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Review Articles 

Where Facts Are 

Scientists' Approaches to Information. B y 
M e l v i n J. V o i g t . C h i c a g o : A L A , 1961. 
81 p. ( A C R L M o n o g r a p h N o . 24) $2.50. 

" I n f o r m a t i o n storage a n d r e t r i e v a l " is a 
phrase w i t h a futuristic ring, b u t it denotes 
processes which have b e e n carried on, in o n e 
way o r a n o t h e r , f o r ages. O n l y lately has 
the sequence o f file now, find l a t e r b e e n 
dignified by such an impressive title, a n d 
o n e tends still to associate the phrase w i t h 
m e c h a n i z e d i n f o r m a t i o n processing. T h i s 
small v o l u m e considers i n f o r m a t i o n retrieval 
as it is now practiced by scientists, using the 
abstracts, indexes, j o u r n a l s , a n d o t h e r tools 
which are available. N o t e n o u g h time, the 
a u t h o r feels, has b e e n spent in asking basic 
questions a b o u t the ways scientists find the 
i n f o r m a t i o n they n e e d . A study of c u r r e n t 
usage m i g h t give useful h i n t s f o r the im-
p r o v e m e n t of o l d e r tools a n d the design of 
new ones. 

T h e aim o f the study was to d e t e r m i n e 
how a n d where scientists locate needed facts; 
t h e m e t h o d was a series of interviews with 
individual scientists and groups of scientists, 
some 225 in all. T o e l i m i n a t e possible 
language bias, t h e study was caried o u t in 
S c a n d i n a v i a , where most scientists can use 
English, G e r m a n , a n d F r e n c h — t h e langu-
ages of t h e p r i n c i p a l i n f o r m a t i o n s o u r c e s — 
with n e a r l y equal facility. T h r e e different 
" a p p r o a c h e s to i n f o r m a t i o n " were identified: 
T h e c u r r e n t a p p r o a c h , o r " k e e p i n g u p with 
the l i t e r a t u r e ; " the everyday a p p r o a c h , o r 
the search f o r specific facts in the course of 
t h e researcher's daily work; and the exhaus-
tive a p p r o a c h , in which all p e r t i n e n t in-
f o r m a t i o n on a t o p i c is desired. 

All of the e x i s t i n g r e f e r e n c e tools in the 
field were used, b u t t h e i r i m p o r t a n c e varied 
according to the scientist's a p p r o a c h — h i s 
reasons f o r m a k i n g the search. F o r the cur-
r e n t a p p r o a c h , o r l e a r n i n g of new develop-

ments, c o n t a c t with o t h e r scientists e i t h e r 
in person o r by c o r r e s p o n d e n c e was f o u n d 
to be q u i t e i m p o r t a n t . F i n d i n g the informa-
t i o n rapidly seemed to b e the d e t e r m i n i n g 
f a c t o r i n choice o f sources f o r the everyday 
a p p r o a c h , since the scientist's associates a n d 
t h e standard h a n d b o o k s , reviews, encyclo-
pedias, etc., were most widely used. T h e ex-
haustive a p p r o a c h , predictably, m a d e m u c h 
use o f articles in periodicals, j o u r n a l s , a n d 
p r i n t e d reports, as well as i n d e x e s a n d ab-
stracts to locate t h e m . 

T h e a u t h o r p o i n t s out t h a t n o single 
source of i n f o r m a t i o n can b e a d e q u a t e for 
all a p p r o a c h e s a n d suggests that the perfec-
t i o n of m e c h a n i c a l tools f o r exhaustive lit-
e r a t u r e s e a r c h i n g is less i m p o r t a n t t h a n im-
p r o v e m e n t in sources used f o r the c u r r e n t 
a p p r o a c h . T h e s e sources m i g h t b e made 
m o r e useful by adding m o r e specialized in-
d e x i n g a n d a b s t r a c t i n g services f o r the nar-
rower fields, by the f u r t h e r use of mechan-
ical methods in t h e p r e p a r a t i o n of biblio-
g r a p h i c a l services, a n d by i n t e r n a t i o n a l co-
o p e r a t i o n in the p r o d u c t i o n of i n f o r m a t i o n 
sources w i t h i n a given field. M a c h i n e s a l o n e 
will n o t save the scientists a n d l i b r a r i a n s 
f r o m b u r i a l b e n e a t h the i n c r e a s i n g mass of 
p u b l i s h e d m a t e r i a l , b u t a c o m b i n a t i o n of 
old a n d new techniques should e n a b l e them 
to k e e p p a c e . — R i c h a r d W. Ryan, Library of 
Congress. 

Machine Translation 
Computers and Common Sense—the Myth 

of Thinking Machines. B y M o r t i m e r 
T a u b e . N e w Y o r k : C o l u m b i a Univer-
sity Press, 1961. 136p. $3.75. 

A n u m b e r of weighty subjects are dis-
cussed in this slender b o o k : m a c h i n e trans-
l a t i o n , l e a r n i n g machines, m a n - m a c h i n e re-
lations, t h e m e a n i n g o f m e a n i n g , and the 
need for criticism in science. M u c h of the 
b o o k deals with a t t e m p t s to formalize, i.e. 

4 5 2 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