College and Research Libraries American Documentation Institute Meeting By P H Y L L I S A. R I C H M O N D TH E A N N U A L M E E T I N G of the American Documentation Institute was held October 22-24 at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. T h e registration for this meeting was 195, making it the largest to date. T h e program, built a r o u n d the theme " R o u n d - u p of documentation ex- perience in small collections—50,000 doc- uments or less," consisted of two sessions of invited papers on various aspects of this theme on the first day. T h e second day was reserved for volunteer papers. O n the last day there was a panel dis- cussion of the feasibility of applying ex- perience gained in small systems to large systems. Evaluation of documentation experi- ence was made with respect to several p e r t i n e n t questions: W h a t kinds of sys- tems have been used? W h a t kind of in- formational material is indexed for stor- age in these systems? W h a t significance does experience in small systems have in developing larger systems? T o answer the first question, f o u r in- dexing systems were described: classifi- cations, by Saul H e r n e r ; subject head- ings, by M a r j o r i e R. Hyslop and Alan Rees; descriptors, by Claude W . Bren- ner; and Uniterms, by John C. Costello, Jr. Some very interesting factors were brought out in the papers and in the discussion that followed. T h e most in- teresting, perhaps, was the a p p a r e n t un- derlying basic similarity of methods be- ing developed in all f o u r systems, despite great confusion in the terminology used in describing them. Subject headings, descriptors, and Uniterms—all sophisti- cated variations of alphabetical indexing —are more and more being forced to utilize some kind of classification (in- Dr. Richmond is Continuations Cataloger, University of Rochester Library. verted headings or " b o u n d terms," if n o t h i n g else) in order to make a realistic representation of the subject m a t t e r be- ing described, while classification cannot f u n c t i o n without a detailed alphabetical index a n d concise terminology, though the latter does not have to be self-suffi- cient to the degree necessary in subject headings, descriptors, or Uniterms. Mr. H e r n e r discussed classification con- cepts in simple terms, p o i n t i n g o u t the significance of the rise of faceted classifi- cation, designed for specific user groups, as a "do-it-yourself" response to the fail- ure of m a j o r general classifications to supply sufficiently detailed schedules for specialized parts of knowledge. H e also reiterated the call for more research on user techniques in libraries, especially emphasizing the necessity for discovering what variations there are in approach among users in different subject fields and also among different groups in the same field. Mrs. Hyslop a n d Mr. Rees discussed methods of m a k i n g subject heading lists, from the simplest, which grow by expedi- ency, to the most complex, where a defi- nite pattern of analysis is established. Experiences in indexing American So- ciety for Metals publications over the past twenty years were used in illustra- tion, and the present project of compil- ing a subject authority list from the ASM-SLA metallurgical classification was outlined. Descriptors, as e n u m e r a t e d by Claude 156 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S Brenner, are a special indexing form in which the terms used are relatively broad in m e a n i n g and use as compared with either subject headings or Uniterms. Cur- rently there are only about 250 descrip- tors in the dictionary, each very carefully selected and defined by experts in the fields to which they apply. T h e indexing system using this form recovers a broad spectrum of material relating to a sub- ject, r a t h e r t h a n relatively specific items as in other systems. Mr. Costello gave a very lucid history of Uniterms and their application to me- chanical selection. T h e method described for eliminating false drops or "noise" by b i n d i n g individual Uniterms to their role indicators (generic terms to indicate function), thus "tagging" individual meanings on a categorical basis (called "syntactical control") was especially strik- ing. T h e importance of the thesaurus in Uniterms work was stressed. T h e Du P o n t solution to the problem of acces- sion listing or "posting" by using twenty- two-inch I B M cards sounded impressive. I n the discussion of these f o u r papers the point was brought out again and again that it was rather difficult to dis- tinguish among all the different words now being used for roughly the same idea: subject headings, descriptors, key words, Uniterms, Kros-Terms, etc. T h e audience was amused at one point by a plaintive query concerning "the p u r e Uniterms as they used to be or the cleaned-up Uniterms." T h e need for a common vocabulary was felt strongly. T h e afternoon session on the evalua- tion of searching methods featured Eu- gene Garfield speaking on document card systems, Fred R . Whaley on index card systems, and Claire K. Schultz on the limits of mechanization in small sys- tems. Both Mr. Garfield and Dr. Whaley compared document (direct) card sys- tems, where every card in the file is scanned by machine in each search for specific information, with index term (in- verted file) systems, where information M A R C H 1 9 6 0 is obtained by matching cards stored un- der p e r t i n e n t subject terms