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D P 
no. 8 
Museum and University Data, Program and Information Exchange 
AN INDEX OF EDP-IR PROJECTS IN SYSTEMATICS 
A list of such projects, under the title given above, has been mimeographed 
and distributed by Theodore J. Crovello, Department of Biology, University of 
Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 46556. It is scheduled to be published in 
the December 1969 issue of TAXON, but presumably interested individuals could 
obtain a copy by writing directly. The most obvious conclusion one derives 
from a review of this material is that a great deal of duplication of effort 
continues to take place. Certainly the number of people trying to computerize 
collections grows at a terrific rate. Crovello indicates that there will be 
further issues of the Index, so individuals expecting to or engaged in work on 
electronic data processing in information retrieval should plan to submit in¬ 
formation for inclusion (see MUDPIE 2 for an earlier announcement). 
GIPSY 
The University of Oklahoma Computing Center has a functional system for 
recovery of museum specimen records, which they call GIPSY (General Information 
Processing System). A recent demonstration of the system for personnel at the 
Smithsonian was based on 23000 detailed descriptions of the same number of ethno¬ 
logical specimens in 24 museums in Oklahoma and Missouri. According to the U. 
Okla. Computing Center it is also in use by the U. S. Geological Survey for 
processing bibliographic data, project files and personnel files, by several 
hospitals for analysis of patient records, and by the U. of Okla. for work in 
half a dozen different projects, including palynological data and psychiatric 
record analysis. 
This is, as far as I know, the first functional system for museum collec¬ 
tion data retrieval that is completely accessible from anywhere in the United 
States. (The data bank in Norman was accessed by telephone and acoustic coupler 
from the National Museum in Washington for the demonstration.) A single cost 
statement is available, which says "a search of 18,251 records, selecting 625 
records of musical instruments, took 16 minutes of computer time, at a total 
cost of $26, including a 625 page printout of the complete records." 
Further information on GIPSY can be obtained from Dr. James W. Sweeney, 
Computing Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 73069. 
S I I R S 
"The Smithsonian Institution's Information Retrieval System (SIIRS) for 
Biological and Petrographic Data" has been described in a mimeographed paper with 
