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A discussion of one of the main activities of the DISISS (Design of Information Systems in the Social Sciences) project is presented in this working paper. A comprehensive Check List of Social Science Serials (CLOSSS) is being prepared as a basis for bibliometric studies of the primary and secondary literature of the social sciences. The CLOSSS data base will be made machine readable so that a wide range of bibliometric studies can be undertaken using statistical and mathematical techniques. Section 2 of this paper deals with requirements for bibliometric studies. Problems associated with the construction of a machine readable data base are discussed in section 3. Detailed design features and problems of CLOSSS are set down in section 4. Section 5 takes a wider view and looks at CLOSSS in a number of contexts in which a serials data base can make a contribution. Section 6 concludes the discussion giving some general issues which must be resolved before the future development of CLOSSS can be estimated. (Author/NH)

If citations are concentrated on a relatively small number of articles within individual journals as well as between different journals, selections of key articles can be published that should satisfy a high percentage of library demand for back runs at low purchase cost. To test this hypothesis, a test was carried out on self-citations in three journals in different scientific disciplines. The results show a considerable degree of concentration, though it differs from journal to journal. The relationship of self-citations as indicators of use is discussed, and a comparison was made with citations to the same journals in "Science Citation Index." The papers that were most frequently cited were different at different periods. The data also provided an opportunity to compare synchronous and diachronous obsolescence. Their differences are discussed and the latter is shown to depend on more variables than the former, but differences between the two were not demonstrable. Obsolescence rates were measured as the annual rate of decay in the probability that any one paper of a given age would be cited in any one paper in the same journal of a given year. (Author/NH)

DISISS (Design of Information Systems in the Social Sciences) is a research project based at the University of Bath. The objective of the project is to carry out research necessary for the effective design of information systems in the social sciences, whether by the creation of new systems or the modification of existing systems. Analysis of citations in monographs is necessary as a check on the lists of "core" journals provided by analysis of citations in journals, and as a means of identifying particular titles, authors and categories of monograph likely to be in heavy demand or of special importance. The study described in this working paper is designed to identify the main characteristics of citations in social science monographs and other non-serial literature. This paper describes the objectives, methods and preliminary analyses associated with the study. The citation data is taken from social science monograph sources drawn at random from the British, American, French and German book outputs in 1951, 1961, and 1971. This study of citations in monographs complements the data already collected from social science journal sources; comparative analyses are made on the two data files. (Author/NH)

A Study of the relationship between the primary and secondary journal literature of a social science discipline is described in this working paper. Criminology was chosen as the subject area for study, because it forms a fairly clearly identifiable area of the social sciences, is fairly self-contained, and because it has some distinctive bibliographical services devoted to it which are relatively easy to locate. Criminology is closely related to some other social sciences, for example, psychology and sociology, so that comparative studies of other social science secondary services can be made. The term "secondary literature" encompasses a wide variety of publications, including review literature of many types. In this particular study a more limited, although still broad, definition of secondary literature is adopted; it includes conventional abstracting and indexing services, but also primary journals which contain some secondary material, and various types of recurring bibliography. The method of study and analysis described could be applied to a study of the relationship between the primary and secondary literatures of other subjects; for the present, criminology provides a manageable test bed for the techniques proposed. Three aspects of bibliographical control in the field of criminology are dealt with and data is being collected on five parameters of abstracting services. (Author/NH)

Lecturers in colleges of education were surveyed using semistructured, group (3-5 persons) interviews. Information requirements for lecturers involved in research means the retrieval and use of large numbers of facts or references. Lecturers engaged in teaching only, however, need to know where to find specific pieces of information. The problem for college of education lecturers is that they require a relatively small amount of information from a large body of information. The amount must be small enough to be assimilated in a restricted time, but comprehensive enough to avoid distortion. Lecturers reflect the following attributes in seeking information: (1) restricted time for gathering and use; (2) lack of motivation for information seeking; and (3) limited informal contacts with colleagues. School teachers were also interviewed in groups, using an exploratory approach so that rather subjective impressions resulted. Because only a small number were interviewed, the results are presented here more to provoke further study than to give a representative sample of information needs. For school teachers, information gathering must require minimal effort and low motivation, and it must be relevant and show little distortion. (SG)