to find com- m o n accession numbers, using only a part of the file in each search. Mr. Garfield used Shannon's formula for information content to outline his theoretical quali- fications for an ideal document card sys- tem, while Dr. Whaley emphasized the deep indexing advantages to be f o u n d in the index term card system. Mrs. Schultz, in dealing with the capa- bilities and limitations of information systems, pointed out that " t h e system with high i n p u t 1 costs is likely to have low o u t p u t 2 costs a n d vice versa." T h i s truism, amply illustrated by her excel- lent analysis of the basic problems of in- formation storage and retrieval, and her delineation of the type of thing which now can be done by machine, shows that there is still n o substitute for an intelli- gent cataloger (by whatever n a m e he be called) at the i n p u t end; and f u r t h e r , that with the machines as servants the range of o p p o r t u n i t y open to this cata- loger for improving i n p u t quality, at least on the subject side, is going to in- crease greatly. T h e thirteen volunteer papers dealt largely with topics related to the main theme of the conference. Space does not permit description of them, b u t the paper of A n n e McCann a n d Mary Ellen Padin, "Conversion to Machine Punched Card Systems for Library Processing Opera- tions: T h e Need for Analytical and Com- parative Study," was probably most likely to interest librarians. T h e authors reported on IBM-machine-based methods of h a n d l i n g book acquisition, serials bib- liography, a n d the r o u t i n g of periodical literature to interested readers. T h e value of the mechanical methods was stressed as worthy of f u r t h e r investiga- tion, and suggestions were made for in- creasing cooperative exchange of infor- mation on the use of these methods. 1 C a t a l o g i n g is a n i n p u t o p e r a t i o n . 2 U s i n g a c a t a l o g t o locate d e s i r e d m a t e r i a l is an out- p u t o p e r a t i o n . 157 T h e panel on the last day, led by J o h n W. Mauchly, consisted of Robert A. Fair- thorne, C. Dake Gull, Calvin N. Mooers, H e r m a n Skolnik, and I. A. Warheit. T h e panel's topic was " W h a t extrapolation 3 can be made to larger systems from ex- perience with small collections?" T h e answer: " N o t m u c h . " Mr. Gull gave a general review of the needs of larger systems for i n f o r m a t i o n storage and re- trieval, while the other members of the panel each b r o u g h t u p special problems requiring solutions. T h e i r views may be summed u p in Mr. Fairthorne's observa- tion t h a t subjects change when they get larger and systems have to change with them. T h i s means either m a j o r adapta- tion of a small system to the changes caused by growth, or a complete switch to a new system after a certain point—a "sound-barrier" p o i n t in information re- trieval. T h e experiences described sug- gested that the more rugged course was almost unavoidable. W i t h a little system, one has little problems; with a big sys- tem, one has big problems; and appar- 3 A p p r o p r i a t i o n or f o r c e d c a r r y - o v e r . ently the two sets of problems are not related closely enough for there to be any significant carry-over f r o m the solu- tion of one to the solution of the other. T h e setting for the meeting in Bethle- hem was a b e a u t i f u l one. T h e facilities of Lehigh University are practically per- fect for a g r o u p of this size. T h e h a r d work of the committee, Lea M. Bohnert, Claire Schultz, Robert S. Taylor, and Isaac D. Welt, in arranging the program a n d other activities made possible a highly successful meeting. Mr. Taylor, local chairman, not only kept things go- ing smoothly but, when called u p o n to take over in the emergency caused by the absence of the b a n q u e t speaker, t u r n e d in a performance as toastmaster worthy of an Oscar or Emmy. T h e pinch- hit program by the ADI officers at the b a n q u e t was highly entertaining. T h e possibility of holding next year's meet- ing in California is being explored. If the next is as good a conference as this one the organization should gain a strong W e s t C o a s t r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , p e r h a p s enough for a second local chapter. Oberly Memorial Award Entries are being accepted for the Oberly Memorial Award made every two years by ALA for the best bibliography in the field of agriculture or related sciences. T h e current award, to be made at the 1961 ALA A n n u a l Conference in Cleveland, is for a bibliography by a U. S. citizen issued in 1959 or 1960. Final entry date is March 15, 1961. Seven copies of the bibliography, together with a letter stating that the a u t h o r is a U. S. citizen, should be sent to Francis P. Allen, Oberly Memorial Award Chair- man, University of R h o d e Island Library, Kingston. Copies will be r e t u r n e d after the competition if so requested at time of submission. T h e award, which consists of income f r o m a f u n d of about $1,200 interest for two years, was established in 1923 by colleagues of Eunice Rockwell Oberly, late librarian of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture. T h e w i n n i n g b i b l i o g r a p h y i n 1959 w a s Literature of Agricultural Research b y J . R i c h a r d Blanchard and H a r a l d Ostvald, published by the University of California Press, Berkeley, in 1958. 158 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S