tion effort with DOD, AEC, and NASA. The GWI is a monthly index to reports announced in the journals of the four agencies. The purpose of the GWI is to provide a single source of access for scientists, engineers, and other researchers, to new technical report literature. Computer prepared, the INDEX is arranged by report number, accession number, corporate author, personal author, and subject. Over 2,000 subscribers were receiving this combined listing at the end of June 1965 with the number of subscribers increasing at the rate of 400 per month.

U. S. Government Research and Development Reports.-The U. S. Government Research Reports announcement journal became the U. S. Government Research and Development Reports (USGRDR) to reflect the wide variety of documents being acquired by the Clearinghouse. A "Research Highlights" section of the USGRDR draws special attention to significant new reports. Personal author, contract number and corporate source indexes were added to the journal for reader convenience. Electronic photocomposiiton of USGRDR is planned for the fall to provide better readibility, fewer pages, and better indexes.

Technical Translations.—Major improvements in the Technical Translations (TT) announcement journal included the addition of the contents of journals translated cover-to-cover, improved announcement time and the utilization of computer prepared indexes.

Special emphasis was placed on a program to expand coverage of translation of foreign technical information from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Communist China.

Fast Announcement Service.-A new Fast Announcement Service (FAS) was created to provide direct and rapid announcement of selected new reports with significant industrial and/or scientific information to scientists, engineers, and research managers. Nearly 2,000 technical reports categorized into 49 industrial interest areas were described in the 449 Announcements issued by the Clearinghouse in Fiscal 1965. By the end of June 1965, 12,000 individuals and firms were receiving the FAS.

Regional Information Packaging.-The Clearinghouse began an intensive program of "information packaging" in response to the demands of local, state, university, and trade groups. Government R&D literature is searched for information on specialized recommended subjects. A five-page summary is published which includes bibliographies and price lists. Over 30,000 package summaries were distributed in fiscal year 1965. This Regional Dissemination Program will be fully operational in late Fiscal 1966.

Current Research Information.-The Science Information Exchange of the Smithsonian Institution agreed to furnish the Clearinghouse with mag. netic tapes of current research projects in the physical sciences, engineering and related technology. This data will make up a new section, "Current Research in Progress," of the Clearinghouse journal U. S. Government Research and Development Reports. The section will provide a single

point of contact for information in specialized areas and avoid costly duplication of research.

Industrial Referral Service.-The Clearinghouse created an industrial referral service on specific technology problems designed to provide referral to sources of technical expertise from a single point of contact in the Federal Government. The Clearinghouse and the National Referral Center of the Library of Congress are cooperating in extending these services.

Defense Documents Located by Computer.-With the cooperation of the Defense Documentation Center the Clearinghouse is now able to search by computer the unclassified Department of Defense portion of its collection. Clearinghouse is "Bookdealer".-Negotiations with the Superintendent of Documents resulted in the designation of the Clearinghouse as a bookdealer for scientific and technical documents sold by GPO. The Clearinghouse will distribute microfiche of current documents and supply all such technical documents listed by GPO as "out of print."

Cataloging Standards.—Clearinghouse staff members have taken an active role in interagency subcommittees working for the Committee on Scientific and Technical Information (COSATI) on rules for microfiche standards, corporate author headings, subject fields and groups, national document handling systems, exchange of foreign reports, social science translations, and vocabulary compatibility. The Clearinghouse participated with other agencies in developing microfiche standards for the Federal Government and has adopted, in accordance with COSATI recommendations, subject fields and groups used for categorization in document announcement journals, and new descriptive cataloging standards designed to promote uniformity throughout the Government.

Increased Efficiency.-Improvements in efficiency and systems design led to reduced order handling time. Documents maintained in quantity on the shelf can be distributed to customers within two days (exclusive of mailing time) while those needing reproduction require only five days.

Inventory Control.-A detailed manual system of inventory control was replaced by a combination of computer inventory and small parts systems. A document identification directory arranged by accession was developed to replace the catalog card files in the verification of customer orders.

Statistical Control.-During the year a comprehensive statistical control system for all operational aspects was implemented. A time and labor reporting system was established to be used in production reporting, and work standards were set up in accordance with the Commerce Department's Production Measurement Program. These statistics permit production reporting for daily monitoring by management production figures to determine the proper workload-manpower balance, information for cost accounting, employee effectiveness and productivity, and effectiveness of special programs.

Clearinghouse Accounting System.-A Clearinghouse Deposit Account

system was implemented to decrease the processing time for customer requests and to provide management with better financial information. By the close of the year, data processing programs for automated billing and posting of cash transactions were complete and ready for implementation in Fiscal 1966.

Price Schedule.-A new standard pricing schedule reduced overall document prices 30 percent while photocopy prices (blowback) were cut 66 percent.

