http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1756 4th Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (1966). Edited by Herbert Goldhor. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3485 The Technical Information Project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology This paper is based on the tape of an unscripted talk given by M. M. Kessler (Associate Director of Libraries, and Director of the Technical Information Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). It represents the editor's understanding of his remarks; neither Mr. Kessler nor M.I.T. is to be held responsible for the precise form in which they appear here. Project MAC at MIT has been mentioned as one of the newer developments in the computer art. In Project MAC, a man in Michigan can sit at a teletype machine and interrogate a computer, or in general behave as if the computer were next door to him. He can program, compute, or do what programmers call debugging or cleaning up a program. He can also, as of a few months ago, type a request such as "Compile a recent bibliography on laser physics" or "What's new in plasma physics?" It is this application of Project MAC that will be described here. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1767 Operational Computer-Based Systems At The Chemical Abstracts Service Terrant, Seldon W., Jr. Wood, James L. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization chartered by Congress as a scientific and educational organization. The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) is a division of the American Chemical Society. Like any society the ACS is concerned with helping its members to get their papers published and to help chemists and chemical engineers to gain recognition in the scientific and general public communities. Equally important, however, the ACS wants to have available information put to use. To this end, it is concerned that all forms of research, development, and applied technology be fully recorded, indexed, and retrievable for the full scientific community. Chemical information is not used only by chemists and chemical engineers. It is used by many other kinds of scientists. In line then with the major purpose of getting available information put to use, it is clear that the ACS operates the Chemical Abstracts Service not only for the benefit of members of the Society, but for a broader reason. We want chemical and chemical engineering information put to use in the full scientific community so that the general public will reap the benefits which such use will provide. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1766 Computer Applications To Book Catalogs And Library Systems Stromberg, Donald H. Librarians must look to the future information needs of a country expanding in population, technology and educational requirements. The "information explosion" is placing an additional strain on existing methods of providing information rapidly and economically. A library seeking to develop a modern information retrieval program has many existing services from which to choose. The problem is to define the program that will best serve the present library users and leave room for flexible action in the future, and then to pick a combination of services that best match these objectives. Documentation Incorporated (Doc Inc) of Bethesda, Maryland, was founded in 1952 by the late Dr. Mortimer Taube, and has been engaged in developing modern information retrieval systems for government and industry. A key concept that is now emerging is the development of mechanized or computerized data banks. This data bank concept is a plan for organizing a single set of data for producing many products. The traditional library card catalog or data bank, long the key to finding materials in the nation's libraries, today is getting competition from book catalogs. Using data bank techniques to keep a library catalog updated, Doc Inc computer systems generate printouts of the catalog which are used to produce bound books for distribution to library users. In effect, the book catalogs are carrying the traditional card catalog, literally, into the homes and offices of users instead of requiring them to trek to the library to find out if the information they want is available. The computer is used to produce several indexes (such as subject, author, and title) in various formats from a single file of data and is particularly effective if the catalog data bank is standardized. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1765 Data Processing In The Texas A & M University Library Stewart, Bruce W. The Texas A & M University Library embraced automation as a way of life when it became the first library in the Southwest to employ a Data Processing Supervisor as a full-time Library staff member in September, 1964. The creation of such a position as part of the Library staff was only one of several favorable circumstances which combined to provide the necessary foundation for the achievements outlined in this paper. In addition to an enthusiastic University administration which provided requested supplemental funds for a special conversion project, the Library has access to the University's centralized data processing facility, which is one of the largest such University installations in the Southwest. The Data Processing Center houses an IBM 7094-1401 computer system with 14 magnetic tape drives, two separate off-line 1401 tape systems (one with a 1404 printer), and a battery of high speed sorters, collators, and card punches. This tremendous hardware capability has proved to be a great asset to our automation program. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1764 Approaches To Library Filing By Computer Perreault, Jean M. "The essence of library catalogue is arrangement of entries." (a) There is no intention, in this paper, of providing anything like a new code of filing rules for use with the computer. Ted Hines and Jessica Harris have made a valiant and largely successful try at this task. It is recommended that you obtain it2 and read it thoughtfully. (b) Nor will this paper comment on the two classic American filing codes^ in such a way that the form subdivision for a subject-heading on this paper would read "Commentaries," but rather in such a way as to give it "Criticism, interpretation, etc." (c) Nor (as a final disclaimer) is this paper thematically concerned with the hope for code revision though these pages come closer to such a treatment than to (a) or (b). Instead, there will be an attempt (d) to present some of the intellectual or bibliographical problems involved in the notions of sorting and filing, and then (e) an outline of some of the tools and techniques which can be brought to bear upon their resolution. Together, these ideas should (f) make possible a rational basis for the evaluation of filing- code -revision suggestions. