A MICROFILM LIBRARY ON AIR POLLUTION* BY GLORIA L . SMITH Librarian, Technical Library, Bay Area Air Pollution Control District, San Francisco, California
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INTRODUCTION. A microfilm informatioii c e n t e r on a i r pollution i s now being m a i n tained a s a f r e e public facility a t t h e Bay A r e a A i r Pollution Control D i s t r i c t i n San F r a n c i s c o . Over 8,000 r e f e r e n c e s a r e indexed by t h e Uniterm system. PURPOSE. The l i b r a r y p r o v i d e s t h e available published a n s w e r s t o m a n y e n g i n e e r ing p r o b l e m s c o n c e r n e d with t h e m e a s u r e m e n t , e f f e c t s , and cont:rol of air pollution. B e c a u s e of i t s highly t e c h n i c a l n a t u r e , t h e l i t e r a t u r e collection i s u s e d p r i m a r i l y by plant and consulting e n g i n e e r s , and o t h e r scientific s p e c i a l i s t s . Companies and institutions with o p e r a t i o n s under t h e Control D i s t r i c t have a c c e s s to t h i s c e n t r a l i z e d f i l e f o r data on c o n t r o l methods and equipment. The D i s t r i c t technical p e r s o n n e l u s e the l i b r a r y r e s o u r c e s r e g u l a r l y to develop v a r i o u s a s p e c t s o f the a g e n c y ' s p r o g r a m s . BACKGROUND. -- The D i s t r i c t ' s Board of D i r e c t o r s , a regional l e g i s l a t i v e body, a u t h o r i z e d a r e s e a r c h :project i n t h e Fall of 1956, f o r t h e d e s i g n and e s t a b l i s h m e n t of t h e i n f o r m a t i o n c e n t e r which had been suggested and conceived by Benjamin Linsky, t h e D i s t r i c t ' s Control Off i c e r . The 7-month p r o j e c t w a s a w a r d e d to t h e L i b r a r y S e r v i c e s D e p a r t m e n t of Stanford Res e a r c h Institute in A p r i l , 1957. SRI's c o m p e t e n c e f o r t h e undertaking included t h e t e c h n i c a l a s s i s t a n c e of Institute s p e c i a l i s t s i n documentation, microphotography, a t m o s p h e r i c c h e m i c a l p h y s i c s , and i n d u s t r i a l air r e s e a r c h , a s well a s a "Smog Bibliography" of s e v e r a l thousand edge-notched c a r d s . The a b s t r a c t c a r d s had been accumulated by SRI during e a r l i e r work f o r s p o n s o r s c o n c e r n e d with air pollution cont r o l p r o b l e m s . T h e s e c a r d s - - a n d o t h e r s added d u r i n g the p r o j e c t - - s e r v e d a s r e c o r d s f o r t h e acquisition, filming, and indexing of t h e c o m p l e t e l i t e r a t u r e : r e f e r e n c e s . When t h e p r o j e c t ended, t h e l i b r a r y of i n f o r m a t i o n w a s t u r n e d o v e r to the D i s t r i c t along with a Manual of Operation f o r continuing t h e w o r k ? CLASSIFICATION BY COORDINATE INDEXING. -- While m i c r o f i l m s a v e s shelf s p a c e , c o o r d i n a t e indexing s a v e s s p a c e i n t h e f i l e of index c a r d s . The air pollution l i t e r a t u r e is
indexed by t h e U n i t e r m System f o r Coordinate Indexing-a method which h a s s e e n a c t i v e u s e i n documents collections s i n c e i t s introduction by D r . M o r t i m e r Taube a decade ago. B r i e f l y , t h e s y s t e m c o n s i s t s of c a r d s f o r individual w o r d s o r t e r m s which m u s t be c o m p a r e d visually i n s e a r c h i n g . When i d e n t i c a l n u m b e r s a p p e a r on s e v e r a l t e r m c a r d s , i t c a n be a s s u m e d that t h e s e n u m b e r s r e p r e s e n t documents t o be examined i n connection with t h e s e a r c h . F o r example, the following question might be a s k e d : "Do we have polarographic data on a e r o s o l s f o r m e d f r o m o l e finic f u e l ? '' A c o m p a r i s o n of the c o l u m n s of t h e u n i t e r m c a r d s ( F i g . 