1960
- NASA
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
(OSTI) is established (Pinelli, et al.,
1992
).
- ASM is the first organization to offer
machine-readable bibliographic records for others to search using their
own computer equipment (Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Institute
for Scientific Information
, formerly Eugene Garfield Associates, publishes first
issues of Index Chemicus (briefly called Current Abstracts
of Chemistry ), a monthly alerting service to new chemical compunds
and reactions. It features a computer-based molecular formula index
constructed from chemical names.
- CAS
publishes first five monthly samples of Chemical Titles
( CT); bi-weekly issues begin in 1961. CT is first
periodical to be organized, indexed, and composed almost completely
by computer and to use Hans Peter Luhn's KWIC method.
- First standardized business computer programming
language. Name:
COBOL
,
CODASYL
(Conference on Data Systems Languages) develops.
- Charles
Bourne's
article summarizes the last 10 years of developments
in mechanized information retrieval. Noted the following: 1). USAF had
funded most of the research in the area; 2). Edge punched cards were being
used extensively in retrieval systems and antcipated even greater use
in next few years. Chief among these are the EAM (
electronic accounting machines
) of IBM
(he listed some of these); 3). Computer equipment and
magnetic media were finding extensive use in generating catalogs and indexes
for manual systems. Bourne listed several magnetic media systems in use
at the time; 4). Image storage systems were being used to some extent, with
the
Filmorex
and
Kodak Minicard systems
being most extensively used (others were listed) (
Bourne, 1961
).
- L. R. Bunnow, Douglas Aircraft Company
implements a machine readable record that produces multiple products,
notably, catalog cards and subject bibliographies, using machine searching.
Kilgour ( 1970
) considered this a major breakthrough in the use of machine techniques
in libraries and information centers.
- Mooers
founds the Rockford Research Institute to do research
in information science. Develops the
TRAC computer language
as part of this work.
- BioSciences Information Exchange is expanded
and is renamed Science Information Exchange of the Smithsonian Institution.
Later is renamed Smithsonian Science Information Exchange Inc. (SSIE).
SSIE is given federal funding to provide a mechanism to document and to
inform those interested and qualified to receive information about unclassified
federal-funded R & D projects. This effort is hoped to help avoid
R & D duplication (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- Rese Information Systems develops the FINDAFACT
2510 which is made for the Department of Office Procedures and Data Processing
at a GE faciltiy in Philadelphia. The system is created for file maintenance
and searching. It is compatible with the
IBM 1401
and uses magnetic tapes and IBM punched card equipment for query
input and search output (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Heatwole Associates in Washington, DC develops
the Heatwole H-44. It can search at least 1,000 documents per minute
( Bourne &
Hahn
).
- FMA, Inc. of El Segundo, CA, develops the
commercial version of the Rapid Selector. By mid 1963, this system is
installed at the US Navy Central Research Section of the Bureau of Ships
and at the RADC Laboratory in Rome, NY (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- ASM’s Review of Metal Literature (Metals
Abstracts Index) is made available for second-party use (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- First demonstration of computer searching
of full text information at the University of Pittsburgh (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- CAS and the Union of American Biological
Societies (later, its information service known as (
BIOSIS--BioSciences Information Service of Biological Abstracts
) agree to exchange abstracting services to avoid duplication
of efforts.
- U.S. National Science Foundation begins
funding research and development on new information handling projects
at CAS, then led by Dale B.
Baker, director, who is soon joined by Fred A. Tate, director of the research
department
. These projects include the Chemical Registry and a comprehensive
national computerized chemical information system and by 1974 this funding
exceeds $23 million.
- SATIRE (Semi-Automatic Information Retrieval)
developed by SDC's Strategic Air Command Control System
Department (SACCS) (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- January: BA and CA agree
to an exchange of abstract reprinting services as well avoid duplication
of efforts. First data processing center is established at BA (previously
contracted with IBM
for earlier work) (Steere,
1976
).
- January: ASM begins offering their Metals
Documentation Service (ASM/MDS), which is based on research work completed
at CDCR about the coding and searching of metallurgical literature as
well as pilot searching (
Bourne &
Hahn
- March: Semi-Automatic Information Retrieval
(SATIRE), a system using punched cards for a in-house library, is described
at an IBM information retrieval workshop in San Jose, CA, by creator John
Roach, ( Bourne & Hahn
).
