­ they are often asked to make a con­ work and perhaps on a wider basis: al objectives periodically in order to tribution "in kind" in the form of an a) the allocation of the processing define common objectives and a me­ assessment of the service rendered. dium-term programme establishing the Logically, therefore, the government work on information from countries priorities concerning the progressive will for some years to come have to not included in the system; development of the network, the setting continue providing at least in part, for b) the exchange or pooling of infor­ up of new systems and participation the development and running of the mation processed by the participat­ in broader undertakings resulting from systems, whatever projects industry may ing countries; external international action. undertake in this field. Incidentally, it c) the breakdown of the financial is essential to establish uniform condi­ Several preliminary surveys could be tions in the context of the European charges of the system among the carried out in various fields of applied documentation network so as to bring participating countries. research, including electrical technol­ the dues into line as nearly as possible, It should be noted that the above ogy, the environment, and electronic thus avoiding discrimination between guidelines do not cover all the func­ data and information processing, with­ countries or between systems. This tions to be fulfilled; thus one can still out prejudice to the setting up of a likewise applies, though in a lesser decide case by case whether the central multiannual development programme for the European network. degree, to international cooperation in processing and storage are to be done general. at the national, European or inter­ Operating and management national level. This choice will be deter­ As to the organising of the docu­ of the network mentary systems associated within the mined by cost and efficiency con­ Certain points must be kept under network, it can already be stated that a siderations. continuous study and, if necessary, be very flexible arrangement will be ad­ dealt with by concerted arrangements vocated: a sufficient degree of com­ or proposals to the political authorities: patibility must be achieved, of course, The concerted policy a) interconnections and compatibility; but certainly not uniformity: in prin­ ciple, to fulfil the aim of giving the b) the economic aspects and the pric­ users better service, the units directly To ensure that the European net­ ing policy; in touch with them will be maintained work develops quickly and operates c) the preparation of proposals for in the national structure; the national economically and harmoniously, it is technical standards, where this is centres will have means of access to necessary to concert the national IDST not adequately done at the inter­ the "Bank" where the data and most policies and this warrants the setting national level: of the documents are stored. Collect­ up of appropriate institutional ma­ d) linguistic problems and the prepara­ ing, indexing and abstracting will be chinery under the Community; the tion of multilingual tools (thesauri); done within the national context, par­ practical outcome of this alignment c) legal problems (agreements, rela­ ticularly as regards information origin­ will be a Community policy, the main tions between suppliers and custom­ ating in the country itself. features of which are given below: ers, copyright, etc.): f) certain administrative problems with specific information and docu­ (maintenance of up-to-date docu­ mentation problems in spite of the mentation on the network structure, considerable efforts made by the Mem­ building of connections of restricted- ber States; their efforts must be backed circulation documents, joint prep­ and reinforced by a plan of action to aration of abstracts by authors and harmonise IDST training at the Euro­ publishers, etc.); pean level so as to obtain personnel g) supervision of management of sys­ capable of efficiently managing the tems set up on the initiative of the cooperative systems that will be operat­ Community (financing, personnel). ing on the international level. As to the users, they must be inform­ Collaboration with non-member ed of the full range of possibilities countries and offered by the systems so as to make international organisations the best use of them. The object here is the exchange of documentary contributions from the Fostering of technological progress largest possible number of countries, in principle involving only a minimum A key factor in the improvement of transfer of funds. the IDST service is the progress of documentary science and of electronic As a group, the Community states data-processing and communications produce about 20-30 % (depending on technology. The importance of research the disciplines) of the world's scientific and development in this field has been and tecnhical literature, i.e. a very widely recognised in the United States, much bigger percentage than that of which spends over 60 million dollars a any of the countries taken separately. year on it, whereas in Europe the most Hence a continuous exchange of infor­ optimistic estimates appear to lie in the mation must be provided for between region of one-tenth of that sum. these countries, with concertation whenever the interests of the European The IDST group has made an initial network might be affected. investigation of the problems involved, aided in some cases by the Working Fostering of the training of skilled Party on Data-Processing. personnel and education of users An inventory is to be prepared, There is still a terrible shortage of probably on the basis of the following skilled personnel capable of dealing list: —researches for the functioning of the —the pursuit of any action necessary mission and the PREST (Scientific and European network on the basis of to achieve the optimum degree of Technical Research Policy) Group of present-day techniques: system compatibility and intercon­ the Medium-Term Economic Policy Committee assisted by a Committee on a) compatibility as to design and nection. Scientific and Technical information technology, Structure and Documentation (CIDST) which will b) automatic verification of re­ be set up by the Medium-Term Econo­ levance, The foregoing tasks clearly imply mic Policy Committee within the c) optimisation of thesauri, two levels of responsibility: framework of the PREST Group. The d) optimisation of card-index man­ a) a ministerial level at which decisions CIDST Committee will also carry out the everyday work of concertation and agement, should be taken; management and will be composed of e) IDST program library; b) a management level which would have to prepare proposals, imple­ the officials responsible for preparing —equipment for use with computers ment the Ministry decisions and the scientific and technical information and documentation policy in each in IDST—peripherals, optical record­ deal with everyday matters. ing, reproduction, etc.; Member State and officials of the This two-level machinery could be Commission. —automatic translation; set up within the Community frame­ —automatic indexing; work; the Council would be the In addition the Council recognised the usefulness of setting up a Metal­ —special computers for non-numerical ministerial organ whilst the other lurgy Information and Documentation information. responsibilities would be entrusted to a Committee composed of representatives System (SDÌM) in which the Commis­ of the Member States and the Com­ sion will participate. A detailed article The conceiting machinery mission's departments; the Commission on the SDIM will be found in this It follows naturally from the forego­ would also provide the secretariat for review. ing that the purpose of the concerting the Committee. machinery will be to formulate the Conclusions and future prospects guiding lines and submit to the minis­ Council decisions terial level suitable proposals regarding The work of the IDST Working the policies and plans of action re­ Party is almost done; the sum of these quired for the coordination, develop­ The Council and the Representatives labours is very considerable: the Coun­ ment and efficient running of the Com­ of the Member States meeting in the cil has officially recognised the need munity's IDST systems and networks. Council examined the report prepared for a continuous concerting machinery, Its tasks will be to sec to the imple­ by the IDST Working Party during and for the creation of a European mentation of the decisions taken at the their meeting of 24 June 1971: as a information and documentation net­ Ministry level and, in the context of its result of their discussions, they took work, both of them concepts which are terms of reference, it will also have to the important decision to coordinate milestones in the history both of oversee the following: their action to set up a consistent Europe and of the young science of —the carrying out of the surveys and European network and to promote the scientific information. The sectoral pro­ training of qualified personnel, the studies; jects, practically confined for the mo­ education of users and the advance of —the continuous concerting of the ment to metallurgical information, will technology in information science: the national policies and action at the be an excellent touchstone from the systems forming the network will be level of system and network manage­ technical angle and in the more open to other European States; as to ment: sensitive, less well-planned, matter of relations and negotiations with outside cooperation between the different coun­ —supervision of the management of countries, regular reciprocal informa­ tries. Probably it will not all go the system set up on the initiative tion is planned; confrontation with a smoothly, the road is bound to be of the Community; view to harmonisation is desired. bumpy, but this pilot experiment must —the exchange of information and the The Member States likewise agreed succeed: for it is the embodiment of concerting of the national attittides that in regard to the implementing of the awakening of that Europe which, for negotiations with non-member coordinated projects, the overall guide­ at the highest level, has decided to countries when the interests of the lines and. where necessary, the com­ acquire an instrument which, though European network arc involved: mon attittidc would be defined by the relatively cheap, is nonetheless one of —the harmonisation of attitudes on Council: the Council will also decide the most efficacious by reason of the ordinary problems (standardisation); on all expenditure proposals. contribution it will make to the science, industry and the economy of our —the training of qualified personnel The preparation of the projects or countries. and the development of documentary other action stemming from the said technology; decisions is to be done by the Com­ EUSPA 1 1-6 S. D. Ι. M. From 1968 onwards, the CID car­ The System of Doeumentation and Information ried on this work, incorporating into it the ASM, CSM and ISCOR =¡ the­ for Metallurgy of the European Communities sauri and establishing the complete terminology diagrams for the whole field of metallurgy. In 1969 the CID submitted to the LOLL ROLLING STID :! Working Party a project which, after undergoing a few amendments, Pasi History was approved by the Council of Ministers on 24 June 1971. The SD1M When, in 1967, it was decided to was set up in consequence of the sign­ merge the executive bodies of the ing of a technical agreement defining ECSC with those of the Common the procedures and allocating the tasks Market and Euratom, the work of the among the participating centres, which Euratom Centre for Information and are as follows: Documentation (CID) was expanded to deal with documentation in the sectors covered by the Common Mar­ ket and the ECSC. The ECSC had 1 Association for the Exchange of Tech­ already had its own Working Party nical Literature on Coal and Steel, com­ posed of the Six countries' Metallurgy since 1964, composed of the members Information Centres. of the ASELT\ which had laid the ­ American Society for Metals, Centro foundations of the future European Sperimentale Metallurgico, Iron and Steel Metallurgical Documentation system Corporation (of South Africa). by inventorising the terminology of this :i Scientific and Technical Information discipline in French, German and and Documentation (Study Group under English. the Working Party on Scientific and Tech­ nical Research Policy).

