College and Research Libraries By B E R N A R D M . F R Y , I. A. W A R H E I T and G . E . R A N D A L L The Atomic Energy Commission Library System: Its Origin and Development Mr. Fry is chief librarian, Atomic En- ergy Commission, Washington, D.C.; Mr. Warheit is chief, and Mr. Randall assistant chief, Library Section, Technical Informa- tion Branch, Oak Ridge. TH E P R O V I S I O N of library service to the atomic energy program is unusual in several respects—in its scope, in its organi- zation and in the methods of achieving dis- semination within security controls. In the past three years the Atomic Energy Com- mission has developed a large, unique, de- centralized library system which includes j f c a l l of the libraries of the Atomic Energy Commission and its contractors dispersed from Long Island to Los Angeles. T h e size of the system can be estimated £^by the extent of the services the units in the system obtained from the central Oak «=» Ridge A . E . C . Library. In 1948 the central _ library distributed 50,000 research and de- velopment reports, sent over two million catalog cards indexing reports to the 68 catalogs of the system's libraries, answered 2500 reference or information requests, and issued 50,000 copies of its three biblio- graphic journals. T h e libraries in the Atomic Energy Com- mission system are not centrally controlled and administered. Each library is independ- ent of the others and is administered by con- tractors at the various sites. T o comprehend this decentralized system, a short resume of the A.E.C. organization is desirable. T h e A . E . C . maintains its headquarters offices in Washington, D . C . Among its basic prin- ciples is that of contracting with industry and educational institutions for the opera- tion of its production and research activi- ties. In each area where these activities are carried on, the A . E . C . has an operations office which supervises and controls the ac- tivities of the contractors of that area. T h e A . E . C . in Washington and its operations offices have approximately 4500 employees, its contractors have 70,000 employees. Li- braries are maintained by each contractor as well as by A.E.C. at Washington and Oak Ridge and certain regional offices. Those maintained by the contractor are supervised by and responsible to the line organizations of the contractor. Some of these libraries, notably those serving the larger laboratories, Argonne, Brookhaven, Los Alamos, O a k Ridge, etc., have large, well-organized holdings in atomic energy and related fields which are being rapidly developed into great scholarly collections, unique in their areas. T h e typi- cal library consists of a comprehensive col- lection of scientific and technical publica- tions, plus a separate document file room for classified research and development re- ports. W h i l e each of these libraries is primarily interested in giving library serv- ice to its installation personnel, the service frequently exceeds this limitation. All 5 libraries give and receive interlibrary loan service. Brookhaven is extensively engaged in bibliographic work which receives wide distribution. Libraries at the production plants of O a k Ridge (K-25 and Y-12) and H a n f o r d contribute to the A . E . C . catalog- ing program for reports. Argonne initiated an indexing system for the plutonium proj- ect reports which was expanded by the com- mission to cover all A . E . C . reports. I n spite of this decentralization, the libraries, by virtue of the common interest, have formed a definite operating system. T h e y use the same materials, draw upon the same centralized cataloging, reference and bibliographic services, and are limited in the exchange of documents to authorized project personnel. T h i s library system has evolved in the past three years. D u r i n g the war it was necessary to protect the secret of the activi- ties of the U . S. Army M a n h a t t a n Engi- neer District (the military predecessor of the A . E . C . ) by the most stringent security regulations. One of the methods used was that of compartmentalization, limiting the information available to personnel to that actually required for the performance of their work. W h i l e this type of restriction made the manufacture of the atomic bomb the best kept secret in history, it inherently caused waste and unnecessary duplication of research. In the spring of 1946, the M a n h a t t a n District established a system for controlled exchange of scientific and tech- nical information to promote wider author- ized dissemination within the district and the release of certain types of information to the public. T o implement this program, a declassification unit was established to re- view and remove the security classification from selected reports and thereby make them available to the public. A t the same time a library unit was also started in the research division at Oak Ridge to facilitate the exchange of research and development reports between the various installations engaged in atomic energy work. W i t h i n a few months the library at O a k Ridge amassed a substantial collection of reports. Because of the rigid security regu- lations, certain types of information on nuclear science could not be found in the open literature. Project personnel had to rely on the reports written by their co-work- ers in the field which explains the emphasis placed on reports by the libraries in the system. In the O a k Ridge A . E . C . Library there are now over 75,000 copies of 18,000 different project research and development reports. T h i s collection is growing at the rate of 250 to 300 report titles per month. Originally this central library was the primary source used by a field installation library to obtain reports from other in- stallations on subjects of interest to its pa- trons. In J u