- Early in the year, ASTIA installs a Univac Solid-state 90 computer
system to assist in the file-searching operations of DoD technical reports
(numbering in excess of 650,000). Collection uses Uniterm headings.
By late 1960, the system is searching magnetic tape files of the
records, handling as many as 10 simultaneous searches using a maximum of
four retrieval term coordinations for each search. (
Bourne, 1963
)
- May: Synthesis of Complex Verbal Material
(Synthex) proposal is submitted to ARPA. Synthex is an analog to
Vannevar Bush's
Memex (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- May: First editon of the ASTIA (Armed Services Technical Information
Agency) Thesaurus issued. Used to index Technical Abstract Bulletin
. (Foskett
)
- October:
ADI
hires its first full-time executive director, John B.
Kaiser ( Redmond, 1985
).
- 5 - 7 October: ASTIA holds a conference
on " Controlling
Literature by Automation
" (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- December: Robert Morgan, business law professor
at Oklahoma State University, demonstrates "Points of Law" approach at
the annual Oklahoma Bar Association's annual meeting (
Bourne & Hahn
).
1961
-
Licklider
carries out studies on libraries of the future, funded by the
Council on Library Resources.
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers
publishes Chemical Engineering Thesaurus, derived from the
DuPont Technical Information Thesaurus, developed by Mortimer
Taube
as a consultant to the DuPont Company's Engineering Information
Center.
- Saul
and Mary Herner's
study of the coverage of federal scientific and technical
reports concludes that very few are covered by non-governmental abstracting
and indexing services (Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
- Committee on Scientific Information (COSI)
is established within FCST to coordinate federal information activities.
COSI is predecessor to COSATI (Pinelli,
et al., 1992
).
- Rapid Selector is installed at the BuShips
Publications and Information Retrieval Branch and by late 1963 is installed
at the Data Processing Systems Division of
NBS
(
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- First operation or public demonstration
of Magnavox’s Magnavue, an outgrowth of the Magnacard system (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- First operation or public demonstration
of Ferranti-Packard’s Rapid Access Lookup system--a quick catalog lookup
system ( Bourne
& Hahn
).
- The WALNUT system is first demonstrated
publicly although development of the system started in 1957 at IBM
. "It is a high speed mechanical storage and retrieval system that stored
and moved a large number of photographic or page images on separate film
strips at high speeds and then retrieved those images by record number"
( Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Magnavox develops and first demonstrates
its MEDIA (
Magnavox Electronic Data Image Apparatus
) system, which involves high speed handling of film strips containing
photographic images (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- The Avco Corporation develops the Verac
903, which uses film sheets instead of film chips or roll film like other
systems of the decade. According to Bourne, "no complete Verac system
was ever installed and used in an operational setting"
(Bourne & Hahn
).
- February: BA publishes its millionth
abstract (Steere, 1976
).
- 5 October: Navy Libraries hold 6th Meeting
of the Council of Librarians of the East Coast Navy Laboratories (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- July: Q-32, a single file, single terminal
military computer with 64K word core memory, arrives at SDC in Santa
Monica, CA, in 12 flatbed trucks (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- 15 October: Subject index of BA
(called BASIC--Biological Abstracts Subjects in Context
) issue of this date is prepared using the KWIC
indexing system. At first, BASIC is issued as a free separate
journal but later on a subscription basis (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- November: The
Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS)
is first demonstrated (Bourne
& Hahn
).
- AAAS Gordon conferences on "Scientific
Information Problems in Research" are initiated (
Emard, 1976
).
- "Science Information Specialists" conferences
are held at the Georgia Institute of Technology (
Emard, 1976
). Robert S. Taylor (1976
) said that this was the first time that a distinction had been
made between specialist and scientist and between information technology
and information science. He also said that these conferences had a significant
impact on the establishment of the School of Information and Computer
Science at Georgia Tech, the Center for the Information Sciences at Lehigh
University, and the program in Information Science at Drexel University.
1962
- Based on earlier work done by Donald J.
Gluck and colleagues at Dupont, CAS's
Harry L. Morgan develops an algorithm to translate two-dimensional
structural diagrams into a tabular form (or connection table) that can
be manipulated and searched via computer. This algorithm becomes fundamental
to the CAS Chemical Registry
System
(Skolnik & Reese, 1976
).