LOLL ROLLING is Division Head at the Directorate General Dissemination of Information of the CFC.

10 —Centre national dc documentation scientifique et technique, Brussels: —Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris: —Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche. Rome; —Institut für Dokumentationswesen. Frankfurt: —Ministère de l'éducation nationale. Luxembourg; —Nederlands Orgaan voor de Bevor­ dering van de Informatieverzorging. The Hague.

Coverage The SDIM covers the entire world literature on Metallurgy, i.e. all scien­ tific, technical and economic informa­ tion on ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Its scope extends from the manu­ facture to the utilisation of metals, taking in all intermediate and ancillary sectors such as metallography, physical and mechanical properties, heat treat­ ments, refining, machining, corrosion, etc. A detailed list of subjects covered is given in Fig. 1. a reference number, bibliographical of their work to the Centre for Infor­ data, an abstract in one of the working mation and Documentation of the Feeding the system languages of the System (the Com­ European Communities (CIO), which The Member States are responsible munity languages plus English) and a undertakes computerised storage, the for the input of the SDIM: it is their list of descriptors characterizing the amalgamation of contributions, error task to acquire, scan and index docu­ contents of the document. control and correction. ments of interest to metallurgists in Indexing is done on the basis of the The reference number, bibliograph­ their countries. They also process part primary literature: the national centres ical data and descriptors assigned to of the literature obtained from non- concerned therefore keep the original each document are punched and then member countries on the basis of a version of the document processed. recorded on magnetic tape. The com­ work-sharing plan devised by common puter subsequently carries out the auto­ agreement. Information processing matic correction of the descriptors. For each document processed, a The national centres regularly send Each descriptor is compared with the formsheet is drawn up. This contains in the formsheets containine the result standardised list, which constitutes the

Fig. 1: Subjects to be covered.

1. Physics of metals 10. Furnace technology 18. Heat treatments 26. Economic and social 2. Crystal structure and fuel utilization 19. Metal forming aspects of the metal 3. Lattice defects 11. Ore processing 20. Machining industry 4. Microstructure 12. Ironmaking 21. Surface treatments 27. Transport and 5. Equilibrium diagrams 13. Steelmaking and coatings maintenance 6. Phase transformations 14. Production an refining 22. Joining 28. Metallurgical plant 7. Physical properties of non ferrous metals 23. Corrosion of metals 8. Mechanical properties 15. Foundry and equipment equipment 9. Testing, measurement 16. Powder metallurgy 24. Corrosion protection and control 17. Chemical analysis 25. Uses of metals thesaurus. Spelling and punching errors In the search process, the request is are thus detected and corrected. The translated by specialist documentalists same program enriches the concep­ into descriptors which are associated tual analysis by the addition of terms and grouped according to the laws of less specific than those assigned at the Boolean algebra. The formulation ob­ outset. Consequently it is possible to tained is fed into the computer, which carry out document searches at a lower compares the descriptors representing level of specificity than that of the the request with those characterising original indexing. the documents already stored. A high­ In addition, the formsheets are re­ speed printer produces the list of produced on microfiches. A fast re­ reference numbers of the documents production device makes it possible corresponding to the request. After to send out photocopies of these form- their relevance has been checked by a sheets (containing, in particular, the documentalist, the formsheets for these documents are reproduced and sent to abstracts) in response to requests for the requestor. literature searches. It is thus possible to carry out SDIM Thesaurus retrospective and periodic searches All documentation systems make use (SDI). of a documentary language. In the case In this latter type of search, the of SDIM, a standardised descriptor documentalist can compile a permanent vocabulary is used. "interest profile" for the requestor con­ The CID has drawn up a descriptor cerned. The question, formulated once thesaurus for metallurgy based, in and for all, is fed periodically into the particular, on existing collections of computer, which indicates any appro­ terms and on its own experience in the priate new document fed into its operation of the automatic nuclear memory. The user receives regularly, documentation service. once a month for example, photo­ The SDIM thesaurus comprises some copies of the formsheets of documents 9 000 words, 6 500 of which are corresponding to his interest profile. descriptors. The remaining 2 500 words are forbidden as descriptor synonyms Extension of the Agreement or homographie terms. The thesaurus is continuously updated by the addi­ The technical agreement setting up tion of new terms. the SDIM made provision for new In order to facilitate the search for members to join, if only in anticipation the most suitable terms, the thesaurus of the entry of new countries into the is built up in the form of terminol­ European Community. ogical diagrams, which contain all the descriptors available in one and the Already a number of countries have same semantic field. The diagrams expressed their intention to contribute indicate, in particular, the hierarchical to the joint effort; this expansion will relations existing between the various lighten the present burden on the founder centres, as the work will be descriptors (fig. 2). redistributed to include the new centres, The thesaurus exists in Dutch, and it will allow a fuller grasp of the English and French (German and world literature on metallurgy. Italian versions are being prepared) which enables each centre to work in As the CID is responsible for the its own language. computer processing work and for supervision of terminology, it will be Documentary searches easy to adapt the SDIM to new tech­ Copies of magnetic tapes containing nical and methodological improvements the bulk of the common documentary as and when they prove themselves in material are made available to those of the context of the nuclear documenta­ the participating centres with the equip­ tion system. ment needed to use them. The CID can also carry out document searches. EUSPA 11-7

12 A2 FURNACES Γ C-7 Chemical fuels D-6 Electric resistance D-5 Induction D-2 Electric arcs Ί Open Flame Furnaces O σι Ajax Furnaces I Coal-Fired Furnaces ro Coke-Fired Furnaces Tunnel-Type Induction Furnaces Gas-Fired Furnaces rt Oil-Fired Furnaces INDUCTION FURNACES -►- w Φ Vacuum Induction Furnaces FUEL-FIRED FURNACES High Frequency Induction Furnaces 3 Ε Ε 3 Electroslag Furnaces 3 Heroult Furnaces υ Plasma Furnaces > Electron Beam Furnaces ARC FURNACES Submerged Arc Furnaces VACUUM FURNACES Vacuum Arc Furnaces Consumable Electrode Furnaces Vacuum Induction Furnaces Indirect Arc Furnaces Open Flame Furnaces METALLURGICAL FURNACES Horizontal Retort Furnaces Controlled Atmosphere Furnaces Melting Furnaces Electron Beam Furnaces Foundry Furnaces RETORT FURNACES Brazing Furnaces ELECTRIC FURNACES Vertical Retort Furnaces

c Φ Bell-Type Annealing Furnaces Copper Converters Rotary Converters E Cementation Furnaces LD Converters Oxygen Converters CONVERTERS Kaldo Converters Φ HEAT TREATMENT FURNACES Tempering Furnaces Hardening Furnaces (Λ Annealing Furnaces Nitriding Furnaces STEEL CONVERTERS i-l- Thomas Converters Φ Φ Bessemer Converters Ü Ι Side-Blown Converters 3 Agglomeration Furnaces χ ORE PROCESSINC s' FURNACES Reverberatory Furnaces IRON AND STEEL FURNACES Roasting Furnaces Ferroalloy Furnaces Drying Furnaces CRUCIBLE FURNACES Puddle Furnaces Calcining Furnaces FURNACES Tilting Openhearth Furnaces Rotary Hearth Furnaces Tilting Furnaces Rotary Furnaces OPENHEARTH FURNACES HEARTH FURNACES Hood Furnaces Muffle Furnaces Acid Openhearth Furnaces Bogie Hearth Furnaces Natural-Draught Furnaces Basic Openhearth Furnaces Forced-Draught Furnaces Tandem Furnaces Tunnel Furnaces Fluidized-Bed Furnaces COKE OVENS Low Shaft Furnaces Φ JÉ SHAFT FURNACES Ο ■ CUPOLAS ! υ Roller-Hearth Furnaces Microwave Furnaces Hot Blast Cupolas i i Cold Blast Cupolas I υ HEATING FURNACES RADIATION FURNACES Solar Furnaces i PIT FURNACES ; Infrared Radiation Furnaces ; Soaking Pits i

Raten Furnaces Conveyor Furnaces BLAST FURNACES Holding Furnaces Walking Beam Furnaces Pusher-Type Furnaces Car-Bottom Furnaces

D-4 Radiations

13 The Working Party on Biomedical

Information and Documentation : the national and Community levels, and the relations that should be estab­ work and prospects lished with non-Community and non- European countries.