n e 1947, however, a system of direct distribution of current reports was established. Although this system has been in operation over a year, the A . E . C . Li- brary still distributes an average of 4000 reports a month while it receives approxi- mately half that number from the automatic distribution of current reports. As a result the library uses its extra copy file heavily and reproduces reports extensively from its master file. These figures apply only to those reports whose distribution must be controlled for security reasons. T h e un- classified and declassified report distribu- tion from the library has exceeded 50,000 reports in a month, but much of this dis- tribution was to non-A.E.C. recipients. T h i s activity of the library will be discussed later. Originally, under the M a n h a t t a n Dis- trict, the library was a part of the Oak Ridge Research Division. W h e n the A . E . C . offices were established in W a s h - ington, a Public and Technical Informa- tion Division, composed of public informa- tion, declassification, and technical infor- 6 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES mation staff offices, was established and the library was made a part of the Technical Information Branch. In addition to library services, the Technical Information Branch is concerned with publication activities in- cluding the editing of National Nuclear Energy Series a n d t h e o p e r a t i o n of t h e printing plant. A t the time of the estab- lishment of the Washington office the Oak Ridge librarian was transferred to Wash- ington where he serves in a staff capacity as chief librarian of the Technical Informa- tion Branch. Document Control T h e care and handling of a large volume of classified information imposes many unique problems on A . E . C . installation li- braries. T h i s has required the development of special techniques in document control. T o meet essential security requirements the documents must be carefully housed and protected against theft and disclosure to persons not authorized to have access to the information. It is important to know not only what documents are held but to know from whence they came, where and when they were sent, and the authority for their distribution. T o assure that this information is avail- able, an inventory unit of the Oak Ridge library must continuously audit the holdings and trace down any misplaced documents. Originally a multiple copy receipt recorded each document transmittal, but because many receipts were used to record mass rather than individual transmittals and many of the individual reports were fre- quently transmitted and additional copies made, the receipt file became bulky, cumber- some and inefficient to operate. As a first step a posting system, involving the use of log books and ledger sheets was used. Later cardineer cards were used. W h e n the number of documents handled became very large, this manual operation became inefficient and an I . B . M . punched card sys- tem for inventorying and recording the re- ceipt and transfer of documents was in- stituted. Document control has been a frequent subject of discussion at the semiannual A.E.C. library conferences. T h i s problem is not unique to the A . E . C . but is perhaps receiving more concentrated attention than elsewhere. A great many librarians in gov- ernment and industrial organizations have also been faced with this problem of care- ful accounting for individual documents for security reasons. Stringent control of docu- ments will continue to be a problem as long as the international conditions require se- curity precautions, in accordance with terms of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Cataloging of Reports One of the most obvious needs of the installation libraries was a central catalog- ing system which could provide an index to the report collections in much the same way the Library of Congress provides catalog cards to the public and university libraries. T h e first requirement was the establish- ment of a list of subject headings adequate to index all A . E . C . research and develop- ment reports. T h e nucleus of such a serv- ice for the plutonium project had been de- veloped during the war at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago. Fussier and Schram had devised a list of subject headings and had cataloged the re- ports issued at that site. Although their list of subject headings was based on a relatively large collection of reports, the col- lection was limited in its subject scope by the interest of the Metallurgical Laboratory and was not adequate to cover all the activi- ties of the other M a n h a t t a n District in- stallations. A hurried expansion of the subject head- ings was made late in 1946 and the Oak Ridge library began to catalog reports and JANUARY, 1950 7 distribute the catalog cards. In 1948 there were 68 installation catalogs, some of which exceeded 80,000 cards, all serviced by A . E . C . T h e first expansion of the list of subject headings left much to be desired. A complete revision would have required extensive and basic changes. O n the one hand there was the obvious need for a definitive list of subject headings on atomic energy and on the other was this large num- ber of rather extensive catalogs all of which would have to be revised and reworked. W h e n consulted, however, the individual librarians agreed that the extensive revision of the subject headings was both desirable and necessary. T h e revision which utilized the competence of many subject specialists was started in the spring of 1948, com- pleted in December and distributed to all A . E . C . affiliated libraries. A t present an unclassified version of the subject heading list is being compiled for general use and release to the public. T h i s edition should be available soon. U n t i l it