Semistructured, group interviews of a small number of social workers attempted to discover their information needs, problems and possible solutions. Results reported in this document are little more than impressionistic and indicative because of the small number of social workers interviewed and the type of information gathered. The major problem of social workers involves research information--what has been done, what results have been reported, and what research is in progress on any particular topic. In attempting to formulate a solution, three factors about social workers as regards information must be kept in mind: (1) lack of motivation for searching; (2) shortage of time for reading; and (3) overwhelming preference for informal communication. To reach solutions to the information problems of social workers, it is suggested that new trial services be developed and then evaluated in terms of their effect. (SG)

The Investigation into Information Requirements of the Social Sciences (INFROSS) set out to obtain a general idea of information requirements in all the social sciences. This document, research report no. 2, focuses upon the information needs of social scientists in government departments. All the main government agencies in London believed to employ a significant number of social scientists were contacted. Interviews were then conducted which revealed that government social scientists are generally well served by information systems. Library and information facilities are excellent and well used. Informal communication within departments is good. Two problems face government social scientists: (1) information they need is often not available in the form they require, and (2) the non-comparability of statistical information. Improved bibliographic services and more up-to-data abstracting and indexing services would help answer some of the information needs of social scientists in the government. (Data obtained from the interviews is appended in tabular form.) (SG)

The main findings of an investigation into the information requirements of the Social Sciences, conducted between September 1967 and December 1970, are reported. It covers the information needs of social science researchers, and of teachers in social science departments of universities. The objective of the investigation was to provide material useful for the design of information systems. Data were collected not only on current information gathering practices and information uses but also on more fundamental issues relating to the nature of the work being carried out and the type of information required for it. Three methods of investigation were used: (1) a questionnaire circulated to a national sample drawn from a population of all the social science researchers that could be identified, (2) interviews and (3) day-to-day observation of a very small number of social scientists. A review of relevant literature and work already conducted was an essential ingrediant of this investigation. (Volume II of this report which contains the tables of the study is available as LI 003083) (Author/NH)

A sample of 564 inquiries made to the National Children's Bureau (NCB) question and answer service during 1970-72 was analyzed. Three-quarters of all inquiries came by letter, and nearly all the remainder by telephone. Apart from inquiries concerning the NCB itself, inquiries were mostly for information on a variety of topics concerned with children. Most inquiries were for "any information" on a topic, though requests for references, statistics and addresses were also common. Students formed by far the largest body of inquirers, followed by various professional bodies, other groups and local authorities. Half the replies given consisted solely of references; addresses accounted for over a quarter of all replies. In 12 percent of the cases, no direct help could be given. Replies were nearly always given in a personal letter. In 1972 the average delay in replying was 7 days. Suggestions were made for rationalization of the service, by greater formalization of replies, increased use of handouts, pre-packaging of information where appropriate. Any such rationalization should be accompanied by an assessment of its effects, particularly the effects of reducing the personal elements of the reply. (Author)

As part of a larger research effort to determine what constitutes an effective information system, a user evaluation of the "Wiltshire Social Services Staff Digest", a monthly publication produced by the research and development section of the Social Service Department, was carried out. A stratified sample of 700 among the total 2,424 departmental employees received a questionnaire designed to obtain data on the use and usefulness of the "Digest". In addition, an interview survey was designed to acquire data on the Digest that could not easily be obtained by the questionnaire and data on the information requirements of the staff. The results indicated that the "Digest" was read by almost everyone in the department. Nearly all respondents (94 percent) read the news section and 79 percent found it useful. The library information bulletin was read by only half of the respondents and only just over a third of the respondents found it useful. The majority of respondents were satisfied with the present monthly frequency and also with the presentation. There was a general feeling among the interviewees that articles and letters giving personal views and comments ought to be published. Conclusions and recommendations relate to four main parts of the information system: the "Digest", the office filing systems, the information officers, and the role of the department's library. (CH)

The Design of Information Systems in the Social Sciences (DISISS) is a research project with the objective of carrying out research necessary for the effective design of information systems in the social sciences, whether by the creation of new systems or the modification of existing systems. This working paper reports the work to date on the collection and analysis of citations taken from social sciences journals. The data will be used in part to describe the major parameters of the social science literature, and in part for the work on clustering. The purpose of this report is four-fold. First, the general problem of selecting source journals will be considered. Second, the procedure adopted for the DISISS pilot citation study carried out in 1971 will be reviewed, together with a report of the study and an analysis of the findings. Third, the planning for the main DISISS citation study will be considered in the light of the pilot study, and fourth, progress on the main study will be reported. (Related reports are LI004401 and 004403.) (Author/SJ)