Activities of the Biomedical N. DUSOULIER and A.L. van WESEMAEL Working Party

Situation analysis and definition of t/ie field covered Introduction After an attempt to classify the mass of biomedical documentation, the The wide range covered by what is experts thought it best to group all termed the "biomedical sector", the branches of science concerning man as "publications explosion" which is now a medical subject under the term "bio- commonplace but is a typical feature medicine", owing to the difficulty of of that sector, and the ill-coordinated considering medicine proper apart from attempts of a number of centres to other disciplines of which a list (not master this mass of papers and circulate exhaustive) was drawn up for guidance them to various, generally dissatisfied purposes. users, prompted the IDST Group to The situation analysis showed that choose medicine as the sector to study most of the findings of biomedical re­ as a possible field for European co­ search are published in specialised operation. journals, of which there are a vast Europe, moreover, has an ancient number, and that the sheer volume of tradition of medical literature, although this primary literature has led to the other countries have tended to take appearance of a number of secondary the lead in recent decades. With a abstracting and indexing publications European network, the European pub­ and the development of documentation lications could be prompted more systems, automatic or now being successfully. automated, in various countries. The experts of the Six countries have therefore been entrusted with a task Review of possibility of setting up comprising the following stages: a Community system a) a precise definition of the field Because there are already a number covered, with specific reference to of internationally-geared systems in the the various angles from which it course of development, plus national should be viewed (scientific, indus­ centres for general or special purposes trial, economic, social, legal): in all the Community countries, the b) a sttidy of the points where it over­ Working Party does not think a Com­ laps other fields; munity move to set up yet another c) a documentation survey covering international system would be advis­ information sources, ptiblications, able; it considers that at the present specialised centres and libraries: stage the facilities provided by the systems already in operation would d) a survey of the user structure with suffice to meet the chief needs of users a definition of users' needs: in the field of medical literature. e) an analysis of the structure of the existing documentation services. Some countries, moreover, have NATHALIE DUSOULIER is chief editor already entered into agreements with of the Bulletin Signalétique of the Centre In the light of this information, those systems, whilst others are still of Documentation of the Centre National ile la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. recommendations were to be made negotiating, but all these, to one extent regarding the best structure for a or another, consider that the quality, AUGUSTINUS L. van WESEMAEL is Deputy Director of the Utrecht Universi- European biomedical documentation speed or cost of the services provided tei tsbibliotheck. Netherlands. network, the division of work between need to be improved.

14 The Working Party takes the view proposed that a closer look be taken libraries or medical research centre that in future, to prevent the piecemeal at the existing international systems and libraries. expenditure of effort and funds, the their trend of development, to see how Some of the general centres. Com­ member countries ought to set up a far they meet the needs of Community munity and otherwise, have, through procedure for collective decisions on users. their coverage scale, acquired inter­ schemes for medical data systems, and national proportions which should be that they should adopt a common posi­ taken into account. tion towards the international systems, Review and detailed study of in order to give weight to the principal existing systems users' views and requirements. In most of the Community countries M ni tid ise ¡piinan systems Regarding collaboration between one finds approximately the following national systems, it would be advisable pattern: a general biomedical centre The services provided or being to encourage exchanges of information (DIMDI in Germany, CNRS in planned by three centres have been between the multidiscipline or specialist France): centres specialising in one or studied in detail: these are the Medlars centres by improving the accounting other branch of biomedicine (cancer- system developed by the National of classifications and vocabulary. It is ology, microbiology, etc.): and hospital Library of Medicine. USA, Excerpta

15 Medica. Netherlands, and the Pascal the degrees of retrieval and precision, system of the CNRS Documentation the average response time, the qualifi­ Centre, France. cations of the staff and the wealth of documentation available. Each of these systems was examined from the standpoints of: The results of this evaluation could a) the field covered: by Excerpta Me• serve as a sort of guide for users dica, 3 000 biomedical journals; by according to their needs and criteria, Medlars, about 2 500; and by provided that these are defined, and Pascal, CNRS, 9 000 journals in­ this the Working Party has been cluding 3 500 concerning the bio­ tackling. medical field:

b) the thesaurus: for Excerpta Medica, Users' viewpoint 70 000 keywords and 80 000 cross- references; too large for manual Review of users consultation, it is stored in the com­ puter's random access store, and the The experts accepted a proposal to indexing is done in plain language. group users under five heads accord­ For Medlars, the Medlars I the­ ing to their behaviour and their known saurus has a somewhat limited num­ or supposed requirements. ber of terms, arranged in alphabet­ ical order and hierarchically by There are: category. The indexers have the use 1) the medical practitioners in private of 18 000 terms which cross-refer practice, in hospitals, in dispen­ to the keywords of the Mesh the­ saries, in medical analysis labo­ saurus. For the CNRS system, there ratories, and the dispensing phar­ are special thesauri for each branch macists; of medicine (pathology proper, 2) the practitioners in "advanced" pharmacology, microbiology, etc.), medicine and surgery, who require the indexing being done with a dual highly specialised up-to-date scien­ aim—retrieval and a computerised tific and technical information; index of subjects. 3) research workers looking for back In the case of the three services material and thus having specific studied, retrieval may be a search for IDST requirements; back information or it may be peri­ 4) teachers (professors and their as­ odical, with variants in the services sistants) who need to know every­ rendered or envisaged. thing of importance and also the general trend of medical science: Specialised systems 5) students, whose needs (and re­ sources) can also be expressed in specific terms. The cooperative schemes initiated at a few specialised centres (cancer, pe­ As this list shows, the range of diatrics) have been studied in order to requirements is enormous. At one end see how they can best meet the needs are the private practitioners and certain of certain categories of users and serve groups assimilated to them, who need as pilot schemes for European cooper­ to consult short, factual review articles ation on a wider scale. in their own language; at the other end is the broad miscellany of publications The Working Party experts proposed and services needed by practitioners at that the efficacy of the documentary university hospitals or by research systems should be evaluated. An effi­ workers. cacy assessment is a sort of com­ promise between optimum functioning To find out what they need, users of the system and the cost of the consult specialised or other primary various operations, and depends on a publications, of course, but they also number of parameters including the read journals of abstracts and titles. In level of the documentation indexed, addition to these sources of infor-

16 mation, increasing use is being made of studies now being conducted by dif­ This problem of levels crops up information retrieval and selective cir­ ferent international authorities. again when exchanges are to be ar­ culation services. ranged between the various countries' 2. Language problem centres. Such exchanges, which appear Unsatisfied needs to be feasible mainly between special­ Among researchers in the leading ised centres, again raise the question There seem to be at least three fields sectors the knowledge of languages is of format. where action to meet poorly satisfied sufficiently advanced to raise no major needs ought to be encouraged: problems, but as soon as technique— A contribution to the study of the relations that can be established be­ a) better distribution of epidemiologi­ and hence certain categories of users tween general systems, special systems cal information among the Com­ —are involved, information in the and national organisations has been munity countries; inquirer's language is absolutely essen­ tial. Furthermore, entry into a system prepared by the experts. They con­ b) publication of annual reviews, pro­ is generally more pertinent when it is centrated on the formal relations be­ gress reviews, etc., on European done in the user's language. All this tween the various systems and organ­ work; means that work must be started on the isations. Such relations will only be c) publicity and information on jour­ compiling of multilingual thesauri. This practicable when the accounting and nals useful to university or post­ need has been felt in other inter­ convertibility studies have been done graduate teaching. national bodies such as UNESCO, (language, hardware, software, etc.). which is preparing a system of prin­ Here again we encounter the prob­ ciples for compiling such thesauri. lems of vocabulary and the need for Specific matters examined a macrothesaurus and microthesaurus with a view to cooperation between in depth for each of the specialised centres in the Six countries 3. Problems raised by the different approaches to medicine in the centres. This is a very knotty problem various Community countries because of the size of the vocabulary Although the delegation think there to be dealt with, but considering that are no grounds for encouraging the The problem here is not simply one the same difficulty arises in the proc­ creation of a Community coordinating of language but rather of the philoso­ essing of medical records it is certainly body, they said they were in favour of phy of each school, the same word worth tackling. Experiments being tried any action that would give easier access being used to cover widely different, in certain specialised centres arc tend­ to the existing services or improve the scarcely overlapping concepts. There ing to confirm the worth of the vocab­ services provided. In some cases such can be no ready solution to this dif­ ulary used there for literature proc­ access could be facilitated by recourse ficulty, which will simply have to be essing, as a language for medical to national centres of a public service borne in mind. records. type which would act as intermediaries between the existing services and the 4. Problems due to the various levels users. at which medical information is Future activities of the Working Party In any case, it seems expedient to processed study at Community level the ways and Work still to be done under Because some centres deal with means of improving or promoting the present brief several branches of biomedicine whilst exchanges of information between the others specialise, medical literature is I. Solve the vocabulary problems. A multidisciplinary or specialised centres processed twice over, though some­ common multilingual terminology will in the various countries, whilst en­ times by slightly different methods. have to be established; the first stage couraging accounting at all levels. could be the macrothesaurus needed for The first guidelines for a rational diffusing information from the ency­ 1. Bibliographical format system should be able to make due clopedic centres to the specialised allowance for a cooperative arrange­ centres. Magnetic tape is the quickest and ment between the general-purpose and cheapest means of exchanging informa­ the specialised centres; the latter could The next task will be the specialised tion, but it raises cataloguing and probably profit from preliminary selec­ thesauri: a methodology could be pre­ format problems. tion and macroindexing done by the pared and tried otit in one or two encyclopedic centres. leading sectors. The Working Party, though fully aware of the importance of this prob­ This would result, first, in optimum To transfer information from one lem, nevertheless thought it went use of the services provided by these language to ¡mother, it will be neces­ beyond the scope of the biomedical centres, which have to invest substan­ sary to convert the first or all of the sector and that it would be wiser to tial sums in order to cover the full thesauri into the other Community keep a very close watch on the various range of biomedical literature. languages. This is easier to do with the

