112 ANICUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192-t 



the consequently changing requirements of investigators and 

 students. 



The need of a definite, concrete, and internationally satisfactory 

 plan of operation to govern any organization undertaking to index 

 and classify current scientitic literature is now more evident than it 

 was 24 years ago when the International Catalogue was founded, for 

 since the publication of the catalogue by this organization was sus- 

 pended many plans have been suggested but none have so far been 

 found satisfactory or practical. Schemes which take into consid- 

 eration only local or special needs are found useless when world-wide 

 needs are considered. And when such schemes are compared with 

 the far-reaching, time-tried, and officially recognized organization 

 of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, whose scope 

 embraces all scientific subjects and whose field is world-wide, their 

 inadequacy is at once apparent. 



In aiming to meet the various needs of scientific specialists and 

 students several forms of service are required: 



1. Immediate notices which may be furnished by means of cards 

 or assembled reference data to meet the requirements of specialists 

 in restricted fields. 



2. Monthly or quarterly classified records furnishing not only 

 complete index data but also, to meet the needs of general students 

 as well as specialists, brief abstracts of the subject contents of each 

 paper noted. 



3. Yearly catalogues or yearbooks, each covering a recognized sub- 

 division of science, collectively furnishing a permanent, assembled, 

 classified record of all scientific activities. Such collective records 

 are the only ones suited to meet the needs and requirements of libra- 

 rians as well as future investigators. 



As in the preparation of each of these aids to scientific investi- 

 gation the same materials are required and the same methods of 

 indexing and classifying are employed, it is evident that consolida- 

 tion, or at least close cooperation, should exist between all organiza- 

 tions undertaking such work. 



Many abstracting agencies now exist and attempts are being made 

 to establish more, but taken collectively they fail to cover all 

 branches of science and are too dissimilar in their methods and form 

 of publication to take the place of a concise, classified, permanent 

 record of scientific publications so urgently needed by specialists 

 and librarians alike. It was chiefly to meet this need that the Inter- 

 national Catalogue was originally founded. 



Respectfully submitted. 



Leonard C. Gunnp::ll, 



Assistant in Charge. 



Dr Charles D. Walcott, 



Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. 



