A Punched Card Method for the Bibliography, Abstracting, and Indexing of Chemical Literature' CLOYD DAKE GULL Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.
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HIS paper is intended to outline the possible appl~catton of International Business Machines Corporation equipment (punched cards and punching, sorting, filing, and printing machines) to the problem of chemical bibliography and.abstracting, particularly in relation to Chemical Abstracts. It includes samples of abstracts and indexes, and a comparison of Chemical Absfracts with results possible by using ordinary catalog cards and by using punched cards. All types of bibliographic references for chemical subjects-that is, those which can be expressed in the Roman alphabet and Arabic numerals--can be placed upon International Business Machines punched cards by following a uniform punching guide. Several punched cards form one bibliographic reierence unit, and a quantity of these bibliographic units can be sorted and interliled by machine to permit a maximum flexibilityof arrangement. Since new references can be interliled whenever desired, punched cards afford the ability to cumulate2 references a t will, so that listings can be produced which are both complete and up-to-date a t the time of printing. In addition to the decided advantages of (1) flexibility of arrangement and (2) abiiitv to cumulate references a t any ;me, the pun$ed car& can be run through a 80 lines a minute. printing machine at the rate Printed reference lists, up-to-date and in any desired order, are the result in these forms: +
of
These are in large t w e . direct from th;l machine
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Original, anr3 as many as 9 carbon copies Spirit duplication for up to 200 copies ihectomaoh) 1 ~ l & i b l e"ma't iithoeraohv . . for UD to 3000 copies (duplimati for large-scale printed
in defraying the costs of individual requests, to supplement the present subscription charges for the periodical volumes. Now, if all references on chemical subjects can be placed upon punched cards (and the major obstacle is doubtless that of financial support to accomplish the work), a union bibliography becomks available on punched cards. The union bibliography is capable of being sorted, cumulated, and used for printing, just as are smaller quantities of cards. The significance of a union bibliography is tremendous, for it offers the possibility of making this statement: "The following references constitute the largest and most complete up-to-date list available on this subject." It offers the ability to elimmate the work of consulting card catalogs, bibliographies, and sets of printed references, and to replace that work with the use of a singlelist on a subject. The time consumed by all users of Chemical Abstracts in consulting the various indexes and in referring from one volume and page to another is worth a great deal of money to them or to their employers. Any method which offers $he possibility.of 'reducing this wasteful use of time is well worth consideration. The adoption of a satisfactory method would .justify an increase in the original cost of Chemical Abstracts because it would decrease the expense of using Chemical Abstracts forever afterwards. Punched cards offer one method of accomplishing this saving. Let us make a direct and graphic comparison between bibliographies (1) in book form, (2) on catalog cards. and (3) on punched cards, which supply copy for printed books eventually. BOOK FORM AND SPECIFICAbLY WITH REFERENCE TO CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS
1t is a delicate position for an outsider who has neither seen nor studied the operations of this service to speak before chemists about it, and especially to bring up that it may have disadvantages as well as advantages. Let me say that I am deeply aware of its great value and indisuensable nature and that mv observations are based onAtheassumption that you desire a free expresPresented before the Division of Chemical Education at the 109th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlantic sion of views so that you may have the best possible City, April 8-12,1946. abstractingservice. To distinguish between terms, I have used accumulnte torefer Several thousand columns of references and abstracts to the chronological and so unplanned growth of an abstracting service, and cumulate to refer to the periodic regrouping of like appear in 22 issues of Chemical Abstracts each year, with references to bring the abstracting up-to-date. For instance, the the references classified into 31 broad subject groups in annual indexes of Chemical Abdracts accumulate as the years pass by; the decennial indexes are cumulative for a ten-year each issue (see Figure 1). Altogether they form three bound parts of one volume a year, with each of the 31 period. Individual requests, then; can be supplied by smallscale printing methods, and wide distribution of uniform information can be made as i t is being done now by printing in serial form. It is suggested that the fee basis or service charge method might prove satisfactory
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broad subjects scattered throughout the 22 issues. This separation continues year after year, until a comprehensive picture of the literature on a subject is difficult to obtain. Four indexes-author, subject, formula, and patent-are needed to locate references in each annual volume, supplemented by author and subject decennial indexes for each ten year accumulation. To follow a subject through from 1907 requires the use of three decennial indexes and nine annual indexes-12
places to look-and the references may be found scattered in over 800 places in the set of bound volumes. This disadvantage grows each year, and i t stems from the fact that the book method offers no flexibility of arrangement and no ability to cumulate references after the printing is done, except by resetting the entire text or holding the type or plates these 40 years past, both exceedingly expensive propositions. The method means further that from the appear-
Several thousand columns, in 22 issues per year, each issue with references classified into 31 broad subject groups.
