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A regionally organized program for serials bibliography is proposed because of the large volume of complex data needing control and the many purposes to which the data can be put in support of regional or local needs.

Under the auspices of the International Federation of Library Association's Committees on Cataloging and Mechanization,. an International Working Group on Content Designators was formed to attempt to resolve the differences in the content designators assigned by national agencies to their machine-readable bibliographic records.

As more academic and public libraries have some form of bibliographic description of their complete collection available in machine-readable form, public service librarians are devising ways to use the information for better retrieval. Research at the Ohio State University tested user response to paper and COM output from selected areas of the shelflist. Results indicated users at remote locations found such lists helpful, with some indication that paper printout was more popular than microfiche.

This paper is a summary of several working papers prepared for the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Working Group on Content Designators. The first working paper, January 1973, discussed the obstacles confronting the Working Group, stated the scope of responsibility for the Working Group, and gave definitions of the terms, tags, indicator and data element identifiers, as well as a statement of the function of each. The first paper was submitted to the Working Group for comments and was subsequently modified (revised April 1973) to reflect those comments that were applicable to the scope of the Working Group and to the definition and function of content designators. The present paper makes the basic assumption that there will be a SUPERMARC and discusses principles of format design. This series of papers is being published in the interest of aerting the library community to intemational activities. All individual working papers are submitted to the MARBI interdivisional committee of ALA by the chairman of the IFLA Working Group for comments by that committee.

Library literature generally assumes that COM is better suited to staff rather than patron use applications. This paper describes a COM serials holdings list intended for patron use. The application and conversion from paper to COM are described. Emphasis is placed on the selection of an appropriate microformat and easily operable viewing equipment as conditions of success for patron use.

The first partof this paper considers three general approaches to the development of an automation system in a large research library. The library may decide simply to wait for developments; it may attempt to develop a total or integrated system from the start; or it may adopt an evolutionary approach leading to an integrated system. Oustside consultants, it is suggested, will become increasingly important. The second part of the paper deals with important elements in any program regardless of the approach. These include the building of a capability to do automation work, staffing, equipment, organizational structure, selection of projects, and costs.

This paper reports on the development and growth of the United States Army Computer Systems Support and Evaluation Command (USACSSEC) Technical Reference Library from a collection of miscellaneous documents related to only fifty computer systems to the present collection of approximately 10,000 hardware/software technical documents related to over 200 systems from 70 manufacturers. Special emphasis is given to the evolution of the filing system and retrieval techniques unique to the USACSSEC Technical Reference Library, i.e., computer listings of available documents in various sequences, and development uf the cataloging system adaptable to computer technology. It is hoped that this paper will be a contribution toward a standard approach in cataloging ADP collections.

This paper is a statement of the Library of Congress' recommendation that a MARC advisory committee be appointed within the present structure of the RTSD/ISAD/RASD Committee on Representation in Machine-Readable Form of Bibliographic Information (MARBI) and describes the Library's proposed relation to such a committee. The proposals and recommendations suggested were adopted by the MARBI Committee during its deliberations at ALA Midwinter, January 1974, and are now in effect.

This paper describes development of a MARC serials format union catalog of serials called the Minnesota Union List of Serials (MULS). The Preliminary Edition, published August 1972, contains over 37,000 main entries in 1,566 text pages produced through photocomposition in News Gothic typefont using the full MARC character set. The total number of entries is over 59,000, including cross-references. Conceptualization and scope of the system as well as its design, data conversion, computer and programming support, photocomposition, costs, and problems are discussed.

This paper describes a project designed to improve services to library users by solving, through the application of operations research methods, a complex problem of delivery of library materials in an urban, multisystem library service region. Unique features, methodology, results, and limitations are discussed.

This paper describes a user-interactive system for the selection and display of pictorial information stored on microfiche cards in a computer-controlled viewer. The system is designed to provide rapid access to photographic and graphical data. It is intended to provide a library of photographs of planetary bodies and is currently being used to store selected Martian and lunar photography.

The inverted index file is a frequently used file structure for the storage of indexing information in a document retrieval system. This paper describes a novel method for the computer storage of such an index. The method not only offers the possibility of reducing storage requirements for an index but also affords more rapid processing of query statements expressed in Boolean logic.

This paper (1) summarizes an investigation into the political and financial factors which inhibited the ready application of computers to individual academic libraries during the period 1967-71, and (2) presents the author's speculations on the future of libraries in a computer dominant society. Technical aspects of system design were specifically excluded from the investigation. Twenty-four institutions were visited and approximately 100 persons interviewed. Substantial future change is envisaged in both the structure and function of the library, if the emerging trend of coalescing libraries and computerized "information processing centers" continues.

