ALLEN V. ASTIN 



It is important that all government scientific laboratories 

 become more active in basic research. This seems consistent 

 with a fundamental responsibility of government to foster 

 science in this country. It is characteristic of government activi- 

 ties that they provide a general good for the national com- 

 munity and a service upon which various segments of society 

 may call. In this respect, an increase in the level of government 

 laboratory basic research may be considered a technical service 

 to the scientific community which, in turn, serves the nation 

 as a whole. 



Research Information Programs 



These basic activities of federal laboratories are associated 

 with and complemented by other general services provided by 

 the government. I spoke earlier of the data compilation and 

 disseminating- functions of government institutions. Here we 

 have another example of a technical service to the scientific 

 community and to the nation. It is now recognized that the gov- 

 ernment has a substantial stake in the progress of science and 

 that there are a number of things which it can do to improve 

 the rate of progress. Among these are the data dissemination 

 activities. More and more, federal institutions are becoming; 

 actively engaged in the research information programs of the 

 nation. Now, I do not call this "basic research" (although there 

 is a great need for more basic research on this subject), but it 

 is an important activity in the service of basic research because 

 it improves the yield and the consistency of these fundamental 

 studies. In the case of the National Bureau of Standards, for 

 example, I am aware of and impressed by the seminal effect 

 which Bureau-published tables and data collections have on 

 research in other laboratories. I think this type of effort is one 

 of the most important things that government laboratories can 

 do to create improved national conditions for basic research. 



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