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F o r m 3 bound volumes, with each /broad subject scattered in 22 sections.
Four indexes, Author, Subject, Formula and Patent, a r e used in locating the references, supplemented by Author and Subject Decennial Indexes for each ten year accumulation.
DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES 1. Flexible Typography 2. Low printing cost 3. Wide distribution
1. No flexibility of arrangement 2. No ability to cumulate 3. Necessity of consulting so many sections on a broad subject 4. Necessity of consulting s o many indexes . A. Author index in each issue, to a blind number B. Author plus Title in yearly' volumes and Decennial Index C. Subject in yearly volumes and Decennial Index D. Formula in yearly volume but not in Decennial Index E. Patent in yearly volume but not in Decennial Index And these indexes require numbers for identification.
FROM THE UNIT CARD
CALL NUMBER
AUTHOR TITLE
ABSTRACT SUBJECT HEADINGS
THE CLASSIFIED \ CATALOG
AND
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DICTIONARY CATALOG
ARE BUILT
* ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
1. Flexible 2. Can be expanded o r cumulated a t any time 3. Can be photographed and so obtain a Printed Catalog 4. No indexes required for a Dictionary Catalog
1. Once a card is added, its location is fixed 2. Useful only where maintained 3. Reproduction of cards in quantity 4. Addition of the filing entries 5. Filing by hand
FIGURE 2. ABSTRACTSIN CARDFORM ance of one subject index to the appearance of the next, a year later, a search for a specific subject must be made through all the bimonthly issues under a broad subject, or that a search for an author's article is made from bimonthly author indexes to a reference number, which is virtually "Blind Man's Buff" for a productive author. All of the indexes require reference numbers
to locate the abstracts, and these numbers require a prodigious memory or constant notation in order to use them. These are serious disadvantages when compared with the printing advantages of a wide choice of type faces and a relatively low cost. Production cost is low, but usage cost is high.
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T n E RESULTS
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Several IBM punched cards form one reference unit. Duplicate units can be punched from the original cards. Several sets of units can be established: Author
Subject
Patent
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ADVANTAGES 1. Flexibility of arrangement 2. Ability to cumulate at will 3. Photograph and print all of one set for wide distribution 4. Print segments to meet individual requests 5. No indexes necessary; each set is its own index 6. Consult only the section desired 7. Machine sorting and filing 8. Reproduction of cards by machine 9. Low printing costs 10.0ffers union catalog on chemistry
CARDCATALOGPORM
The unit card is the foundation of the card catalog (see Figure 2). No matter where the card is filed, the basic information is always the same. The variation occurs in the filing entry. In a library, cards for author,
Formula
Other Possibilities Chronological. Periodical. Name. Language.
I DISADVANTAGES 1. Limited typography 2. Increased paper consumption 3. Storage space for cards at editorial office
title, subject, and joint authors are filed in their proper places in the dictionary catalog, and cards expressing classification are filed by call number in the classified catalog. For chemists a formula and a patent catalog could be set up by adding the proper filing entries.
