Water Supply and
Pollution Control Research Reference
Retrieval and Documentation
HARRY A. FABER, Chief, Research and Training Grants Branch
JACK WOLK, Chief, Scientific Information Section
Research and Training Grants Branch
Division of Water Supply and Pollution Control
Public Health Service
U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare
Washington, D. C.
Engineers and scientists are aware that research and development are as
fundamental in the fields of water supply, and waste treatment and disposal as
they are in any other facet of modem civilization. The conduct of research and
development depends heavily upon information which has been produced by previous research or by experience. To find and communicate this information when
and where it is needed has become a major problem. It is often difficult for an
individual scientist or engineer to locate the particular information he needs as
background or to eliminate unnecessary duplication of work.
A great deal has already been said about the "information explosion"; the
numbers of research papers and of technical journals are increasing at a phenomenal rate. In 1960 some 132,000 research papers were published in the chemical
field alone; the number is expected to be 300,000 in 1970. The number of journals listed in Chemical Abstracts has grown from less than 500 in 1907 to about
10,000 at the current time. The 1924 edition of the World List of Scientific
periodicals listed 24,000 titles, the 1952 edition listed 50,000, and the estimate
for 1979 is said to be 100,000.
The increase in published material means that research workers must divert
more and more of their time and energy away from their own laboratory work to
find out what others are doing or have done. A 1958 study in the U. S. showed
that chemists in industry devote more than half of their time on scientific activities to communication - that is, reading, writing, talking, and listening about
scientific matters. The production of scientific and technical manpower is
steadily dropping behind the financial support of research. To offset this trend
we must find ways of helping scientists and engineers spend more of their time
productively. The logical organization of research information and rapid access
to that information can contribute significantly toward that objective.
USPHS RESEARCH INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
A specialized source of water and waste research information, to be fully
effective, must be operated in the closest possible contact with the working
scientists and engineers in the field. A recent report ofthe President's Science
Advisory Committee recommended that all concerned with research and development must accept responsibility for the transfer of information in the same
degree and spirit that they accept the responsibility for research and development
itself. The scientific community must devote a larger share of its time and resources to the careful management of the ever increasing technical record.
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