17 macrothesaurus than at the specialist The primary literature could also be level, although conclusive experiments more widely disseminated (periodicals have been carried out in some sectors. in lapanese and East European lan­ guages are more readily acquired and 2. Investigation of the users' unful­ consulted if summaries are given with filled needs has proved that summary the articles). reviews of European work are neces­ sary. A certain number of matters have The documents would be more to be examined, such as the question rapidly accessible; this is a very impor­ of publishing, to be discussed with tant point, since articles today have an potential publishers, the problem of increasingly short lifetime. staff capable of carrying out such work The saving on analyses in the second­ and the market surveys without which ary services could lead to better work of this kind can only be a hit-or- services and a share in the actual miss undertaking. preparation of the abstracts in the primary journals. Guidelines proposed by the Study Group in keeping with the develop• 2. Relations between the processing ment of medical data handling of medical information obtained: a) from publications and 1. Increasingly close relations must b) from case histories. be established between the primary publications and the secondary services. In view of the spread of medical data processing and utilisation at the Work has already been done in this present time, it is advisable to consider field by such bodies as ELSE (Euro• the problems raised by the medical pean Life Science Editors), UNESCO, data processing sectors, which are ÌCSU-AB. ¡so TC46. and at various closely linked to the documentary national levels. Meetings are held to problems. find points where cooperation would be to the advantage of everybody. Since the Study Group was first set up there have been such rapid changes One of the most important of these in these fields that it has had to revise is that articles published in journals its original attitude, which was that should be accompanied by an abstract these problems should be left on one and indexing terms, the abstract side for the time being. complying with international standards (a corresponding standard is being pre­ In particular: pared at the ISO) and the indexing a) the medical records and being consistent with the principles of b) the data banks ought to be dealt the macrothesaurus, which still have to with, leaving aside the questions of be decided upon. monitoring, hospital logistics and

IS however, in an adjacent zone, in plain total number of branded products may language or coded. be around 40 000 or 50 000. Hence the The possible use of existing thesauri idea of trying to set up a basic sub­ should be considered. Pilot sectors stances bank associated with three could be chosen for a preliminary brand banks, which would usually be study. interrogated singly (a French physician being primarily interested in French b) Data banks brands) but could, if necessary, be The card-indexes of precise data arc grouped together, subject to a longer established from patients' records or by access time and higher computer costs. in-depth literature searches using very In the Netherlands a data bank on detailed grids. They are organised in pathological anatomy (PA LG A) is now such a way as to be utilised by a being set up and could be the subject large number of specialists. of more detailed cooperation studies. Many of the data are in figure form, The vocabulary question is particu­ but the figures relate to events, sub­ larly important because the information stances or objects, the designation of even, for the moment, programmed sources are extremely various. which must be generally agreed upon teaching. without any ambiguity. Other data Documentation from the literature The two first-named sectors are consist of vocabulary terms (adjectives and from case histories must be pro­ faced with a major problem, that of or nouns) selected from a very strict cessed with the same language. Here terminology. At present there is a con­ range and often presented in coded again, the following should be estab­ siderable lack of order among the form. lished: experiments in hand, leading to great Here again, then, the problem of the —a census of the present biomedical difficulties in the communication, com­ controlled vocabulary is paramount. An or medical data banks; parison and large-scale statistical eval­ even sterner choice of words is neces­ uation of results. The language used —a definition of the specificity of the sary here than in the indexing of docu­ differs through, first, the choice of language to be used for the data ments or medical records. The aim classifications and, secondly, the in­ banks, in relation to the documentary should be to establish a kind of micro- compatibility of the thesauri and the languages: language in the sectors where joint indexing depth resulting therefrom. —the relations to be established be­ action is decided upon. tween information and data from Coordination in this field should On the other hand, once the termino­ different sources (case histories, enable medical information to be made logy has been agreed on, data banks literature, etc.): available to Europe's research workers cross the linguistic frontiers far more —the fields where a European-scale and medical men. easily than any other form of informa­ pilot test could be contemplated. tion, the interpreting work having, so a) Medical records to speak, been done beforehand. More­ Systematic exploitation of medical over, since it takes a considerable Conclusion records should make it possible to: amount of work to set up a data bank, it will really only give full value in a Although the results produced by —keep track of patients over a long sufficiently broad scientific population. period; the Biomedical Working Party were not It appears, too, that as the medical as spectacular as those of the Metal­ —build up the basic material for data banks are still at the starting-tip lurgy Working Party, for example, epidemiological statistics; stage, this is a field where "it would their experts do seem to have analysed —amass a store of documents for be possible to act in time" to achieve the subject and pinpointed the problems studies, surveys or research work. in a single sweep a consistent Europe- to some extent. wide system which would be of un­ To make such information exchange­ Some of the proposals could render questionable value. able, it will be necessary to define: certain aspects of international cooper­ —the minimum contents of a record, In France, the chief data bank now ation more tangible, but substantial so that it can be used as widely as being formed concerns drugs (physical funds and the assistance of competent possible by computer; and chemical characteristics, action, specialists would be needed to achieve treatments, etc.). It covers 2 500 active success in this task, which is no less —a terminology sufficiently specific to principles and 8 500 branded products. than the preparing of the future of the allow description of the symptoms. It is thought that there are not many medical world's information. It should be possible to envisage in- other basic substances in the other depth indexing from macroterms, Common Market countries, but the EUSPA 1 1-8

IV Agricultural ing when one considers that for thousands of years working on the land Documentation was man's principal occupation and when one compares this tardy evolu­ tion with the very early development of such sciences as astronomy, mathe­ matics, architecture and philosophy. HERBERT BUNTROCK Admittedly, men have written about agriculture since very early times and not merely since Gutenberg—witness, for example, the "husbandman's calen­ Two terms and their meanings used in a very wide and often differing dar" from Gezer in Israel (3), which sense. Paul Otlet, the founder of mod­ dates from between the tenth and the ern documentation, and the Fédéra• The meaning of the word "agri­ eighth century B.C. In the main, tion Internationale de la Documentation culture" seems obvious to everybody— however, agricultural knowledge and (FID), among others, understand scien­ until he starts to think about it. Not experience were handed down from tific documentation—which is what we only agriculture as such, but also the father to son, and were not considered are concerned with here—as being the words that describe it have a history. worthy of intellectural penetration. At one time they denoted something collection, arrangement, evaluation and Scientific concern with agriculture fol­ like the disposal of land, then the distribution of documents of all kinds lowed only in the wake of chemistry, ownership of land, and later the tend­ (2). Depending on whether we are the chemists having discovered nitrogen ing of soil, plants, animals and people. working with documents or with data, in 1772, oxygen in 1774 and the com­ It is only in recent times that the word we find ourselves in the realm of "agriculture" has become connected literature documentation or that of data position of water in 1781. The first with the systematic activity by farmers documentation, and these processes school of agriculture in Germany was for the purpose of producing foodstuffs differ so widely in their methods and founded in 1806 by Albrecht Thaer, and other commodities, with which objectives that they have no more than whom many historians have called "the agricultural science is becoming ever the name in common. By agricultural father of the agricultural sciences" and more closely associated (1). What began data documentation, for example, who had been a physician before tak­ purely as a way of life and gradually would be understood the recording ing up agriculture. In 1 846 Justus von developed into a craft acquired an and processing—wherever possible, Liebig published his famous book "Die increasingly refined structure through automatically—of measurement and Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agrar- scientific theory and experimentation. test results. In the following para­ kultur und Physiologie" and followed The appended schematic diagram graphs, however, we shall be concerned it in 1855 with "Die Grundsätze der (Fig. 1), which does not claim to be solely with agricultural literature docu­ Agrikulturchemie", in which he recom­ complete, gives an idea of the activities mentation, which, as to content, covers mends that "one should give back to that can be classified under the general such differing spheres of application as the field what has been taken away heading of agriculture, it being left to the natural and social sciences and, as from it, neither more nor less but everyone to decide for himself whether to methods, embraces such diverse exactly as much", and goes on to he wishes to draw the boundary at the processes as cataloguing, abstracting, say "... just as we now cure the ague point where the products leave the indexing, retrieval, SDÌ (selective dis• with a few grains of quinine, whereas farm or whether he would include also semination of information), etc. formerly the patient was made to swal­ the upgrading and processing industries, low an ounce of wood as well...". Even which in turn are drawing ever nearer in those days, however, there was no to the farm. History of agricultural research lack of controversy; Liebig's proposi­ Agriculture is "documented ". What and documentation tions were disputed by the Utrecht pro­ does documented mean? Tourists send fessor G.J. Mulder: Liebig himself had Agriculture is one of the oldest for documentation before going on a little more than contempt for Thaer's forms of culture. Men first started to journey; governments issue documenta­ humus theory, De Bary's discovery of till the land when they ceased to be tion on political questions: the meaning micro-organisms as causes of plant nomadic fruit gatherers and hunters is informative documents. In colloquial diseases and Way's research into base- and established permanent settlements. language the word "documentation" is exchange in the soil. Nevertheless, the The beginnings of agriculture in these development continued. In 1 834 Boces- latitudes probably go back eight to ten signault founded the first agricultural thousand years, but it was only in the experimental station in Alsace and in HERBERT BUNTROCK ¡s a member of last century that farming came within 1843 Sir J.B. Lawes set up the the Directorate General Dissemination of Information of the CEC. the purview of science. This is astonish­ Rothamsted Institute (1).

