Appendix A 



Library Aids 



Adequate technical libraries are an 

 indispensable tool for research work- 

 ers. Every new discovery depends 

 upon a host of former ones, and every 

 year brings additions to the store of 

 knowledge which must be mastered 

 by the scientist. The magnitude of 

 the task of keeping all this knowledge 

 available to the scholar requires that 

 he be provided with every possible 

 aid and convenience. These services 

 may be considered under three head- 

 ings: (A) interlibrarv cooperation, 

 (B) abstracting and translating serv- 

 ices, and (C) bibliographic and ref- 

 erence services. 



At the present time none of these 

 services can be said to be entirely 

 adequate and the rapid expansion of 

 published materials makes it very un- 

 likely that private resources can con- 

 tinue library services even on their 

 present level. The problem is so large 

 and requires so much special knowl- 

 edge and training that the Committee 

 does not feel in a position to make 

 specific recommendations as to where 

 Government aid can best be brought 

 to bear. It does, however, feel strongly 

 that a Government board such as the 

 National Research Foundation pro- 

 posed elsewhere in this report should 

 give careful attention to the problems 

 presented below, and should devote 

 part of its funds to their solution. 



Several existing Government agen- 

 cies, such as the Library of Congress 

 and the Army Medical Library, 

 could, if they were supplied with suf- 

 ficient resources, do much to impro\'e 

 existing services throughout the coun- 

 try. The following paragraphs con- 

 tain a short summary of the Com- 

 mittee's views regarding the most 

 important issues involved in the 

 improvement of library services. 



A. Interlibrary Cooperation 



The three largest libraries in this 

 country, the Library of Congress, the 

 Harvard University Library, and the 

 New York Public Library, have long 

 ago given up any hope of collecting 

 all materials necessary for research. 

 Considerable evidence exists that over 

 the past 150 vears, libraries in this 

 country have been doubling in size 

 every 16 years. This geometrical pro- 

 gression raises great problems requir- 

 ing that attention be given to the 

 various technical proposals which 

 have been made for reducing the 

 bulk of this material and for simpli- 

 fying the problem of storage and 

 cataloguing. Pending the widespread 

 adoption of really revolutionary tech- 

 nical aids, it will be necessary to make 

 comprehensive arrangements for in- 

 terlibrary cooperation. 



There are two important problems 



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