- April 21-October 21: LIBRARY-21, an ALA
sponsored exhibit at Seattle's World's Fair, is visited by 1.8 million
people. LIBRARY-21 includes a
UNIVAC Solid State 90 computer
, which allows storage of personalized bibliographes from 8,400
annnotated book titles, quotes from 74 authors, and gazetteer information
on 92 nations of the free world (Bourne
& Hahn
).
- ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency)
of the US Dept. of Defense, establishes the Information Processing Techniques
Office (IPTO).
IPTO
becomes a significant force in several areas of computing research,
notably graphics, artificial intelligence, time-sharing operating systems,
and networking. (Abbate, 1999)
- Paul
Baran
, RAND Corporation, studies how the US military could maintain
its command and control system network after a nuclear strike. The
objective was to build a decentralized system that would enable communications
between locations, even if some were destroyed. Final report by
Baran described several ways to accomplish this including a recommendation
for a packet switched network.
- The Monsanto Information Center, St. Louis,
MO, produces a bookform catalog for its seven libraries using a computer
based system. May be the first computer produced union library catalog?
( Kilgour, 1970
).
- Luhn
implements his proposed SDI system in the IBM Library
at Oswego, NY (first proposed in 1958). System is based on processing
new acquisitions in the library so that personalized service can be provided
to users (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- SDI system is implemented at Douglas Missile
and Space Systems Division using a single machine readable input from
catalog cards, new acquisitions, etc. (
Bourne & Hahn
).
-
Telstar I
, first communications satellite, is placed in orbit (
Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
-
Depository Library Act, PL 87-579
, becomes law. Requires all federal agencies to submit list of
publications to GPO for possible distribution (
Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
- ASTIA issues Thesaurus of ASTIA Descriptors
, 2nd ed.
- "Crawford Report" on scientific and technical
communications in government is submitted to US President’s Special Assistant
for Science and Technology (Emard, 1976
). Recommends that each federal agency have one office responsible
for science information and that government-wide clearinghouses for federal
R&D be created (Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
- Fritz
Machlup
publishes his Production and Distribution of Knowledge
in the US. Includes an economic analysis of knowledge production,
the various methods of producing knowledge, and the various occupations
associated with the industry (Pinelli, et
al., 1992
).
- USDA Library is designated the National
Agricultural Library (NAL) (Pinelli, et
al., 1992
).
- The Benson-Lehner Corporation develops
the COMAC MARK II, which sells for approximately $20,000 (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- The Aeronutronic Division of Ford Motor
Company develops the Aeronutronic File Search Evaluator, one of the last
special purpose magnetic tape searching systems. This system is designed
under a contract with the USAF Rome Air Development Center and is known
as the Search Evaluator AN/GSQ-38. Search speed of 45,000 cps (
Bourne &
Hahn
- The Information Retrieval Corporation and
Litton Systems, Inc. develop and build the CRIS (
Command Retrieval Information System
) system. This system is an outgrowth of earlier work which
Garfield
and Avakian completed. The system cannot perform subject
searches and can only retrieve using a CRIS image location number (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Robert E. Maizell (Olin Corp.) and Charles
N. Rice (Eli Lilly) begin using CAS tapes to produce in-house alerting
service for chemists. Similar program is developed for students by Purdue
University at about the same time.
- April: First (?) reported computerized
circulation system at Picatinny Arsenal using an IBM punch card system.
- July: SDC begins Centralized Information
Reference and Control (CIRC) (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Fall: IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research
Center implements automated circulation system.
- Xerox acquires
University Microfilms
(Eugene Powers
develops the company).
1963
- "Weinberg report" (US President’s Science
Advisory Committee) issues report on federal scientific and technical
information. Notes that: "government agencies must accept responsibility
for the transfer of information in the same degree and spirit that they
accept responsibility for research and development itself" (
Shera & Cleveland, 1972
).
- SRI establishes data communication link
to operate between it and the SDC (approx. 400 miles) (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- Kessler
develops the concept of bibliographic coupling
- First reliable commercial use of VDT’s
for computer display. DEC develops in PDP-1.