20 With the increase of agricultural lind Auslandes". The "Experiment Sta­ methods and the need to analyse literature there was also a greater need tion Record", published by the U.S. individual journals: for collection and classification of the Department of Agriculture in Washing­ 2) the delegation, by scientists, of publications. In 1596 the Nuremburg ton, appeared for the first time in 1890. literature searches to libraries or physician and naturalist J. Camerarius The "Bibliography of Agriculture" has other appropriate institutions (2). listed, in a bibliography entitled "Elekta been published since 1942 by the georgika sive opúsculo q nade m de re National Agricultural Library in Special features rustica", 100 printed texts, 170 manu­ Washington (4). The origins of the of agricultural documentation scripts and 190 Greek and Roman Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux works on agriculture. In 1803 more (CAB), which today operate over a The agricultural sciences are applied than 6 000 titles were quoted in F.B. dozen abstracting services covering a sciences. In contrast to younger disci­ Weber's "Handbuch der ökonomischen very wide range of agricultural sub­ plines such as the nuclear sciences, in Literature oder Systematische Anlei­ jects, date back to 1909, when the which application was preceded by re­ tung zur Kenntnis der Deutschen Entomological Research Committee for search, agriculture is an example of the ökonomischen Schriften, die sowohl Tropical Africa began its work (5). reverse seqtience. It had been practised die gesamte Lande­ und Hauswirt­ for thousands of years—first as a way The progress of documentation is schaft als die mit derselben verbun­ of life and then as a craft—before it den Hilfs­ und Nebenwissenschaften probably attributable to two main was discovered and further developed angehen". From 1860 on, Α. Kroker factors: by the scientists. This is not the least published the "Repertorium der preus­ 1) the emergence of journal literature, of the reasons for the linking of sischen landwirtschaftlichen Literatur" together with the impossibility of mythical concepts with production and from 1863 to 1864 his "Arcliiv der handling this kind of literature by when agriculture is under discussion, landwirtschaftlichen Literatur des In­ means of the traditional library and for the social role as a defender

Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of agricultural activities. (After Maltha, Wageningen; Ref. I.)

CLIMATE Climatic control under glass WEATHER Agricultural weather forecasts Disease monitoring and warning / 'tl' Artificial illumination Construction Treatment with long and short days LIGHT BUILDINGS Housing climate Shading of (tropical) crops V/ / Efficiency Temperature control under glass WARMTH MACHINERY Mechanisation IMPLEMENTS Work-study Preventing air pollution Enriching the air with carbon dioxide „,„ ... j AIR Breeding Preventing erosion by wind Chemical analysis feedstuffs CROPS Wind-breaks THE FARM OR Cultural practices MARKET Plant protection GARDEN

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k k fc of the conservative way of life which increasing emancipation of the develop­ is attributed to agriculture or which it ing countries entails an increasing geo­ claims for itself. graphical and linguistic scatter in the production of knowledge and com­ At any rate, the origins of scientific plicates the task of documentation. agricultural documentation go back a good hundred years. Its present struc­ ture is consequently more the result of Users and their information its historical development than of me­ requirements thodical organisation. From the outset, the literature has been collected in Who makes use of agricultural accordance with areas of emphasis, i.e. documentation? Without being able to topical, regional or linguistic interests, give a full analysis, it is possible to rather than on systematic lines. mention the following categories of users: Agricultural science embraces nu­ merous widely differing subjects rang­ Fundamental research scientists are ing, for instance, from physiology to above all wedded to their particular the cooperative system. Agricultural discipline and carry out research more documentation not only has to cover for its own sake than with a view to such central areas as plant-breeding and the direct application of the results. animal husbandry, but must also obtain Their findings are reflected in the pro­ access to fundamental disciplines such duction of literature, with which at the as chemistry, biology and the social same time they announce the priority sciences. This gives rise to demarcation of their investigations. Hence their problems and the constant danger of interest in rapid information, for which overcrowding and overlapping, or, if purpose lists of titles generally suffice: these arc to be avoided, the need for recall is more important than relevance. interchangeability of the various sub­ Comprehensive coverage of the special­ ject documentation systems. ised field concerned, which frequently goes far beyond classical agriculture. Regional disparities play a particu­ and a knowledge of the original liter­ larly important part in agriculture. They ature are indispensable. are due on the one hand to natural variations of climate and soil and on Applied research scientists are the other hand to historical differences, usually more concerned with projects e.g., as regards state of development than with disciplines. Their research is (North-South gradient), economic or­ aimed at the realisation of projects ganisation (West-East) and consumer rather than with the production of habits. Owing to regional interests, knowledge. These scientists are inter­ tradition and the pragmatism of agri­ ested in delegating at least some of the culture, agricultural science and docu­ literature searches to documentation mentation are closely linked with the centres and will only occasionally wish national languages. Furthermore, the to consult original literature themselves. The procurement of relevant material is more important than comprehensive­ ness, so that a high degree of selectivity as regards access is desirable (inform­ Fig. 2 : Limestone tablet from Gezer, ative abstracts and detailed index). Israel, bearing the "husbandman's calen• dar" and dating from between the tenth Engineers and technicians generally and the eighth century B.C. deal with specific aspects of individual "During two months olives are harvested, projects. Laboratory and field work / during two months corn is sown, / dur­ take precedence over literature search­ ing two months the late sowing is done. / es, which are delegated wherever During one month the flax is pulled. / possible. These specialists are inter­ During one month barley is harvested. / ested in literature only insofar as it is During one month everything else is harvested. / During two months the vines of immediate relevance, and even then are pruned. / during one month summer their requirement is for data rather fruit (is gathered)." (after Bardtke, Ref. 3.) than reference.

