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literature records. All available annotated bibliographies would be drawn upon. Simple bibliographic citations would be included in the absence of an abstract.
Reproduction facilities would be developed for the printing of sufficient additional cards for cross-indexing.
Facilities for photographic reduction and reproduction would be developed for the printing of entire short papers on the standard cards. For instance, the large number of one- and two-page “research note” type of articles should be capable of reduction to a single 5-by-7-inch card, thus permitting the inclusion of the entire work rather than of an abstract. In order to permit the simultaneous handling of a large number of cards dealing with a single subject, the writer is inclined to limit the amount of reduction so that the product can be read with the naked eye or under simple magnification.
By following the procedures outlined above, it should be possible to construct and maintain a central literature file for world forestry literature at a very moderate cost. This file would take the form of a single catalog containing abstracts, citations, and photographic reductions of brief articles. With adequate cross-referencing, mechanical retrieval systems would not be necessary. As time and facilities became available—and this would undoubtedly require international cooperation—citation cards could be expanded to abstract cards, and abstract cards in many instances could be expanded to more detailed record cards or even to complete reproduction cards. Personnel trained as scientists in the field should take an active part in the operation, rather than trusting entirely to professional abstractors or librarians.
The advantages of the system are its complete practicability, its low cost, and the fact that it becomes immediately usable once established. The prototype developed by the author over a six-year period is constantly used and has resulted in its users achieving a better comprehension of the literature relating to their problems in less time than previously required for a less satisfactory survey.
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