- First issues of Science Citation Index
are published. Garfield calls this the "most risky decision
of my business career" (Garfield, 1983
).
- MEDLARS (Medical Literature Analysis and
Retrieval System), an off-line batch service, begins operation from
the National Library of Medicine (
Kilgour, 1970
).
- University of Sheffield Postgraduate School
of Librarianship and Information Science is founded and two years later
begins extensive research program in computerized retrieval methods for
chemical and textual databases.
- George
E. Vladutz
, a Soviet chemist, enunciates the basic idea for a computerized
retrieval system for chemical reactions.
- With funding from the U.S. National Institutes
of Health (NIH), Institute for Scientific
Information (ISI)
publishes the first issue of Genetics Citation Index
( GCI) and the prototype of Science Citation Index
( SCI ), relying on computer indexing. While GCI is
not continued, SCI is first offered commercially in 1964.
- Air Force Cambridge Lab Library catalog
cards in upper and lower case using a computer-like device, the Crossfiler,
from paper tapes of card images. The
Friden Flexowriter
is used to print the cards (Kilgour,
1970
).
- With NFAIS
sponsorship, Robert Heller and Associates publish a report,
"A National Plan for Science Abstracting and Indexing Services," proposing
an "organization X" to act as a buffer between discipline and mission
oriented services ( Kilgour, 1970
).
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
develops the Army Chemical Typewriter, which enables the input of chemical
structures to a computer using a paper tape punching machine (
Weisgerber, 1997
).
- First (?) computer time-sharing system
is developed and is used at Harvard University (
Mooers, 1976
).
- For the first time, the ADI annual
conference proceedings are computer-produced prior to the annual conference.
Luhn chiefly responsible for development (
Heilprin, 1988
).
- The Computer Department at GE develops
the Search Computer in 1961, but it is not publicly demonstrated until
1963. Searches magnetic tape and can search 180,000 words per minute
( Bourne &
Hahn
).
- First operation or public demonstration
of the Recordak Corporation’s (a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak) MIRACODE
(Microfilm Information Retrieval Access CODE). This system is an indexed
microfilm product and is used mostly for business record collections (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- NASA’s database is made available for second-party
use (Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Defense Documentation Center's (DDC)
Technical Abstracts Bulletin (TAB) is made available for
second-party use--but restricts its availability (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Aslib's Cranfield II experimental indexing evaluation research project
begins, under direction of C.W. Cleverdon. (
Foskett, 1977
) (For a useful explanation of the Cranfield, and other, indexing experiments
see the following site:
http://www.ercim.org/publication/ws-proceedings/CLEF2/vorhees.pdf
)
- A remote online search system is
publically demonstrated for the first time by SRI. The public
sees a mouse for the first time (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- March: John Roach describes SATIRE
while attending an information retrieval workshop in San Jose,
CA ( Bourne &
Hahn
).
- May-December:
Bourne
demonstrates prototype online retrieval system at Stanford
Research Institute (
Bourne &
Hahn
- 26 - 30 May: Library of Congress, NSF
, and CLR hold the conference on "Libraries and Automation" (
Bourne &
Hahn
- June: SDC's begins operation of its TSS-0
time shared system (
Bourne &
Hahn
) .
- 10 - 11 June: ARPA and
SDC
hold a symposium on "Development and Management of a
Computer-Centered Data Base" (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- September: SDC's Command and Control Division
in operation (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- October: John Roach describes SATIRE at
the ADI annual meeting. He says the system us upgraded, replacing
EAM equipment with an
IBM 1401
(Bourne
&
Hahn
).
- November: The Technical Information Project
(TIP) moves from operating in batch mode to a MAC system time-share (
Bourne & Hahn
).
1964
- First MEDLARS products are issued: January
1964 issue of Index Medicus. By end of the year, the Demand Search Service
is started where searches of the file are done in response to requests.
MEDLARS consists of: computer system for bibliographic organization
and analysis; rapid composing unit that was computer controlled--
GRACE: Graphic Arts Composing Equipment
; analysis and revision of the medical literature indexing system
[See pictures of the computer equipment in Adkinson’s Two Centuries
of Federal Information , pp. 68-69).] (
Adkinson, 1976
).