22 Industrial firms usually have such Fig. 3; The patriarch's library: frontis piece highly specialised interests (products, to O. von Miinchhausen's "Der Haus­ processes, patents, etc.) that although vater" (third edition, 1771). (After Franz, they use the results of general docu­ Ref. 9.) mentation as a basis, they otherwise distrust them and frequently run their own internal documentation services. Farmers and horticulturists are sup­ Food and Agriculture Organisation plied with information by advisory (FAO). This survey embraced about services which, in view of the necessary 500 services which between them pub­ orientation towards specific crops, are lish 1.5 million titles annually. In 1969 mostly conducted in the language con­ Frauendorfcr listed nearly 700 services cerned by national or regional bodies (8). Various estimates agree that the such as PUDOC in the Netherlands, annual number of scientific publica­ AID in West Germany and similar tions relating to agriculture is between organisations elsewhere. 200 000 and 250 000. This means that on average each original contribution How many users must agricultural must be mentioned about seven times documentation be presumed to serve, in the bibliographies and abstracts. The and what is the justification for the actual situation is probably more com­ expenditure thereon? According to in­ plicated since some articles are referred formation supplied by the Member to even more frequently in the second­ States and the results of a survey con­ ary literature and others not at all. A ducted by the Commission of the Euro­ certain amount of duplication is un­ pean Communities, there are about doubtedly necessary for linguistic rea­ 2 000 agricultural research institutes in sons and also in order to take account • M*fu**fTU- *i u*i met-*.-: l.'lcmsnt Ju ./!/.>, the six Communities countries. Between of different objective viewpoints. De­ //Ï^Z/ÏSUS- Λ ¿ui Λ· »'¿w/ fi- ritt/- ¿- „_?aJ'sii,..iÍI¿ them they employ 5 500 to 6 000 grad­ spite the sometimes marked degree of uate scientists and more than twice as overlap there is as yet not a single many scientific assistants. The average bibliography which adequately identi­ annual expenditure per scientist was fies the whole of agricultural literature. $ 20 000 in 1966 and will now be close to $ 30 000. This means an annual Barely one­third of the documenta­ expenditure of $ 180 million on scien­ tion services analysed are bibliogra­ tific research staff alone. A survey con­ phies, though these publish 43 % of all ducted in the United States in the the titles: over two­thirds are abstract 1950's revealed that the agricultural journals, which publish 57 % of the scientists there spent about 13 % of references. The services appear in 52 their working hours on literature stu­ countries and in 22 languages. The dies (6). On this basis the corresponding largest producers are the United States L-* cost in respect of the agricultural scien­ and Britain, each of which accounts tists in the European Community would for 1 6 %, the Soviet Union with 12%. ^^Η be $ 20­25 million. The task of docu­ and France and West Germany with mentation is to make literature searches 10% each. In reality, the American * '~™ easier and more effective. How de­ and Soviet shares are probably even sirable this is can be judged from the greater. Over 36 % of all titles and foregoing cost figures. abstracts appear in English: German. Russian and French each account for W^^^rnJx 11­12%. Automation is not yet very Present status of agricultural widespread in agricultural documenta­ documentation tion; nevertheless, some 200 000 titles a year arc believed to be available on In 1 970 a world­wide survey of agri­ cultural documentation services (7) was carried out jointly by the European Communities' Centre for Information Fig. 4: Justus von Liebig. (Part of a paint­ and Documentation (CID) and a work­ ing by Thiersch, 1868. After Franz. ing party set up by the United Nations Ref. 9.) magnetic tape from about 20 services, the ever-greater scatter in the output of and these figures should increase rap­ literature and the consequent increasing idly in the next few years (7). difficulty, even in the foremost litera­ ture-producing countries, of achieving complete coverage. Possibilities for col­ International collaboration laboration on a grander scale are being International collaboration in agri­ opened up by computer techniques, cultural documentation has existed on which on the one hand enable large a scale worth mentioning for half a volumes of titles to be processed and century. In 1970 the Comité Inter• on the other hand allow coordinated national de Pédologie began its work working by an integrated network of on the terminology and classification documentation centres. of soils. Between the two world wars In this connection mention must be the International Institute for Agri• made of two recent projects for inter­ culture, which later gave birth to the national cooperation: the first of these FAO, was active in Rome. The origins is AGRIS (International Information of the Commonwealth Agricultural System for the Agricultural Sciences Bureaux (CAB) go back to 1909. Also, and Technology), a world-wide scheme professional bodies such as the Inter• that is being sponsored by the principal national Association of Agricultural organisations and will be implemented Librarians and Documentalists (IAA under the aegis of the FAO. its imme­ References: (1) Centre for Agricultural LD) and the Inter-American Associ• diate objective being the complete iden­ Publishing and Documentation, Wagenin­ ation of Agricultural Librarians and tification of agricultural literature; the gen: Living for life. The interplay between Documentalists at Turrialba, Costa agriculture and science. A Dutch view in second is a project launched by the word and picture of agricultural research. Rica, have made the promotion of European Communities with the aim of (2) TP. LOOSJES: Dokumentation wissen­ agricultural documentation their aim ftirthering cooperation in the member schaftlicher Literatur. BLV Verlagsgesell• (5). 'The survey conducted in 1970 re­ countries. schaft Munich, Basel, Vienna (1962). (3) vealed that there are today between H. BARDTKE: Bibel, Spaten und Ge­ schichte. Verlag Kochler und Amelang, 40 and 50 international agricultural EUSPA 1 1-9 Leipzig. (4) G. FRANZ: Die Entwicklung documentation services in operation, des landwirtschaftlichen Bibliotheks- und most of them for specialised fields (7). Dokumentationswesens. Mitteilungen der It is only in very recent times, however, Gesellschaft für Bibliothekswesen und Dokumentation des Landbaues, No. 13 that there has been a break-through to (1970) pp. 6-27. (5) H.D. BOALCH: organised international collaboration on Fig. 5: Max Eyth: Steam plough in opera• Internationale und interregionale Zusam­ a major scale. The reason for this is tion. (Original in the city archives, Ulm. menarbeit auf dem Gebiet der Landwirt­ After Franz, Ref. 9.) schaftlichen Dokumentation. OEEC/EPA Seminar on Agricultural Documentation, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, 20-23.6.1960. (6) H. LOHMEYER: Internationale Zusammen­ arbeit im landwirtschaftlichen Informa­ tions- Dokumentations- und Bibliotheks­ wesen. Nachrichten für Dokumentation 11 (I960) 2, pp. 85-92. (7) H. BUNTROCK: A survey of world agricultural documen­ tation services, December 1970. Prepared on behalf of the FAO Panel of Experts in "A GRIS" (International information system for the agricultural sciences and technology) FAO/'DC/'AGRIS 1. (8) S. von FRÁUENDORFER: Survey of ab­ stracting services and current bibliogra­ phical tools in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, nutrition, veterinary medicine and related subjects. (BLV-Verlagsgesell- schaft Munich. Basel. Vienna) (1969). (9) G. FRANZ. H. HAUSHOFER: Große Landwirte. DLG-Veiiag, Frankfurt/Main.

Our acknowledgements are due to the following publishing houses for kindly providing the illustrations: PUDOC, Wa­ ge ningen, for fig. 1; Kochler & Amelang, Leipzig, for fig. 2; DLG-Verlag, Frank­ furt/Main, for figs. 3, 4 and 5. Cash, Please! Knowledge of existing sttidies. and their results, is indispensable for their continued development, and for solving a large number of social problems. This can be accomplished by setting up national facilities or by resorting to RUDOLF BREE an appropriate form of collaboration with outside bodies. The decision on this is primarily a financial problem, which is rendered all the more un­ pleasant when governments face it for Modern information storage systems the first time. are expensive, both to set up and to operate. If governments—particularly What governments would undoubt­ in industrialised countries—neverthe­ edly like most would be the continu­ less are actively engaged in establishing ance of the traditional method of sup­ such facilities for their national users ply used by their citizens (and their or providing access to them, they are economic and scientific institutions). hardly doing it on grounds of altruism. i.e. if it were possible to rely on in­ Instead they are demonstrating their dividuals buying publications of pri­ understanding of the fact that it is in mary or secondary nature, to obtain the interest of their states to possess a semi-public literature through exchange good infrastructure for obtaining access agreements, to maintain an adequate to the world's store of knowledge. The number of public libraries and. addi­ competitiveness of their economies is tionally, to promote manually operated ultimately governed largely by the documentation centres for especially quality of their industrial products. important fields.

RUDOLF BREE is Director General for Dissemination of Information of the CEC and Chairman of the Sub-Group on Pric­ ing Policy of OECD Information Policy Group.

