Use of the Center's Coded Chemical- Biological Information : 



The CBCC collection of chemical-biological information organized on a mechanical system was 

 offered, as an information source, to any interested scientist or scientific agency. In particular, it 

 was offered as a means for original academic studies in correlations, especially those which have 

 practical scientific and industrial significance. 



The Center had perhaps as many requests for the special information of its files as it was 

 capable of handling, carrying on all other activities simultaneously and adequately. This, however, 

 is not equivalent to saying that the Center's files were used sufficiently or that they were used in 

 ways exploiting their greatest potential. 



It goes without saying that the CBCC files had first to be known to exist before they could be 

 consulted. But awareness of the Center's existence, without understanding its specific activities 

 and their scope and limitations, could not stimulate the most efficient use of the files. As a repository 

 for chemical-biological test information, the Center might be compared to a young library whose 

 existence and specialization had gradually to be learned by the scientific community. Paradoxically, 

 the failure of scientists to use the Center frequently and to exploit the system of organization fully 

 has occasionally been regarded as evidence that the information collection had not actually been needed 

 and that the system failed to provide correlation of any significance. 



During the first years following 1951, the Center was torn between feeling compelled to provide 

 justifying evidence of its scientific and industrial value and the apprehension that its being consulted 

 before its collection had grown to a significant size would result in dissatisfied users. A considerable 

 effort was made to advertise the Center at meetings of appropriate professional societies and through 

 published articles, activities which in themselves impeded progress by occupying appreciable pro- 

 fessional time of staff members. 



The results of these efforts were gratifying, but inadequate. While the Center received many 

 requests, the response did not represent the greater magnitude of use which the CBCC was certain 

 exists as a potential. 



The Center has not been convinced that lack of education to the Center's files and their values 

 is not primarily the reason they were not more frequently consulted and it was equally convinced that 

 the growth of the files, their continued use, and the spread of information about the results of their 

 use would eventually establish the reputation the files deserved as the single center for data of their 

 nature and the most fully adequate means for correlative studies of either a broad or limited scope. 



A related aspect to be considered is that of reliability. A scientist does not place his confi- 

 dence easily on information sources of unproved reliability and the scientifically trained staff of the 

 CBCC were fully appreciative of this. The degree to which the information coded by the CBCC staff 

 could be relied on for accuracy might only have been learned gradually; it was not enough for the CBCC 

 to claim its own virtue of accuracy. The CBCC felt that its procedures for checking its coding provided 

 accuracy to the greatest degree apt to be possible for information of such a complex nature as that in 

 its files. It can not be predicted at what point confidence of the scientific community would have been 

 placed on the accuracy of CBCC coding. Until that confidence had been won, the coded information 

 files of the CBCC would not have been used by every investigator to his greatest advantage. 



The response to information received from the CBCC as a result of a search of its files was 

 generally favorable. If, during the first years, the results of an information search in the CBCC files 

 could not have the quality of completeness, the Center felt the retrieved information did have other 

 qualities fully justifying the effort. Especially, if among the data retrieved from the files and applying 

 to a given inquiry, there were some which would not have been included in published abstracts and 

 indexes, it was felt that the Center's files had contributed valuable information to the requester. 

 Secondly, what data was included in the CBCC files that was also indexed by published indexes could 

 be approached in many ways other than by the two or three subject index criteria of published Indexes 

 and the possibility therefore existed that chemical- biological test data relevant to the specific infor- 

 mation request would be retrieved from the CBCC files which could not have been found in the published 

 index. Like many other possible studies, no comparative studies were made to determine the actual 

 incidence of this. 



Aspirations of the Center : 



The Center was occasionally inspired to considerations of activities collateral with its principal 

 goals, reflecting its broadest concept of the role such a center might play in its specialized scientific 

 community. Three examples of these might be mentioned before summarizing the major aims. 



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