The card catalog is flexible, for it can be expanded or cumulated a t any time; in fact, it is cumulated always if the filing is kept up-to-date. Its flexibility is limited, for once a card is prepared, its filing location is fixed. A card catalog is useful only where i t is maintained, unless the cards are photographed in their proper order and a photolithographed catalog printed, which has been done on a large scale already.' Cards must be produced in quantity, the filing entries added, and the cards filed by hand, but no indexes are required with a dictionary catalog because like references are brought together, a great advantage over book catalogs. PUNCHED CARD FORM
It is now clear that the unit card principle offek the advantages of flexible arrangement, the juxtaposition of like entries, ability to cumulate a t any time, and elimination of the need for indexes. When the principle is combined with machinery through the use of punched cards, it provides a bibliographic reference method hitherto unavailable for satisfying individual requests and for meeting large printing needs. After the reference is punched, duplication is done by machiue. Sorting, filing, and printing are done by machine (see Figure 3). Individual issues of C e i c a l Abstracts can be photolithographed from punched card printed lists for regular distribution, and after a suitable interval, three to six months, for example, a cumulated issue can replace the earlier issues, which are discarded. A yearly volume can replace the cumulated issues, and eventually a three, five, or ten year set can replace the annual volumes. As these cumulated sets become larger, they mean that only one section need be consulted on a topic in the basic set, plus a very few cumulations bringing the references up-to-date; and no indexes are needed whatever, for each set is its own index since the basic information is the same wherever it is found. It is not necessary to place the references alin Chemical Abstracfs on punched cards; ready - printed i t is sufficient to start now, and in ten years the cnmulated set for the next ten years is the basic set because it will then contain the most recent information. You will ask, "How is this accomplished with punched cards?" Well, several punched cards form one bibliographic unit. These cards contain the "A Catalog of Books Represented by Library of Congress Printed Cards Issued to July 31,1942" (an author catalog only).
same unique number of identification purposes, and they sort, interfile, and print as a nnit. The first card is the sorting card, or card Zero, so named from the zero punched in Column 79 of the Sequence Control Field. It has been divided tentatively as shown in the top card of Figure 3, and it permits sorting upon author, subject, patent, formula, serial or periodical name abbreviation, volume, and date. The remaining cards, the text or trailer cards, to a limit of 99 for this design, are punched with whatever i t is desired to print-that is, the full reference and the abstract, as shown in Figure 4. Sequence control permits arranging the cards in order by machine and prevents the printing of a set of cards out of sequence. Since a given reference may have been written by more than one author, may contain information on more than one subject, formula, or patent, and may have appeared in more than one periodical, i t is necessary to reproduce the nnit of several cards to provide duplicate sets of cards for as many variations as are found. This is done by machine for all text cards; the variations in the sorting cards are punched manually and the remaining portion of the sorting cards by machine. Several sets of cards are now prepared, all referring to one article, and they might be distributed in this way: junior and senior authors to the author file, two subjects to the subject file, one patent to the patent file, and two formulas to the formula file, or seven sets in all. As the references in each file q e accumulated, they are sorted into order and printed, with cumulation, a t any desired interval. These are the principles to be followed in employing punched cards for a uniou bibliography of chemical references. The technical details are subject to wide variation, such as what identification number to use, the number of spaces for author sorting, and the form of the subject heading code; but they must be studied, and from the studies uniform rules must be adopted. The possibility of developing the use of the punched cards to the level of a uniou bibliography of chemical references has been outlined, but any serious consideration of abstracts to supplement fhe individual references has been omitted. The lack of abstracts in chemical research would be a great loss, and i t is evident that they must be supplied. The question is the form in which the abstracts will be satisfactory to the chemical profession. Chemical Abstracts now uses on its printed page upper and lower case Roman letters in licht and bold face fonts type,an italic font, snbsc.ipt and supersc.ipt numb, and various chemical diagrams, ~h~ rnternational Business Machines printing machine in its present devarietv in orintinp. ve~onmPnt this much ,~ does ~~~-~not -~~ nermit --. ----from punched car&. only the 26 letters of (he (in capitals), the 10 numerals, and three punctuation characters can be punched intocards and used for printing today.
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ADVISABLE TO LATEX BY THE CURES RATHER
Nevertheless, abstracts can be added to any chemical reference so long as they stay within these limitations (see Figure 5). It is believed that these limitations are outweighed by the flexibility of arrangement, the ability to cumulate, and the ability to produce a union bibliography, which are made possible by the use of punched *Atlas
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Rabeock, H. D.. 4801'. Babskii, E. B., 4968'. 4828'. Babushkin, L. 0.. Backus, I., 4796'. ~ a k o nH. , E., 50119. Badger, A. E., 50607. Badin, E. J., 483Q4. Baensch, K. H., 4996'. *Baerwald. F. K.. 4998". *Baerwolff,W., 50042. Baier. W.E., 4990'. *Bailey, G. C., 4887&. *Bakelite Corp., 512S7.
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*Atwood, F. C., 46215. 'Austenal Laboratories, Inc., 4736". *Austin. C. R. 47362. Ave