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1763 Library Applications Of Data Processing: An Enumerative Bibliography, 1964-65 Krikelas, James The purpose of this bibliography, prepared for the participants of the 1966 Clinic, is to provide a convenient list of references to actual applications of data processing machines for the mechanization of library routines. Items published in 1964 that were included in a similar list distributed in 1965 have been excluded.* In addition to Library Literature and Library Science Abstracts, a new quarterly, Documentation Abstracts (which includes the former "Literature Notes" section of American Documentation), should be useful for current references. For retrospective citations to operational systems the references cited below may be useful. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1762 Information Retrieval Projects In The Biomedical Library, University Of California, Los Angeles Darling, Louise In the area of information retrieval, the Biomedical Library is currently engaged in two projects: the UCLA MEDLARS Station and the Brain Information Service. This paper is limited to a condensed and non-technical consideration of their machine programs. The two projects are interrelated through the National Library of Medicine's Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS) which must therefore be our starting point. At the outset it should be made clear that this is a report on work in which the author's role is purely administrative. The progress and accomplishments described are due to the efforts of the staff of the projects. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1761 The Johns Hopkins University Library Courtright, Benjamin The purpose of this paper is to describe two projects relevant to the interests of this conference which are active at the Johns Hopkins University. These are, first, the conversion of the shelf list of the University Library to machine -readable form, and, second, the design and operation of a new type of computer-based circulation system. These activities were initiated and are being carried out at Johns Hopkins as part of an operations research and systems engineering study of university libraries, under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation. The leadership in initiating and directing this study has from the beginning been that of Robert H. Roy, Dean of the School of Engineering Science and Chairman of the Department of Operations Research of the University. The Project team has been fortunate throughout in having a close and cordial working relationship with the staff of the Johns Hopkins University Library. From providing a field for examination and case study of systems problems, to sympathetic and responsive reception of proposals for action, the Library has been friend, teacher, and subject all at once. This fortunate and indeed essential state of affairs has been due above all to the perception, the vision, and the understanding of the University Librarian, John Berthel. The support of the National Science Foundation has been crucial. The cost of the work is small in terms of the long-range objectives which are at stake here, but without the far-sighted support of NSF these undertakings could not have been attempted at all. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1760 The Uses Of Plato: A Computer Controlled Teaching System Easley, John A., Jr. Lyman, Elisabeth R. Bitzer, Donald L. The use of a high-speed digital computer as a central control element provides great flexibility in an automatic teaching system. Using a computer-based system like PLATO permits versatility in teaching logics, since changing the type of teacher merely requires changing the computer program but not the hardware. In addition, having access to the decision-making capacity of a large computer located as one unit permits complicated decisions to be made for each student. Such capacity would be prohibitively expensive to provide by means of decision-making equipment located at each student station. Studies of queuing that occurs with multiple student requests show that the system could teach as many as a thousand students simultaneously without incurring a noticeable delay in processing any student's request. The educational results thus far have been extremely encouraging. However, reliable conclusions on educational achievement must await the results of more thorough experiments now in progress which include larger numbers of students learning under a variety of conditions. The adaptability and usability of the system for a variety of purposes in education (including the behavioral and physical sciences) have been clearly demonstrated. Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1759 Current Trends In Library Automation Becker, Joseph The punched card is a remarkable invention which has evolved into a multi -billion dollar industry and has made its impact felt on almost every aspect of our society. The genesis of the punched card can be traced to the man credited with inventing it, Herman Hollerith. In the late 1800' s, Hollerith cut a card to the exact dimensions of the American dollar bill and devised a method for representing a number or a letter in the identical place on each card every time. Although the dollar bill has shrunk, the Hollerith punched card, after a hundred years, has not changed by a millimeter! Because paper is a nonconducting material, it is possible to perform counting operations by passing electric current through the holes in the card. It was this simple idea which helped the United States analyze statistics collected by the 1890 census and which later led to many other applications, including some of interest to libraries. Herman Hollerith's biography in the Dictionary of American Biography relates that the punched card idea was suggested to him by a librarian. Hollerith thus reports the incident in one of his letters: "One evening at Dr. B's tea table he said to me, 'There ought to be a machine for doing the purely mechanical work of tabulating population and similar statistics.'" The "Dr. B" whom Hollerith refers to was Dr. John Shaw Billings, who was then Librarian of the Army Surgeon General's Library and who was destined to become the first Director of the New York Public Library. To this chance remark, Hollerith attributes his inspiration for the development of the punched card. Since it was a librarian who started it all, is it any wonder that Dr. Billings' professional descendants should wish to emulate his foresight by considering possible uses of data processing in libraries? Libraries --Automation