2> 26 The trends of the last twenty years After further thorough deliberation abandoning the desire for at least par­ make any such wish utopian, and in on the problems arising in this connec­ tial cost recovery. the choice between having the social tion a better insight into the matter But. even so. it must be borne in and economic development of their could, or rather should rapidly result. mind that the lower costs are. the societies inadequately underpinned by A government that feels obliged, for easier it is to recover them. In other the use of information, and creating reasons of clearly understood national words, the governments will have to the required information supply facili­ interest, to underpin the standard of consider it their duty to provide maxi­ ties, governments have no alternative knowledge and the economic and mum access to the world's technical but to direct their attention to informa­ scientific activities of its citizens by and scientific literature for the lowest tion systems backed up by data-proces­ creating the appropriate informational possible expenditure. Failure to do so sing systems, without which the prob­ infrastructure can only do this if the would have undesirable consequences: lem of access to information can no facilities set up as a result are utilised either the additional burden on the longer be solved. accordingly. It will have to promote budget is made excessive, or an attempt In so doing they will find that there such utilisation, or at least carefully to reduce it by imposing high user are not— yet —particularly in Europe weigh up all its measures that might charges has a deterrent effect on the any industrially and commercially oper­ tend to affect adversely the utilisation users. And this would not only further ating firms to which they can quite of such facilities, e.g., excessive user reduce the prospect of covering costs, simply refer their national users. A charges. but also make the main aim impos­ further unpleasant finding is that Euro­ sible, namely, the tise of existing The situation is clearly full of con­ pean countries lack suitably trained knowledge on a planned basis. flicting factors. What can be advocated specialists. Even worse, however, is the as a practicable alternative? A number of basic principles can be fact that a well-founded cost estimate derived from the foregoing consider­ rapidly reveals that the desire to create In view of the high level of the new ations: facilities for independent, accurate and burdens on the national budgets, an fast access to the relevant world liter­ attempt should first be made to estab­ ature demands far more than the re­ lish which sectors justify such endeav­ 1 ) Organisational and operational me• sources that could, in the best case, be ours, having regard to the national asures designed to reduce costs: allocated to meet it in any national development trend in the field of —The acquisition and processing of budget. There are still very grave science and business. Two points will literature data covering any given financing problems, even in cases where emerge clearly in the process, namely: field is relatively expensive, both on the aim is to participate in more or 1) the financial burden will be affected account of its volume and because less adequate forms of cooperative very heavily by the degree of it has its origins in a variety of work. national autonomy aimed at in the languages and places, lhe same ap­ Governments which, feeling obliged particular case. In other words: the plies to storage on magnetic tape, which is both practical in itself and to make such an effort in the interest of greater the national independence an aid to location. All national insti­ maintaining the competitiveness of their considered indispensable, the more tutions, at least those in industrial­ economies and of their scientific poten­ money has to be spent. Conversely: ised countries, have the same interest tial will acquire such facilities of infor­ the more reliance is placed on trans-frontier cooperation, the more in the collection and storage of these mation and are bound to use public will it be possible to reduce the data. Collection and initial storage funds to this end, will also seek to expenditure: on magnetic media need be done recover at least some of their money. only once, however, for the whole After all, these facilities are to a certain 2) if the additional expenditure needed world, as the data can easily be extent used as part of the country's for the improvement of the infor­ copied, provided that all national economic, profit-oriented activities. mational infrastructure is compared institutions can obtain copies of the Why should the country's economy not with state budgets for education and stored data, either through purchase pay something for their operation? training and for the promotion of or tinder an agreement. The con­ Its is hardly to be disputed, however, research, the increases emerge as clusion to be drawn is that inter­ that state-financed educational and re­ relatively modest. Their significance national, indeed world-wide, collab­ search establishments, too, have almost as part of the national balance-sheet oration to this end can result in as much to gain from good access to becomes even smaller considering very beneficial cost-sharing, i.e. a world literature on technical and scien­ the number of qualified personnel saving for all those taking part in tific subjects. There are thus two dif­ who will not be sidetracked from the scheme. This approach entails some loss of national independence fering groups of users to be considered, their main duties into unproductive in the supplying of information. which cannot be simply dealt with on literature searches. the same footing when it comes to the Even these two points, however, do —Providing access to magnetic storage question of payment. not provide sufficient grounds for for individual national users still

2^ entails substantial spending in terms 2) In shaping the national pricing and their impact on the required of funds and manpower on the part policy: subsidisation of the national users in of the nation. These are fixed costs, the educational and scientific fields. —Is a single rate of charge to be apportioned over the sum of national Still more problems are sure to be users, increased by the additional introduced for all users—those in education and science, as well as pinpointed in the course of an even costs incurred in each particular more thorough treatment of problems case. business users? In that case it would be logical to subsidise those users regarding the financing and pricing of -Where the potential in a nation is so who are in education and science, information facilities and their use. small as to make it disproportion­ otherwise they would be in practice Regarding user charges, a good case ately expensive to service the indi­ precluded from using the system. can even be made out for allowing all vidual user, as is probably not This approach would enable a stand­ users free use of the service, particu­ infrequently the case in Europe, well ardised charge to be levied, a very larly if it may be safely assumed that organised cooperation also provides welcome feature as regards the oper­ this is a predominant factor in foster­ a way out. A number of neighbour­ ation of information services. ing the habit of consistent exploitation ing countries operate the relatively of recent findings, for the benefits —If scientific and educational users expensive hardware on a joint basis expected to accrue therefrom, i.e. the are either given a free ride or and link their national centres to enhanced competitiveness of the na­ charged less than business users, the such regional centres. The common tion's economy and science, are the information services have the task of fixed costs then relate to the utilisa­ basis of the national interest, and this checking which rate is appropriate to tion figures for the whole region. is the ultimate end. the users, thus complicating oper­ From the technical angle this kind At the same time it cannot be suf­ ations. of network can take many forms. ficiently stressed that the easing of the The question of user charges should —In fixing charges, the corresponding burden on public expenditure provided not be tackled until it is certain that rates in neighbouring countries must by the revenue from charges levied for these possibilities of reducing the be taken into consideration, with information supply services will prob­ national budget have been exhausted; regard both to their level and divi­ ably in almost every case be less than this enables the rates to be kept low sion into classes, in order to pre­ the potential saving permitted by inter­ enough to have no deterrent effect, clude large differences. national and regional cooperation. It thus obviating the risk of the desired —The rates charged by any commer­ is quite plain that the European Com­ benefit to the nation being unattain­ cially operated information services munity offers many possibilities for getting the most out of such benefits. able and making all the expenditure in a country must also be taken pointless. into account, owing to their level EUSPA 11-10

28 User needs ing information services in its field: in an information system 3) existence of an active national and/or international scientific or technical society or industrial association. A.A. WINTERS Need-group services

The information service that sup­ ports such need groups occurs at a Needs data, state-of-the-art articles in the level beyond primary (initial publica­ literature of practice, and the like); tion) and secondary (basic abstracting Often it is of very little help to a 2) handbooks; and indexing) communications: there­ worker, be he manager, scientist or 3) abstracting and indexing services: fore these specialised need-group engineer, merely to supply him with a services are called "third-level serv­ long list of publications relevant to 4) library catalogues. ices". The emergence of the third- the problem with which he is grap­ level need-group service is an inevitable pling. What he needs is something that Need groups consequence of the growth of know­ will organise and evaluate what is ledge, and, in its emphasis on "how The time when we can afford to known about a subject and present it to find" rather than on " what is supply hand-tailored access for an in language that he can understand known", it closely parallels the shift individual or a very small group is not and at the level of detail that he that has necessarily occurred in yet in sight : what is done about this wants, in other words his own hand- scientific education. will depend on the efforts of the tailored information system. individual or small group concerned. From the four major component The special features of such indi­ What can be done for groups of services mentioned in the first para­ vidualised systems would be most reasonable size—a thousand or so—is graph to which a user is likely to apparent in those media in which a a very different matter. It is both turn, abstracting and indexing services user seeks first for facts, ideas and feasible and necessary to hand-tailor play by far the most irreplaceable part suggestions: access to information to what is called in the use of scientific and technical 1) consolidations of accumulated "need groups". information. These services developed knowledge (articles reviewing re­ Today, three factors increase the in relation to broad disciplines, such search progress in specific fields, likelihood that significant services will as chemistry or biology, and tended to critical compilations of numerical be provided for a need group: cover only the scholarly journals. 1) substantial size of the group; Some degree of coverage is now provided in some disciplines (e.g., 2) existence at the national level of chemistry) for the wide variety of A.A. WINTERS is Director of the a government agency which in the practice-oriented literature, especially Netherlands Centre for Information and fulfilment of its mission assumes Chairman of OECD Information Policy patents and trade publications. The an especially active role in próvid­ Group. resulting general growth has brought apparent disorder and difficulty, which we are beginning to recognise as the early stage of a major step in hand-tailoring information access for specialised need groups. Rather than less of such growth, we must expect more, both in numbers and diversity, for the time has come when we badly need and are able to separate in our thinking and planning:

1 This paper is based on certain parts of a report by the Committee on Scientific and Technical Communications os O (SATCOM) (I). 29 a) the basic abstracting and indexing seeking information outside their areas function, in which abstracts are of specialisation. obtained, assembled and indexed Indexing and abstracting services (often in great depth); and have developed in a wide variety of b) the reprocessing, repackaging func­ patterns. The "Guide to the world's tion, in which these collected Indexing and Abstracting Services in abstracts are made available to Science and Technology" lists over need groups in a number of dif­ 1 800 such services, but it is of limited ferent ways. The latter function value to the seeker who wishes to may be as simple as sorting out find either a service available in his the abstracts associated with part library system that covers his area of of the field covered by a basic search reasonably well or a collection service, though even here pressures of services that will give him almost for modified emphasis in the exhaustive coverage. abstract and different schemes of organisation and indexing are great. Frequently, all that keeps the user At an intermediate level, it might from complete bewilderment is his be necessary to combine abstracts ignorance of what is available. from a number of basic services: A well-structured index to the water, a natural example, would indexing and abstracting services in require information from, e.g., the need group field, possibly incor­ physics, chemistry, biomedicine, porating an internationally agrccd-on agriculture, meteorology, geology, classification scheme, could be valu­ social sciences and engineering. At able. Similarly, subject entries in a deeper level—one not yet attain­ library catalogues might play an ed— reprocessing might include a important role in guiding users to the steady accumulation of comments, most appropriate secondary services. observed relationships, and modified descriptions through which the These measures should also contrib­ active members of a need group ute to one of the basic requirements for could keep their information in a orderly systems growth, i.e. a common much more nearly consolidated input format. Clearly, there must be state. For the near future, therefore, a distinction between straightforward stimulating and expanding reproc­ merging of data bases, which might essing is the single most important affect the sales of the producers, and thrust in making scientific and the merging of information using technical information effective for problem-oriented profiles, which, sub­ those who use it. ject to negotiation of royalty payments, might prove acceptable to producers. Such arrangements would strongly Access to basic services favour the establishment of user- or problem-oriented information net• Need group information services works on one hand, and the applica­ will not spring into being at once. For tion of computer and communications a long time many workers will have technology in the direct interest of the to rely on the basic services, while all ultimate user of information on the workers probably will do so when other.