Demand Prediction Models.-Statistical document demand prediction models were developed which enable the Clearinghouse to print a document in quantity prior to any requests being received. Cost and time savings are realized by printing a report instead of using single copy reproduction methods. Automatic wrapping equipment speeded up distribution and reduced costs. Most documents are now individually machine wrapped in polyethylene packages.

Intern Program. Recent science and engineering graduates, documentalists and science librarians will have an opportunity to enter a one-year Internship Program at the Clearinghouse during Fiscal 1966. The program is designed to acquaint the intern with modern methods of handling large volumes of Federal scientific and technical information and to provide broadly based work experience upon which he may build a career in science documentation and information handling.

INVENTION AND INNOVATION

Technical Innovation.-At the request of the Office of Science and Technology, of the Office of the President, IAT has undertaken a project to analyze the effects on technical innovation in industry of various Federal policies. These include taxation, antitrust, and regulatory policy. Work in this area has proceeded with the cooperation of the Departments of Treasury, and Justice, the Small Business Administration and the Council of Economic Advisors. A panel on taxation, antitrust and regulatory policy was recently appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.

Inventor's Congress.—IAT actively encourages States in the development of inventors' expositions and congresses. Through these congresses, inventors and representatives of industry meet to explore the value of specific inventions, many of them developed by independents. As a result, new inventions are brought to light and into commercial production, at a rate which exceeds the usual ratios of success for invention-screening operations. IAT operates a Government Referral Center which handles considerable correspondence from individual inventors regarding their ideas. During fiscal year 1965, state inventors' congresses were held in 12 states, including Nebraska, Arizona, North Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and North Carolina.

TEXTILE AND APPAREL TECHNOLOGY

The Textile and Apparel Technology Center functions with funds provided by the Congress under the Civilian Industrial Technology (CIT) appropriation in fiscal year 1963 and subsequently. The money was made available to encourage the textile and apparel industries' efforts to develop ways of coping with the pressures of economic cycles, foreign competition, displacement by other materials, changing consumer demands, and the impact of new materials. Projects have been chosen with the aim of helping to begin institutional activities which the industry itself will continue to support. Projects to date have included the development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of a thesaurus of standard technical terms for the dry-processing of textiles, the beginning of a program for monitoring foreign textile developments and making them available to U. S. industry, and the offering of a number of short courses and seminars for textile management personnel (courses at Auburn University in 1964 and 1965 were financed fully by the Department of Commerce; similar courses will be 50 percent funded by industry during this coming year; after that industry will support them fully. Similar courses are being offered at the Lowell Technological Institute in Massachusetts).

Apparel Research Foundation.-The Department of Commerce has encouraged the American apparel industry to form a cooperative research and development association, comparable to similar associations in Europe and Japan. This group, The Apparel Research Foundation (ARF), is directing its first projects to research on automation of the garment-making process and on technological intelligence concerning foreign apparel technology. Support of its efforts is currently provided both by the NBS Textile and Apparel Technology Center and the industry itself. Rapid growth of ARF should lead to self-sufficiency in the near future. The Textile Research Institute, affiliated with Princeton University, is engaged in a fundamental research program with Department of Commerce support.

North Carolina University Textile Study.-Support has been provided North Carolina State University for research aimed at developing more competent technical professionals for the textile industry. In addition, the Center has explored the use of new management techniques, especially those made practical by computer technology, for analysis of the technical economic problems of the textile and apparel industries. Several studies have been completed which analyze trends in foreign competition, introduction of paper and plastics to the traditional textile and apparel market, and variations in the size of companies-all of which affect the textile and apparel industries' economic performance. A system analysis using simulation and modeling techniques has been developed which would allow computer comparison of various management strategies for problems such as the volume of production runs, the best level of inventory, and the maximum efficiency of labor.

ASSISTANCE TO OTHER AGENCIES

NBS has continued in its traditional statutory mission of providing technical assistance to other government agencies. Within the last year, however, the character of this service has tended to move away from the development of hardware and toward systems analysis.

Chemical Information Processing (HAYSTAQ).-NBS has been engaged for the past eight years in a cooperative venture with the U. S. Patent Office to investigate the feasibility of mechanizing some of the patent literature searching activities. Chemical information searching is of par ticular interest because it is the area of greatest activity in the U. S. Patent Office at the present time; 25 percent of the patents issued are in the area of chemistry.

Chemical structures lend themselves to precise definition and are therefore more amenable to machine manipulation than more ambiguous information such as natural language text. A large part of the work per

The ACCESS computer system, developed by NBS for the Office of Emergency Planning, accepts pictorial data and presents them in a manner meaningful to man. Left to right: the FOSDIC microfilm scanner, its control, the data processor control, keyboard and punched tape inputs (in front of operator), and, in the background, logic and memory components. ACCESS can identify sections of map on 16-mm microfilm and assemble the map sections in correct relative positions to produce a magnetic tape instructing a plotter in reproducing the entire map.