Search results

The National Lending Library for Science and Technology was formally opened on 5th November by Lord Hailsham, Minister for Science. About two hundred people were present. They included Sir Harold Roxbee Cox, Chairman of the DSIR Research Council, Sir Harry Melville, Secretary of DSIR, and many of the DSIR senior staff. Several of those who have played a pioneering part in promoting the establishment and growth of national scientific libraries were present including such well‐known figures as Professor R. S. Hutton and Mr Max Nicholson. Lord Hailsham in his address called the library ‘one of the wonders of modern Europe’. After the opening ceremony the visitors toured the library which was in full operation. This at present involves the dispatch of about seven hundred loans a day. Aslib sent a congratulatory Telex message to Dr D. J. Urquhart, Director of the library, and was represented at the opening ceremony by the Director of Aslib.

News has reached us of the death on 19th August of Hans Peter Luhn, President of the American Documentation Institute since October 1963. Born in Barmen, Germany, in 1896, Mr Luhn went to the United States in 1924. He joined IBM in 1941 and worked there until 1961, when he retired and became a consultant to industry. Although Mr Luhn was known by relatively few people in Britain, his contributions in the field of mechanization are widely known. During his time at IBM Mr Luhn was at the source of a steady stream of innovations in the field of information retrieval. Among the projects he initiated, or developed, are: Keyword‐In‐Context Indexes, automatic abstracting, statistical methods of automatic indexing and selective dissemination of information. He was a prolific writer and some of his publications are already classics. Mr Luhn will be remembered as one of the great pioneers in library automation.

This paper is probably a little out of place in a general session on Information Retrieval since it deals mainly with the possibility of preparing in advance either for the installation of a computer, or for the provision of time on a computer. I think that nowadays even the smallest library (in a largish parent organization) must recognize the eventual likelihood of being allowed a certain amount of computer time. But even if you consider this to be only the remotest possibility, it is still worth considering since it can give you a new slant on your own organization and methods. Basically, the scheme proposed does nothing more than provide a machine readable record for every library accession, and the subsequent use of this, even without a computer, can confer an element of increased efficiency and greater accuracy, with less routine work. The method of providing such a record, which has been chosen for trial in my own branch of the Ministry of Aviation, is by means of an automatic tape typewriter. The process, as I shall describe it to you, has been tailored to fit the existing manual systems as closely as possible but, as many of you will recognize, it owes a great deal to the original tape typewriter plan proposed by Calvin Mooers.

First of all, I would like to say how delighted I am that Aslib should have chosen Darmstadt this year as its Conference Centre. There are three reasons for this which are equally important to me. For one thing, it gives me the opportunity to renew acquaintances which were made several years ago when I first had anything to do with any of the Aslib activities. In those days my main interest was with the Electronics Group although, somewhat later, this was also extended to Aslib Council activities. As I have now been with the European Space Research Organization for almost exactly seven years, my opportunities for Aslib contacts have been fairly limited. Secondly, ESRO has its European Space Operations Centre here in Darmstadt and, as you will see from your visit, the ESRO/ELDO Space Documentation Service is based on the computer installation in this Centre. Finally, it gives me the opportunity to demonstrate the NASA/RECON on‐line system in operation.

For some time an investigation has been proceeding on the benefits to be gained by mechanization of the report handling procedures of TIL with a view to computer ‘retrieval’. A small working party of representatives of TIL and the Organization and Methods Branch meets regularly to discuss progress and outstanding problems.

All items listed may be borrowed from the Aslib Library, except those marked, which may be consulted in the Library.

We report with regret the resignation of Miss E. M. R. Ditmas from the editorship of both Aslib Proceedings and the Journal of Documentation. This is the last issue of Aslib Proceedings that will appear under Miss Ditmas's editorship and she will no longer be Managing Editor of the Journal of Documentation after publication of the June 1962 issue. Miss Ditmas, who was Director of Aslib until 1950, is resigning in order to be able to devote more time to her own research work and writing. Aslib would like to record its deep appreciation of the excellent work which Miss Ditmas has done to establish and uphold the standard of both these periodicals since their first appearance.

The objectives and methods of an information retrieval system determine its input and output costs and the relation between them. The present trend seems to be towards increased sophistication (and cost) of input. ‘Retrieval efficiency’ can be measured, but the true ‘worth’ of a system depends not only on retrieval cost, but also on the value to the user of what is retrieved. Future changes—with computers being used more, and perhaps accepting ‘syntax’ as well as ‘vocabulary’—will substantially change the economic picture.

An introductory course for graduates entering information or special library work, and other persons put in charge of library or information departments without previous experience, will be held at Aslib from 30th October to 3rd November 1961. Lectures will introduce students to the basic principles governing the handling of information, and acquaint them with some of the practical details of the operation of an information service or library. There will be a practical session and a discussion session, and visits to a number of libraries and information departments, including Aslib library and information department, have been arranged. The lectures will be given by the Education Officer, Mr Jack Bird. The fee for the course will be £10. Further details and application forms can be obtained from Aslib.

We very much regret to announce the resignation from the Aslib staff of Miss Jean Leslie, our Publications Officer since September 1956. Miss Leslie takes with her the best wishes of the membership to her new appointment as Publications Manager of the Embroiderers' Guild.