30 The Information Analysis Centre regularly to discuss methods for System implication: The system improving their information services. should be easy to use. It should A potentially useful tool for the Many other methods are used, and optimise providing the right transfer of scientific and technical should be; obtaining critical feedback number of documents in the right information exists in the information and keeping services tuned to user form to the right person at the analysis centres. COSATI (2) uses the needs is a continuous process, and its right time with the least effort on following comprehensive definition: importance cannot be overemphasized. the part of the user. "An information analysis centre is Therefore, prospective users must 2. Resistance to change. Except in a formally structured organisational be made aware of the existence of the cases in which a man is highly unit, specifically (but not necessarily) component information products and motivated, changes in his be­ established for the purpose of acquir­ services if the process is to operate haviour occur rather slowly. ing, selecting, storing, retrieving, smoothly and usefully. No matter how evaluating, analysing and synthetising good information is, the advantages of System implication: Changes in a body information and/ or data in a having created it are lost or greatly the system which directly affect clearly defined specialised field or reduced unless this marketing function the user should be evolutionary, pertaining to a specified mission with receives sufficient attention. not revolutionary, unless a critical intent of compiling, digesting, re­ need is perceived by the user or packaging, or otherwise organising and the system change is clearly easier The User-System Interface presenting pertinent information and/ to use. or data in a form most authoritative, Apart from a number of systems 3. Quantity of information consumed: timely, and useful to a society of peers requirements like administrative, organ­ There ¡s a wide range among users and management". isational, production and operational in the quantity of information Such centres, in fact creating new requirements there are in an informa­ needed or consumed. This vari­ information, consist of one or more tion system certain user-oriented ability is related to stich factors active specialists who: requirements which specify the kind of as individual motivation and a) systematically collect, index, and users to be served and the needs of capacity, nature of tasks, etc. store information in a field; these users. In 1967 System Develop­ System implication: The system b) analyse and evaluate this informa­ ment Corporation (4) made a study of should be designed so that the tion; and some 450 publications on user studies, range of its services meets the c) make it available in a form and selecting 58 of them for further needs of the most, as well as the language and on a level keyed to quality analysis. The main findings of least, motivated and productive the needs of specific groups of this analysis are as follows: members of the community or need group. users. 1. Principle of least effort: people in In the United States, several hun­ general expend as little energy as 4. Information lag: About 20% of dreds of such centres are sponsored by possible in pursuit of their partic­ scientists and practitioners admit the Federal Government, usually in ular goals. Significant departure to information gaps or duplication connection with mission-oriented pro­ from this behaviour pattern when of works caused by the lack or grams; a number of others, also seeking information cannot be inability to locate information in outside the United States, operate expected. informal and formal publications. under private or local sponsorship. The potential benefits of expanding the number and scope of information analysis centres were emphasized in the well-known "Weinberg-report" (3), published in 1963: "Ultimately we believe the specialised centre will become the accepted retailer of information". Naturally, certain problems of management arise in relation to all forms of scientific and technical communication. Most information services have advisory boards of expert consultants and also hire profes­ sional groups to make periodic user studies and surveys. Additionally, no members of the operating staffs meet ^^

31 System implication: The system periodic review of position descrip­ should make provisions for dis­ tions, specification of training seminating information about cur­ requirements, review of manning rent research projects and un­ levels, and sponsoring of training published reports, and reduce the program development, both within time lag in formal publications. the system and in the academic curriculum, (b) The system should 5. User's needs vary: Information provide for quality assurance requirements vary with the individ­ programs designed to measure the ual scientist, practitioner, and efficiency of its service. engineer as to his role, discipline, project and environment. 9. User studies: Research programs to determine user needs have been System implication: The system hampered in the past by lack of should be capable of supporting a funds, lack of co-ordinated plan­ variety of different user configura­ ning, lack of quality and lack of tions. sufficient recognition of their 6. Quality of information: The value. Programs for the systematic quantity of information available study of user patterns are almost in many fields is exceeding the non existent. capacity of the individual to con­ System implication: The system sume it. There is an expressed should provide for a broad need for better rather than more program of research that includes information. particular attention to determining System implication: The system user needs and user satisfaction. should provide for an improvement Such a program should strive for in the quality of documentation improving techniques for measur­ produced, the condensing of infor­ ing user behaviour as well as the mation, and the purging or retiring behaviour itself. of files and document stores of 10. Foreign publications: Users fre­ unused materials. quently find difficulty in obtaining foreign documents and translations 7. Awareness of information services: of these foreign publications. Many users are unaware of infor­ mation sources, how to utilise System implication: The system them, or what services are avail­ should provide for easy access to able to aid them with their all important foreign publications, problems. preferably with translations in English, French and German. System implication: The system should be designed and operated so that its retail services and Responsibilities responsibilities can be clearly It is unlikely which information understood by the scientific and needs that certain professional groups technical community. It should have in common can be met efficiently provide for the educating and and effectively by the management of training of users and prospective the institutions to which they belong. user in its services. Therefore, it is believed that the hand- tailored services of greatest assistance 8. Quality of services: The user often to such groups in coping with their is disappointed with the quality of information problems must be estab­ service rendered by libraries, lished on the basis of common profes• information agencies, and their sional interest, rather than common associated personnel. Collections employers. However, if the informa­ are sometimes inadequate. tion requirements that define need Systeni implication: (a) The system groups are to be met, both formal and should provide a mechanism for informal organisations must participate obtaining competent qualified in meeting them. Scientific, technical personnel. This should include and industrial societies whose member-

32 ship include significant numbers of potential users of information should also take major responsibility for identifying needs for critical reviews and data compilations, furthering their preparation, fostering awareness of their existence and stimulating educa­ tion in their use, where possible also with the help of for-profit organisa­ tions. There is no doubt that governments and regional governmental structures with executive power like the European Communities are accepting their share of the responsibility to satisfy the user of information, if only because they are large-scale users themselves. How­ ever, governments tend to look at tinuing dialogue between governmental of Sciences. 1969. 2) Committee on problems broadly. Indeed, it would be information/communication foci and Scientific and Technical Information of the Federal Council for Science and foolish for them not to make full use the representatives of users and user groups, be they governmental, indus­ Technology, Executive Office of the of the potential of an inventive and President of the United Slates of America. expert information industry, whether trial, scientific or professional. Not 3) Science. Government, and Information. acting on its own initiative or partly only will the expression of user needs A report of the U.S. President's Science in one form or another be an Advisory Committee. Washington D.C., under government sponsorship : for indispensable, indeed prime ingredient The White House, 1963. 4) National instance the urgent need for more in the formulation of information/ Document-Handling Systems for Sciences progress reports and the potentials of and Technology, edited by System communication policies, but also the audio-visual means offer great pos­ Development Corporation. New York, user's needs will be better served by sibilities here. The more closely 1967. healty pressure on government's information becomes tailored to user thinking and financing. Good com­ needs, the more it will follow munications between the public and the normal economic pattern of private sectors are therefore vital. any other useful commodity. But industry should realise this as well and play its full rôle here, in a Bibliography: 1) Scientific and Technical complementary rather than a competi­ Communications; a report by the Com­ mittee on Scientific and Technical Com­ tive position. For governments, eco­ munication of the National Academy of nomic profitability cannot always be Sciences - National Academy of Engineer­ the only yardstick when assessing the ing. Washington D.C., National Academy usefulness of an information service to a need group. They may have to accept the burden of subsidies, in the hope of long-term quantitative as well as qualitative economic benefit, particu­ larly in providing information for small and medium industry and for other non-paying parts of the informa­ tion transfer process. The assumption of this kind of responsibility by government inevitably leads to increas­ ing government influence on those activities, for instance to the creation of large data banks capable of acting as "wholesale reservoirs" which the user-oriented retail services can tap. 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