1) f o r t h e m o s t specific t e r m s , i . e . , POLAROGRAPH and OLEFIN y i e l d s t h r e e matching n u m b e r s , no. H-6150, no. H6151, and no. 7601. The "H" p r e f i x e s on t h e f i r s t two n u m b e r s indicate that t h e s e i t e m s a r e among t h e thousand o r s o "hard copy" books and r e p o r t s on t h e l i b r a r y s t a c k s . Inspection of H-6150 and H-6151 d i s c l o s e s two p r o g r e s s r e p o r t s in a s e r i e s of s t u d i e s on o r g a n i c s i n u r b a n a t m o s p h e r e s . P r o j e c t i o n of the m i c r o f i l m b e a r ing the n u m b e r 7601 r e v e a l s a j o u r n a l a r t i c l e containing a p o l a r o g r a m of i r r a d i a t e d auto a e r o s o l s f r o m a n engine using a high olefinic fuel. MICROFILMING. We do not do o u r own filming--the i d e a of p u r c h a s i n g a m i c r o f i l m c a m e r a w a s d i s c a r d e d initially b e c a u s e of t h e high c o s t f o r a p l a n e t a r y model, and t h e lack of staff t i m e to o p e r a t e i t . The f i r s t two y e a r s of t r i a l s with t h r e e c o m m e r c i a l m i c r o f i l m i n g c o m p a n i e s did not s u i t o u r n e e d s . Recently we worked out a c r e d i t a b l e a r r a n g e m e n t with one of the six county m e m b e r s of o u r D i s t r i c t . Our work i s now being done i n the Reproduction Dep a r t m e n t of t h e City and County of San F r a n c i s c o , j u s t t h r e e blocks away. Since we have r e g u l a r c o u r i e r s e r v i c e between o u r offices and City Hall, i t i s a n e a s y t a s k to have only a few hund r e d pages f i l m e d a t a t i m e , during t h e week when they a r e needed, and n o r m a l l y a t a lower c o s t than that c h a r g e d by c o m m e r c i a l m i c r o f i l m e r s (who have m i n i m u m page r e q u i r e m e n t s ) . The s e r v i c e s of a l o c a l m i c r o f i l m i n g f i r m a r e utilized f o r the reproduction of s e c u r i t y copies of o u r m i c r o f i l m e d a r t i c l e s and printing of
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*Presented before the Division of Chemical Literature, ACS National Meeting, St. Louis, Mo., March, 1961.
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GLORIA L. SMITH
When a length of 100 f t . of negative film i s r e a c h e d , positive and Ozalid copies a r e m a d e and the original negative r e e l i s sent to the vault s e r v i c e of W e s t e r n Atomic Storage Co., in the Santa C r u z Mountains. The positive film i s cut into s t r i p s and mounted in acetate jackets for o u r active f i l e s ? The duplicate negative r e e l i s kept in a humidified cabinet. The d e c i s i o n to keep an additional negative film on the p r e m i s e s was m a d e originally a s a safeguard in c a s e a film jacket w e r e l o s t . This p r e c a u t i o n proved to be u n w a r r a n t e d . We have suffered no l o s s e s , and a color-coding s y s t e m signals misfiled j a c k e t s . However, the e x t r a negative i s now proving i t s value for a n o t h e r reason. Our m i c r o f i l m r e a d e r i s 3-MIS " F i l m a c 100," which p r i n t s p a g e - s i z e e n l a r g e m e n t s f r o m the film a t the touch of a b ~ t t o n . ~ Occasionally we I I i 1 ! I I have difficulty obtaining good c l e a r p r i n t s with our r e a d e r - p r i n t e r f r o m positive film mounted i n a c e t a t e j a c k e t s . Quick p r i n t s r e s e m b l i n g photostats c a n be m a d e f r o m the j a c k e t s , but much better black-on-white p r i n t s c a n be printed I I 1 I I 1 I I I f r o m the negative film. Some d i s p a r i t y of focus I I I I I I I 1 1 m a y a l s o be blamed on the acetate j a c k e t s . F o r printing out v e r y long a r t i c l e s , we usually take a few e x t r a m i n u t e s to s e l e c t a numbered cont a i n e r f r o m the humidified cabinet, and c r a n k the 100-ft. r e e l around to the c o r r e c t a r t i c l e on AUTHOR M s j m o h n , 3 , and P . P . Nsder AERCSCL negative f i l m . This