The Design of Information Systems in the Social Sciences (DISISS) is a research project with the objective of carrying out research necessary for the effective design of information systems in the social sciences, whether by the creation of new systems or the modification of existing systems. This working paper explores the methods available for the grouping and linking of journal articles by citations, and the use of these methods as a means of information retrieval. The study is not only speculative but exploratory, as the data reported was derived from pilot studies conducted on a very small scale. If the concepts expressed here are considered valid and useful, large-scale tests need to be carried out, with machine-readable files. Such tests will not be possible during the DISISS project, but they could well form part of further research. Not all of the uses of citation data concern retrieval, and not all retrieval by means of citation data involves networks. This paper mentions some of these other uses for the sake of completeness. (Related reports are LI004401 and 004402.) (Author/SJ)

The Investigation into Information Requirements of the Social Sciences (INFROSS) was initiated in 1968 because it was feared that in the absence of knowledge about information requirements of the social sciences, solutions adopted in science, based on the findings of science user studies, would be applied to the social sciences. It is now desirable that the results of INFROSS should be compared with those of science user studies. To do this it is essential that studies should be based on comparable data. The relationship between the sciences and the characteristics of each science must be taken into account in ascertaining the differing information requirements of scientists and social scientists. This report therefore attempts to draw from science user studies possible general conclusions that enable a comparison to be made with the results of INFROSS, and in doing so considers some of the methodological problems involved. (Related reports are LI004402 and 004403.) (Author/SJ)

DISISS (Design of Information Systems in the Social Sciences) is a research project financed by OSTI, which began in January 1971. The objective of the project is to carry out research necessary for the effective design of information systems in the social sciences. The aim of this part of the DISISS project is the application of statistical techniques to citation data in order to group journal titles in the social sciences. Various statistical techniques exist, some with a fairly long history, for grouping items according to observable attributes. Details of these techniques and the selection of one for use with DISISS data are discussed. This report coveres the use of cluster techniques in bibliography, techniques of clustering, an analysis of the pilot study data, progress with data collection and conversion, and work that is required for the future. (Other reports in the DISISS series are ED 060876, 072815, 072816 and LI 004 401 through 004 403.) (Author/SJ)

The Office for Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) responded to the need for additional data about the sorts of information social scientists want and use, and to assess the value of a personalized information service to social scientists in an academic environment by supporting an experimental information officer in the social sciences for a period of two years. This report describes the results in detail, and includes the following chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) The Information Service at Bath University, (3) Operation of the Current Awareness Service to Bristol, (4) The Operation of the Information Services, (5) Brief Review of Selective Dissemination of Information and Current Awareness Services, (6) Social Scientists' Information Habits and the Effect of the Information Service and (7) Future Work. (MF)

Since there is little political science research on the Borderlands, this article focuses on future areas of research. For journal availability, see SO 504 297. (DE)

The entire second volume of this report consists of tables based on the study reported in Volume 1. (Volume 1 is available as LI 003082) (NH)

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE APPLICATION BLANKS WERE EVALUATED WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THEIR VALUE IN PERSONNEL SELECTION. EXTENSION AGENT APPLICATION BLANKS FROM THE 50 STATE EXTENSION SERVICES WERE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE COMMON AND UNUSUAL ITEMS. RESPONSES SUBMITTED BY 194 APPLICANTS TO THE MINNESOTA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE WERE ALSO EXAMINED. RELATIONSHIPS WERE DETERMINED BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL AND LESS SUCCESSFUL MALE COUNTY EXTENSION PERSONNEL AND BETWEEN EMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED APPLICANTS. AS SHOWN BY ANALYSIS OF DATA AND IN A REVIEW OF PERTINENT LITERATURE, APPLICATION BLANK ITEMS VARIED WIDELY BY STATES, SELECTION BY PAIRED COMPARISONS WAS STATISFACTORY WHEN BASED ON THE CRITERION OF JOB PERFORMANCE, RESPONSES RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT STATUS WERE STATISTICALLY MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN DATA ON RELATIVE SUCCESS, AND THE WEIGHTED APPLICATION BLANK TECHNIQUE AND DISCRIMINANT FUNCTIONS ANALYSIS WOULD HAVE SLIGHTLY IMPROVED THE SELECTION OF SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYEES. THE DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN. ORDER NO. 63-7577. MICROFILM $2.75. XEROGRAPHY $8.60. 188 PAGES. (AUTHOR/LY)