College and Research Libraries Five Years of Translation Publishing By E D W A R D P. T O B E R TH E A M E R I C A N I N S T I T U T E O F P H Y S I C S is completing the first five years of its cover-to-cover translation program and, as befits an anniversary, has recently been o c c u p i e d with some glancing back and peering forward. Both views will prob- ably interest many American research li- brarians. M u c h of the g r o u n d w o r k for the pres- ent program was prepared in 1954 by Dwight Gray, n o w program director for publications and information services of the National Science Foundation, and Elmer Hutchisson, n o w director of the AIP. A survey in that year of a segment of the American Physical Society revealed an unmistakable need f o r a wider dis- semination of the results of Soviet re- search. M o r e than half of those respond- ing to the survey questionnaire believed that complete translations were prefer- able to translation of selected articles. W i t h the encouragement and support of the NSF, the first issue of Soviet Phys- ics—JETP, the pioneer translation jour- nal, an English language version of the Soviet A c a d e m y of Sciences periodical, the Journal of Experimental and Theo- retical Physics, was published late in 1955. Its first editor was Dr. R o b e r t T . Beyer of Brown University. T h e list of physics translation journals ultimately grew to eight in all, the most recent ad- dition, Soviet Physics—Solid State, hav- ing made its b o w last June. Impetus for the inception and subse- quent expansion of the program came, of course, f r o m the inability of most Ameri- can physicists to read Russian. Of the 18,000 physicists on the 1954 NSF roster, less than 2 per cent (189) had an ade- quate reading proficiency in Russian, as contrasted with 45 per cent f o r German. Mr. Tober is Manager, Production and Distribution, American Institute of Physics, Inc., New York. A more recent analysis, incidentally, showed n o real change in this respect. In the 1956-58 register, which included some 23,000 physicists, the proportion was still less than 2 per cent (397). T h e consensus is that this percentage will not greatly increase in the near future. It is a source of m u c h satisfaction to those connected with the program that the increased accessibility of the Soviet material resulting f r o m Institute transla- tion journal publishing has been asso- ciated with a striking rise in its use. T h e aforementioned Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics has been avail- able in translation to a significant num- ber of physicists since mid-1956. A re- cent Institute study of citations to this journal in the 1956 and 1959 issues re- spectively of The Physical Review shows a nearly five-fold increase in the latter year. T h e worth of this additional knowl- edge to American physicists is, of course, difficult to assess precisely in dollar terms or otherwise. But the many expressions of encouragement and support received right f r o m the outset of the program in- dicate that these translations of Russian journals of primary research d o repre- sent an effective contribution to scientific effort in the West. Recent response f r o m the physics com- munity suggests that in the last year there has been a sharply heightened awareness of the value of keeping i n f o r m e d o n the Soviet output. T h e past twelve months M A Y 1 9 6 0 227 have seen the subscription totals of all of the journals increase sharply; all but o n e are well over the five-hundred mark. T h e Soviet Physics—JETP subscription list n o w approximates one-thousand. Subscription prices n o w range f r o m ap- proximately o n e to two and one-half cents per page, nonprofit academic li- braries taking the lower rate. W h e n related to the benefits of the program, the cover-to-cover translation journals are viewed as a relatively inex- pensive means of acquiring the results of m u c h valuable research. In absolute terms, of course, the program is not with- out its cost. But until such time as a knowledge of Russian is m u c h more widespread or until machine translation is perfected, the most effective method of c o m m u n i c a t i n g Soviet developments to the West w o u l d appear to be by the delivery to the scientist, five to seven months after publication of the originals, the authoritative, complete translations. T h e rising use of the latter points to a firm acceptance of the present transla- tion program by the physicist and the re- search librarian w h o serves him. W e Chose Microfilm (Continued from page 226) plete. Since the paper issues are not sent away for processing as in b i n d i n g , the library always has a c o m p l e t e file avail- able f o r use. Both the C o l b y and Bald- win libraries dispose of the magazines w h i c h have been replaced by microfilm. In c o m p a r i n g notes, C o l b y and Bald- win agree on the advantages and disad- vantages of microfilm except f o r one item. C o l b y feels that films are easier to use since one does n o t have to handle weighty volumes of periodicals. Baldwin considers b o u n d volumes slightly easier to use since the librarian does not have to give instructions in film reader opera- tion and since a page is easier to find than a frame of microfilm. T o see the frame-finding problem, o n e must realize that microfilm is stored o n hundred-foot reels which accommodate twelve issues of m o n t h l y magazines, and in using microfilm o n e always starts at the front of the reel. For example, if the N o v e m - ber issue is wanted, one must reel through January, February, March, etc., to reach N o v e m b e r . T h e experienced microfilm reader soon learns to "watch f o r the cover," which is a single page frame causing a light flick and enabling o n e to count months while w i n d i n g film at a rapid rate, and so find the right m o n t h with a m i n i m u m of time; but fre- quently the b e g i n n i n g microfilm user complains that it takes h i m several min- utes to find the right frame. However, Baldwin considers this a m i n o r com- plaint. O n e unexpected advantage that came to Baldwin and C o l b y f r o m their micro- film programs is that both are able to provide microfilm readers f o r faculty and non-college personnel b o r r o w i n g or buying microfilm materials in connec- tion with research o r graduate study. C o l b y feels that this has made many off- campus p e o p l e friends of its library. T h e librarians of Baldwin and Colby are pleased with the space and money- saving features of microfilm and consider it an excellent solution to many prob- lems involved in keeping and in using back issues of periodicals, especially in the small library which is limited in space, staff, and funds. Most students are intrigued by microfilm and delight in finding opportunities to use it. 2 2 8 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