FEBRUARY, 1947
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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS JAMES W. PERRY Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cadridge, Mass,
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WAY of introduction I would like to discuss briefly the purpose and scope of these symposia. Perhaps the best way to put it is to say that we are concerned with the va$ous activities which occur from the time that one chemist conducts an experiment until another chemist makes use of his experimental results. We are concerned with such matters as recording observations, iuterpreting results, preparing reports, writing papers for publication, abstracting papers, indexing and classifying scientific literature, locating information, preparing bibliographies, and correlating iuformation.. It is obvious that no one of these symposia can concern itself with all phases. We shall discuss various aspects of the problem of organizing and correlating the chemical literature, in particular, the application of mechanical devices, especially punched cards, to the problem of preparing and organizing bibliographies. Several papers on this subject have been presented
previously. If, however, we compare what has already been accomplished in this field with the possibilities which are gradually unfolding, I think we are forced to conclude that we have not yet passed the initial stages of development. This fact became strikingly apparent when I started to organize this symposium. Although there was much interest in the broad field of applications of mechanical devices to bibliographical and related problems posed by the chemical literature, there was also a surprising dearth of experts in this field willing to prepare and present papers. In fact, this program could not have been arranged if assurance had not been given to most of the speakers that their participation would be represented as constituting no claim to the status of an expert in the field. Consequently, the following papers are to be regarded as exploratory in nature, and the conclusions and proposals presented will be for the most part of a -tentative character.