- Martin M. Cummings becomes director of
NLM. Adkinson (1978
) gave him significant credit for development of the MEDLARS system
and development of the library as an international center for biomedical
communication.
- Carlos
Cuadra
publishes his "Key Contributions in IS..." article in
AD and concludes that you cannot use textbooks, bibliographies,
or citations to identify the key contributors in the field. Advised
the field that this had important implications for teaching IS (
Cuadra, 1964
).
- Douglas Englebart develops the mouse as
an input device. Used shortly thereafter for manipulation of chemical
structures in input and searching at the Lister Hill Center of the National
Institutes of Health.
- Meyer
Mike Kessler
, of Massachusetts Institute Technology, develops
Technical Information Project (TIP), an experimental online searching
system.
- Science Policy Research Division, LRS,
is established in the Library of Congress to overview STI policy research
for reports to Congress. Later is developed into Congressional Research
Service ( Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
- Committee on Science Informtion (COSI)
becomes US Committee on Scientific and Technical Information (COSATI),
with broadened scope to include standard and policies. Pinelli, et.al.
( 1992
) noted that it provided effective leadership for 10 years.
- CAS inaugurates Experimental Chemical Registry
System, assigning unique numbers to each new substance.
- Responsibilities of
NSF
and the President’s Office of Science and Technology
(OST) are clarified: OST will take responsbility for coordinating federal
STI services and organizations and NSF will deal with non-federal STI
services and organizations. Both will provide assistance and funds for
development of storage and retrieval systems (
Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
- Office of Education within DHEW establishes
Educational Information Services. This is the first stage in the development
of the ERIC system (Pinelli, et al., 1992
).
- Thesaurus of Engineering Terms,
1st ed. (Engineers Joint Council, NY, 1964). Later revised and
titled Thesaurus of Scientific and Engineering Terms (TEST),
1967. ( Foskett
)
- University of Tulsa’s Petroleum Abstracts
database is made available for second-party use (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- Derwent Publications’ Ringdoc, Plasdoc,
Agdoc, Farmdoc, and Vetdoc databases are made available for second-party
use (think in 1964?) (
Bourne &
Hahn
).
- Moderately Advanced Data Management (MADAM)
and Support of User Records and Files (SURF) developed at the
SDC in Santa Monica, CA (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- TIP, the first search system that uses
a database of over 25,000 records, is the first online system that can
retrieve citations by bibliographic coupling or cited references and
allows a searcher to save output, provide online output or provide offline
printing. TIP allows left-trunation searches and Boolean searching
( Bourne & Hahn
).
- PRIME is used at the IBM Technical Information
Retrieval Center (ITIRC) (Bourne &
Hahn
).
- IBM's QUIKTRAN system is demonstrated.
It allows for remote entry and output of batch programs (
Bourne & Hahn)
- The first bibliographic research service,
called Law Research Service, is made commercially available (
Bourne & Hahn)
- Data Corporation, which later evolves into
Lexis Corporation, is established in dayton, OH (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- January: GE-Valley Forge creates an online
system that uses Boolean logic search queries for retrieving bibliographic
records (Bourne & Hahn
).
- March: Synthex software successfully demonstrated.
The Synthex QUEST program (stored on magnetic tape) made available
on-demand. (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- April 22-October 17: The New York World's
Fair offers public viewing of online bibliographic retrieval at Library/USA.This
is the first time the general public sees bibliographic information
and interacts remotely with librarians through a computer using standard
telephone lines. This is the first online system to allow for simultaneous
users for one database using search software.
Joe Becker
is the main producer and reporter of this event (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- May: MIT's Myron "Mike" Kessler
and Bill Mathews publically demonstrate TIP's capabilities for the
first time ( ).
- September: Florida Atlantic University
Library produces bookform catalog in upper and lower cases. Format used
is essentially a catalog of cards (Kilgour,
1970
).
- October:
BioSciences Information Service of Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS)
becomes official name of corporate body publishing
BA ( Steere, 1976
).
- TIP demonstrated at the FID Congress (
Bourne & Hahn
).
- December: CAS establishes the Experimental
Chemical Registry System. This is called the Registry I system. Initial
input is via punched cards processed by an
IBM 1410
computer. Converted to paper tape punching system in 1965.
INFORMATION SCIENCE
IN THE 20TH CENTURY
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