• First known use of optical coincidence cards for literature searching by R. Preddek (Germany). Various names for the name of the optical coincidence cards, by language are: French: fiches superposables; German: sichtlochkarten; English/US: Peek-a-Boo, optical coincidence, feature cards, aspect cards; English/UK: optical coincidence and Batten-Cordonnier (Reichman, 1961).
• Vannevar Bush, MIT, develops an analog machine that uses gears powered by electricity (Emard, 1976).

• IBM introduces an electro-mechanical circuit design principle in its new multiplying punch (later labeled the 601). By this time, IBM is the clear leader over Remington Rand, producing units in a 16 to 1 ratio over Rand. Arthur L. Norberg (1990) implied that this was because of the electromechanical nature of IBM’s equipment.
• IIB becomes the Institut International de Documentation (IID).
• University of Chicago's Graduate Library School is established and publishes first issue of Library Quarterly, a journal to be devoted to the "scientific" aspects of the field of library science (Buckland, 1996).

• Davisbecomes Director of Science Service (Schultz & Garwig, 1969).

• Samuel C. Bradford, mathematician and librarian at the Science Museum in London, develops his "law of scattering" regarding differences in demand for scientific journals. This work influences bibliometrics and citation analysis of scientific publications.
• 15 November: Davis, Atherton Seidell (National Institute of Health (NIH)), R. H. Draeger (Naval Medical School), and Claribel R. Barnett (Librarian, USDA) announce the beginning of Bibliofilm Service, operating out of the USDA Library. The Service offers to provide microfilm copies of the literature of science as well as microfilm readers (Schultz & Garwig, 1969).

• A $15,000 grant from the Chemical Foundation allows Watson Davisto establish the Documentation Institute as part of Science Service and to operate the Auxiliary Publication Service for science librarians. These initiatives lead indirectly to the establishment, in 1937, of the American Documentation Institute (ADI), the predecessor of the American Society for Information Science (ASIS).
• Davis develops original ideas for a mechanized literature searching machine.
• Reported use of IBM punched card equipment at Boston Public Library. (Reported in Ethel Fair's Jan. 15 article in Library Journal.)

• Davis creates the Auxiliary Publication Service of Science Service focusing on dissemination of scientific information via microfilm. Announces to journal editors how the publication process will work. The Bibliofilm Service (which is officially moved to Science Service in January, 1936) begins the Auxiliary Publication Service to promote three basic concepts: a network of libraries to cooperatively support the copying of articles; one "big journal" of scientific literature; the creation of a "world brain" through acquiring and indexing the knowledge of the world (Schultz & Garwig, 1969). A microfilm development lab is established in the USDA Library and is used for the technical operations of the Bibliofilm Service. Estimated to cost about $25,000 (Redmond, 1985).
• ALA Commitee on Documentary Reproduction is formed to study and promote documentary reproduction. Later publishes the Journal of Documentary Reproduction in 1938 (Shera & Cleveland, 1972).
• February: Ralph Parker, University of Texas at Austin, uses punched card equipment for library circulation work (Emard, 1976; Becker, 1976).

• Committee on Scientific Aids to Learning is established in the NAS. This committee is influential in the study and development of technical innovations of the time, such as microphotography and business machines (Buckland, 1996).
• 13 March: Group headed by Davis, of Science Service, NAS, forms the American Documentation Institute. Membership is restricted to member organizations (originally 45).
• August: World Congress on Documentation is held in Paris. US attendees include: Davis and Herman Fussler. This meeting features H.G. Wells' presentation on the "World Brain." Otlet and Goldberg also make presentations (Buckland, 1996).
• December: Biological Abstracts suspends publication because of lack of funds. Resumes publication five months later (Steere, 1976).

• Claude Shannon applies the principles of Boolean logic and binary algeba to the design of electronic circuits (Smith, 1993).
• IID becomes the Federation International de Documentation (FID).
• Journal of Documentary Reproduction begins publication (ceases in 1943) (Shera & Cleveland, 1972).
• Conrad Weygand, a German chemist, proposes a method for classifying chemical reactions based on the breaking and forming of bonds during a reaction.
• 22 October: Chester Carlson makes the first xerographic image in his lab in Astoria, Queens, NYC.

• ALA publishes Emily Miller Danton's edited book, The Library of Tommorrow. (Includes Frederick Keppel's essay on bibliographic searching using Hollerith cards.)
• W.E. Batten (UK) develops the first large scale system using feature (optical coincidence) cards for use in indexing patent literature. Much of the later interest in optical coincidence cards stems from his writings about them (Thompson, 1961).
• Bell Labs produces the first remotely operational, electromagnetic relay calculator. Name: Bell Labs Model 1 (Stibetz Complex Calculator).
• Bush constructs a prototype of the Microfilm Rapid Selector (MRS) at MIT. Uses only A=A search logic. Is announced publicly in 1940. Uses photoelectric cells. Machine is generally considered a failure (Jahoda, 1961).
• Fusslerbegins teaching a course on microfilm at the Graduate Library School, University of Chicago (Buckland, 1996).
• France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique is established with chemical information science among its fields of research.

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