appears it is pos- sible t o use t h e Declassified Documents Cumulated Index, covering the first 2023 declassified documents and the subject index of Nuclear Science Abstracts t o e s t a b l i s h subject headings for nuclear science topics. Bibliographic Services A f t e r the bombs were dropped, compart- mentalization restrictions were relaxed in 1946 to permit wider dissemination of in- formation within the project. As a result, reports were received at a rate which made it physically impossible to keep up with all the current information, without some of the usual bibliographic aids. A biblio- graphic unit was organized by the central library to meet this need in September 1946. T h e first three assignments w e r e : A com- pilation of title lists of M a n h a t t a n District declassified reports as they were issued; a publication entitled Atomic Energy in For- eign Countries; and a semimonthly abstract journal entitled Guide to Published Re- search on Atomic Energy. T h e title list of declassified documents evolved i n t o Abstracts of Declassified Docu- ments. Atomic Energy in Foreign Coun- tries was merged in 1947 with the Guide to Published Research on Ato?nic Energy. I n J u l y 1948 the two were combined into Nu- clear Science Abstracts w h i c h is p u b l i s h e d semimonthly. T h e bibliographic unit also provides a title list and an abstract journal covering the classified research and develop- ment reports. Distribution and utilization of Nuclear Science Abstracts is not limited to A . E . C . affiliated libraries. It is available to the public by subscription and is sent free of charge to government document depository libraries and research institutions and agencies. In addition it is made available on an exchange basis to all learned societies, institutions and other organizations issuing scientific and technical publications. By means of the exchange program many worthwhile publications not otherwise ob- tainable are added to the library resources of t h e A . E . C . Nuclear Science Abstracts is not limited in coverage t o : A . E . C . docu- ments but abstracts and indexes all avail- able literature of interest to personnel en- gaged in nuclear research. Late in 1948, the John Crerar Library was given a con- tract to assist in the compilation of this journal. T h e first volume of 12 issues indicates it will run about 1000 pages and include about 5000 abstracts per year, roughly equivalent to Physics Abstracts. Central Reference Service T h e first service which the A . E . C . Li- brary provided was the finding of reports to fill the many requests from the scattered collections. Before the card catalog was completely organized and in the days when reports were not all formalized, a request often required an extensive search before it 8 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES could be filled. T h e standard distribution of current reports has decreased the simple individual requests, but 800 requests per month are still received by the central li- brary for reports and technical information. W h i l e some of these are still easily an- swered, more and more of the requests are on a subject basis, many of them for specific information or bibliographies. T h e unit originally organized to find reports is now providing the central reference service re- quired to meet these new requests for infor- mation and is often called upon to procure information which can only be obtained from scientists before it is written up in the report literature. In addition to subject requests the unit also makes extensive bibli- ographic searches. Public Distribution As the A . E . C . declassified documents were released they were made available to the public through journal publication and through the Office of Technical Services. It soon became apparent, however, that only about a third of the released material could reach the public through these channels. T h e requests for documents became so in- sistent that it was decided either to sell them through the Superintendent of Documents or, as it proved more feasible, to sell them from O a k Ridge as a sales agent for the Superintendent of Documents. T h i s sales activity became a part of the library function in July 1948. Since its inception the Document Sales Agency has issued 11 monthly price lists which list 1064 documents. T h i s represents well over one third of the available 2500 released titles. Reports which are to be published in the open literature are not offered for sale. A t present about 11,000 documents are sold each month. T o this must be added the 40,000 monthly "official distribution" which goes to other government agencies, deposi- tory libraries and research institutions. Conclusion These activities of the A . E . C . Central Li- brary have required a staff of approxi- mately 80, including five professional li- brarians, 13 subject specialists, nine sub- professionals and the remainder clerical assistants. T h i s large staff is due in part to the enormous amount of detailed work required in the handling of classified ma- terials. However by work simplification, on-the-job training and mechanization, effi- ciencies have been progressively achieved in the past year. For example, in J a n u a r y 1948, 8432 cards were processed and dis- tributed per member of the cataloging and card distribution unit. By December this figure was raised to 21,857 cards per em- ployee. T h e maximum number of classi- fied documents the section could handle used to be 5000 per m o n t h ; now with I . B . M . equipment well over 9000 in a month have been processed without reach- ing capacity. T h i s has been a fascinating and unusual experience for the librarians concerned in developing procedures and in applying library principles and techniques to new and highly specialized material. JANUARY, 1950 9