gives c l e a r positive p r i n t s ANALYSIS T l n E P o l m o g m p h l c p r o p @ r t l e s of smog ATWSPBERE aeFO8Ol. for the p a t r o n ' s u s e . A Copease Book-Copier CITY EXillL'ST SASSS PASOLINE i s u s e d to photocopy pages f r o m f u l l - s i z e EDITION -NSTR'l?EN? LEAD PUBLIWER material: MOTOR VERICLE PLACEPrsrentel a t A C S , 1 3 6 t h (1959) m e e t i n g BITROGES OXI3ES LITERATURE SOURCES. -- In addition to CLEFIH A t l a n t i c City -XISANT DATE p u r c h a s i n g newly published books in f u l l - s i z e PCLARCGRAPHY SMOG PAGES AM. CEE!?:ICAL SCC f o r m we a l s o a c q u i r e r e p o r t s , r e p r i n t s , p r o PERIWIUL I n t e r n . J. A i r P o l l u t i o n ceedings of m e e t i n g s , and a b s t r a c t i n g bulletins VOL. 2 NO. 3 PAGES 2e3-200 f r o m many national, s t a t e , and local a g e n c i e s . DATE Larch, 1950 A i r Pollution C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n A b s t r a c t s and Public Health Engineering A b s t r a c t s i n f o r m u s 0 .I" of recent publications in o u r field of i n t e r e s t . We s u b s c r i b e to a p p r o x i m a t e l y 60 technical j o u r n a l s , Fig, I - A comparison of the two uniterm cards yields three matchand r e c e i v e about a s m a n y f r e e periodicals and ing numbers, two i n hard copy form and one on film. The bottom n e w s l e t t e r s f r o m other a g e n c i e s and i n d u s t r i a l card is the accession card for the filmed article. organizations, and f r o m staff m e m b e r s who belong to p r o f e s s i o n a l s o c i e t i e s . ABSTRACT BULLETIN FOR LIBRARY index c a r d s , d i s c u s s e d f u r t h e r below. ACQUISITIONS. -- Technical staff m e m b e r s EQUIPMENT AND STORAGE. The c o m help t o compile a bi-weekly listing of l i b r a r y ponents of the " m i c r o " library--the index and acquisitions i n the following m a n n e r : Technical the m a j o r i t y of the 6,500 a c c e s s i o n s f r o m the j o u r n a l s r e c e i v e d in the l i b r a r y a r e i m m e d i a t e l y SRI p r o j e c t - - w e r e housed originally i n j u s t one d e l i v e r e d to staff subject s p e c i a l i s t s , e.g., Refuse s e v e n - d r a w e r filing cabinet. "Hard copy" m a Removal J o u r n a l and Combustion to o u r p r i n c i t e r i a l occupied about four shelves of divider pal engineer in c h a r g e of r e f u s e d i s p o s a l and shelving. F l o o r s p a c e of 379 sq. ft. h a s been i n c i n e r a t o r s , Analytical C h e m i s t r y to the chief am2le for additions in l i t e r a t u r e holdings, f u r c h e m i s t , etc. T h e s e " e x p e r t s " f i l l out a review n i t u r e , and equipment a c q u i r e d i n the l a s t t h r e e f o r m listing 2 or 3-line s u m m a r i e s of a l l the y e a r s . The " m i c r o " l i b r a r y now r e q u i r e s one a i r pollution a r t i c l e s i n a p a r t i c u l a r m a g a z i n e , cabinet for the index c a r d s and one for the and note which a r t i c l e s a r e worthy of indexing. m i c r o f i l m (in film j a c k e t s ) . Shelf s p a c e h a s Twice a month the review s h e e t s a r e edited, growiL to t h r e e sections of wall shelving for t i t l e s of new books and a few r e p o r t s a r e added, books and r e p o r t s , and five sections of double and the i n f o r m a t i o n i s typed a s a 1 to 3-page shelving for p e r i o d i c a l s . a b s t r a c t bulletin containing a p p r o x i m a t e l y 8
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A MICROFILM LIBRARY ON AIR POLLUTION
a b s t r a c t s p e r page. T h e r e a r e four p e r i o d i c a l s which d e a l specifically with a i r pollution, the m o n t h l i e s J o u r n a l of the A i r Pollution A s s o c i a tion and A i r E n g i n e e r i n g , and the q u a r t e r l i e s International J o u r n a l of A i r Pollution and Smokel e s s A i r (London). T h e s e a r e not reviewed but a r e m e r e l y l i s t e d
