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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION INFORMATION SYSTEMS INNOVATIONS 
Under the above title, the Information Systems Division of 
the Smithsonian Institution has begun to publish an irregular 
series of papers on the use of computers in museums. The fol¬ 
lowing statement appears on the cover page: 
"These bulletins are distributed by the Smithsonian Insti¬ 
tution to acquaint the reader with programs specifically designed 
to solve the problems of museums and herbaria. If these bulle¬ 
tins prevent duplicate developments to solve similar problems, 
they will have accomplished their purpose. To this end, muse¬ 
ologists are invited to use these bulletins to publicize their 
computer techniques. For additional copies and to submit mater¬ 
ial for publication, write: The Director, Information Systems 
Division, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. , 20560." 
Five numbers have been issued to date in this new series. 
They are as follows s 
Vol. 1, no. 1: The Smithsonian Institution Information 
Retrieval (SIIR) System for Biological and Petrological 
Data, by Reginald Creighton and Richard King. 
Vol. 1, no. 2: Automation of the Catalogue of American 
Portraits, by V. C. Purdy and J. J. Crockett. 
Vol. 1, no. 3; Recent Advances in Source Data Automation, 
by N. J. Suszynski. 
Vo1. 2, no. 1: An Approach to the Geography Problem in 
Museums, by D. Piacesi and R. A. Creighton. 
Vol. 2 , no. 2: Cluster Analysis for the Biological and Social 
Sciences, by H. D. Roth. 
RECENT LITERATURE 
Anderson, S. &R. G. Van Gelder. The history and status of the 
literature of mammalogy. Bioscience , 20 , 1970: 949-957. 
Cole, A. J. An iterative approach to the fitting of trend 
surfaces. Computer Contribution 37, State Geological 
Survey, University of Kansas, 1969: 1-27. 
Gateley, W. Y. & G. C. Bitter. BASIC for beginners. McGraw- 
Hill, New York, 1970, xv + 152. CAn attempt to improve on 
the give-away manuals for BAS IC provided by time-share 
computer firms. 11 is not successful.] 
Jahoda, G. Information storage and retrieval systems for 
individual researchers. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 
1970: xiii + 135. (This is an exhaustive look at all kinds 
of desk-top techniques for keeping track of your research 
literature. Details and examples are given for convention¬ 
al indexes, coordinate indexes, KWIC indexes, citation 
indexes, punch-cards, peek-a-boo cards, Termatrex, edge- 
notched cards, etc.) 