Conventional approaches to processing records of linguistic origin for storage and retrieval tend to regard the data as immutable. The data generally exhibit great variety and disparate frequency distributions, which are largely ignored and which entail either the storage of extensive lists of items or the use of complex numerical algorithms such as hash coding. The results in each case are far from ideal. The variety-generator approach seeks to reflect the microstructure of data elements in their description for storage and search, and takes advantage of the consistency of statistical characteristics of data elements in homogeneous data bases. In this paper, the application of the variety-generator approach to the description of personal author names from the INSPEC data base by means of small sets of keys is detailed. It is shown that high degrees of partitioning of names can be obtained by key-sets generated from the initial characters of surnames, fmm the terminal characters of surnames, and from the initials. The implications of the findings for computer-based bibliographical informationsystems are discussed.

This paper defines an access method for bibliographic records that combines features of the search key approach and the inverted file approach. It is a refinement of the search key technique that permits its extension to large files. A method by which this approach can be efficiently implemented is suggested.

Viable on-line search systems require reasonable capabilities to automatically detect (and hopefully correct) variations between request format and stored format. An important requirement is the solution of the problem of matching proper names, not only because both input specifications and storage specifications are subject to error, but also because various transliteration schemes exist and can provide variant proper name forms in the same data base. This paper reviews several proper name matching schemes and provides an updated version of these schemes which tests out nicely on the proper name equivalence classes of a suburban telephone book. An appendix lists the corpus of names used for algorithm test.

The Chairman of the United States of America Standards Institute, Sectional Committee Z39, Library Work and Documentation, has approved publication of the following draft "USA Standard for a Format for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape" to hasten availability of this fundamental contribution to bibliographic standardization. Two important implementations follow the Standard. Part B of Appendix I is "Preliminary Guidelines for the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and National Agricultural Library Implementation of the Proposed American Standard for a Format for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape as Applied to Records Representing Monographic Materials in Textual Printed Form (Books)" - more succinctly known as MARC II. Part C is a Committee working paper entitled "Preliminary Committee on Scientific and Technical Information (COSATI) Guidelines for Implementation of the USA Standard."

On-line circulation systems divide into two types. One type contains records only for charged or otherwise absent items. The other contains a file of records for all titles or volumes in the library collection, regardless of their circulation status. This paper traces differences between the two types, examining different kinds of files and terminals, transaction evidence, the quality of bibliographic data, querying, and the possibility of functions outside circulation. Aspects of both operational and potential systems are considered.

This paper presents a case study of the automation of acquisitions functions at Parkland College. This system, utilizing batch processing, demonstrates that small libraries can develop and support large-scale automated systems at a reasonable cost. In operation since September 1971, it provides machine-generated purchase orders, multiple order cards, budget statements, overdue notices to vendors, and many cataloging by-products. The entire collection, print and nonprint, of the Learning Resource Center is being accumulated gradually into a machine-readable data base.

TRIPS (TALON Reporting and Information Processing System) is an interactive software system for generating reports to NLM on regional medical library network activity and constitutes a vital part of a network management information system (NEMIS) for the South Central Regional Medical Library Program. Implemented on a PDP-lOfSRU 1108 interfaced system, TRIPS accepts paper tape input describing network transactions and generates output statistics on disposition of requests, elapsed time for completing filled requests, time to clear unfilled requests, arrival time distribution of requests by day of month, and various other measures of activity andjor performance. Emphasized in the TRIPS design are flexibility, extensibility, and system integrity. Processing costs, neglecting preparation of input which may be accomplished in several ways, are estimated at $.05 per transaction, a transaction being the transmittal of a message from one library to another.

This paper deals with the application to library systems development programs of planning techniques which long ago proved their usefulness in business, military, and aerospace developments. The significant features of PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique), WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), planning diagrams, statements of work, cost/time estimates, schedules, manpower loading, and cost phasing are related through an example to the management requirements of a mafor systems development program at a large university library. The practical aspects of planning are treated in preference to the more theoretical.

A study at Michigan State University Library compared the costs of three different methods of conversion: keypunching, paper-tape typewriting, and optical scanning by a service bureau. The record converted included call number, copy number, first 39 letters of the author's name, first 43 letters of the title, and date of publication. Source documents were all of the shelf list cards at the Library. The end products were a master book tape of the library collections and a machine readable book card for each volume to be used in an automated circulation system.

In discussion about search keys, concern has been expressed as to how the nunber of items tetrieved by a single value relates to collection size. This paper creates a statistical model that attempts to give some insight into this behavior. It is concluded that, in general, the observed behavior can be explained as being intrinsically statistical in nature rather than being a property of specific search keys. An attempt is made to relate this model to other tesearch, and to indicate how this model may be made to yield more accurate predictions.

Subscriptions to the Library of Congress' MARC tapes number approximately sixty. The uses to which the weekly tapes have been put have been minimal in the area of Selective Dissemination of lnformation (SDI) and current awareness. This paper reviews work that has been performed on hatched retrieval/dissemination and provides a description of a highly flexible cooperative SDI system developed by the Library, University of Saskatchewan, and the National Science Library. The system will permit searching over all subject areas represented by the English language monographic literature on MARC.

After outlining the terms of reference of an investigation of user reaction to the selective dissemination of MARCrecords, a summary of the types of users is given. Userresponse is analyzed and interpreted in the light of recent developments at the Library of Congress. Implications forthe future of SDI of MARC in a university setting concludethe paper.