KWIC INDEX TO GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS Margaret NORDEN: Reference Librarian, Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 139 United States and United Nations publications were not efficiently proc- essed nor readily available to the reader at Brandeis University Library. Data processing equipment was used to make a list of this material which could be referred to by a computer produced KWIC index. Currency and availability to the user, and time and cost efficiencies for the library were given precedence over detailed subject access. United States and United Nations classification schemes> and existing bibliographies and indexes were used extensively. Collections of publications of the United States government and the United Nations are unwieldy and, often, unused. Orne (1), Kane (2), and Morehead ( 3) have acknowledged that much of the output of pro- liferating governmental agencies and government supported research cen- ters is hardly accessible. Successful attempts to control the literature of a particular subject field, such as the indexes to the Human Relations Area Files and the American Political Science Review, have been com- piled by Kenneth Janda ( 4). Others ( 5,6,7,8,) have described projects which apply the KWIC index method of control to industrial research reports. No similar attempt to control government publications has been reported, although at Northeastern University data processing equipment has been used to list United States material. The index developed at Brandeis University Library was designed to accommodate the varied government publications held by a library which served student, faculty and researcher alike. 140 Journal of Lib-rary Automation Vol. 2/3 September, 1969 MATERIALS AND METHOD Brandeis became a selective United States document depository late in 1965. Two years later a Government Documents Department was cre- ated to handle all United States publications, as well as those of the United Nations. About 15,000 United States publications and a smaller number of United Nations publications had previously been acquired and processed as a regular part of the library collection. This material formed the nucleus of the documents collection, to which some 3,000 pieces were added yearly. The new Department ordered and received all publications issued by federal government agencies and the United Nations, but proc- essed and serviced only about 80% of them. Materials that had been acquired for the Science Library or special collections, such as Reserve, were directed to regular library processing departments. The materials retained were classified and arranged according to the Superintendent of Documents classification and the United Nations scheme wherever such numbers were available. All previously cataloged items were re- moved from the regular collection and scheduled for reclassification. Only where Superintendent of Documents and United Nations numbers were not available was Library of Congress classification retained or assigned. The collection then consisted of material arranged in three sections ac- cording to the classifications of the Superintendent of Documents, the United Nations, and the Library of Congress. The KWIC index included all United States and United Nations pub- lications located in the Documents Department. The reader was reminded that additional material issued by those government publishers, housed elsewhere in the libraries, was included in the library catalog. Prefatory material included a list of symbols and abbreviations. A two-part index to issuing agencies, represented by six-letter mnemonic acronyms, was arranged alphabetically by acronym, and by bureau name. The r eader was cautioned to consult the United States Government Organization Manual and a United Nations organization chart for identification of gov- ernment agencies and for tracing frequent changes in their structure and nomenclature. The Documents list consisted of two parts: one, an accession number listing; and two, a KWIC index to part one. Upon arrival at the Library, publications were numbered and IBM cards were punched according to format cards that described allocation of columns: Column Card 1 1-6 7 8-13 14-79 80 Information item number card number author agency title field blank Column Card 3 1-6 7 8-20 21-54 55-79 80 Information item number card number procedural data holdings KWIC Index 141 classification number blank Cards one and three were punched for all documents; however, cards two and four were punched only where data exceded the prescribed spaces on cards one or three. Columns one through six were reserved for the accession numbers. A special punch in column one was used to identify United Nations documents so that they were listed after the United States sequence. Column seven indicated the card number for a given document and was suppressed in the print-out. The title field in- cluded not only the title, but series and number, personal author and monographic date where this information was suitable. The flexible field was used for any information for which the librarian wished KWIC cards. A cross reference or explanatory note about the location of publications of a quasi-independent agency was incorporated in the title field. The procedural data included type of publication, binding and frequency in- formation, accounting data and similar notations. A sample of part one has been reproduced in Figure 1. Part two of the list, the KWIC index, was produced by an IBM 1620 computer, model one with 40K memory. An excerpt has been reproduced in Figure 2. Only cards one and two were put into the computer along with the program and dictionary of exceptions. Cards three and four were not used to produce the KWIC index. The program required pro- duction of cards for author acronyms and for all keywords found in the title field. Except in the cases of author acronyms and first words, a key- word was identified by the fact that it followed a blank space. Blanks were not necessary in these two cases because they were incorporated in the computer program. Single letters, integers, and exceptions were not considered keywords. The index was printed so that the accession number always appeared on the left, and the author agency was followed by an asterik and a space. The wraparound format usually associated with KWIC indexes was abandoned to improve visual clarity. RESULTS About eight months after its inception, 2600 items had been entered on a separate Documents Collection list. The list had been printed off- line on three-part print-out paper interleaved with carbon. Mter the pa- pers were reassembled in looseleaf binders, they were made available in the Documents and Reference Departments and in the Science Library. ·•' ' 142 Journal of Library Automation Vol. 2/3 September, 1969 131) .JNTPUB 130 32 22 TRANS. LATIONS ON COMMUNIST CHINAe 6 50oOONOo1t1968-TO DATE Y3oJ66/13 131 Rt.RAL 131 42 22 FEDERAL PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO ASSIST RURAL AMERICAo 1968o· 60EPOST 1968 ' A97 o2/L5Z 132 FEDI\Ar 132 ~ DIRECTORY OF RESEARCH NATURAL AR~AS ON FEDERAL LANDS OF THE u.s. 1968. nz 4Z 22 60EPOST 1968 Y3 oF 31/19/9/968 133 JNTPUB 133 TR-ANSLATIONS ON EAST EUROPEAN AGRICUl;TUREt FORESTRY + FOODt INDUSTRIES, 133 32 22 6GIFT I/NOo117ol963-TO' DATE Y3oJ66/13 IRANSLAIIONS ON. EASI EUROPEAN FOREIGN IRA 134 JNIPOB 134 :>2 22 6 15oOO//NOo80tl963-TO DATE Y3oJ66/l3 135 JNTPUB 135 TRANSLATIONS ON ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT IN EASTERN EUROPE. 135 32 22 6 65,00N0ol44t 1963-TO DATE Y3oJ66/l3 136 JNTPllB TRANSLATIONS ON MONGOI.!Ao 136 32 22 6 13,00NOo19t 1963-TO' DATE 137 JNTPU'B TRANSLATIONS ON NORTH KOREAo 137 32 22 6 20oOONOo1t 1966-TO DATE lio JNTPUB TRANSLATIONS ON NORTH VIETNAMo 138 3'2 22 6 70,00NOt1't 1966-TO DATE 139 JNTPUB TRANSLATIONS ON SOUTH + EAST ASIAo 139 32 22 6GIFT 1963- TO DATE 140 JNTPUB TRANSLATIONS ON LATIN AMERICAo 140 32 22 6150,001967-TO DATE 141 JNTPUB TRANSLATIONS ON THE NEAR EAST. 141 32 22 6 50,001966-TO DATE 143 JNTFUB 143 32 22 TRANSLATIONS ON U,S,S,Ro AGRICULTUREo 6 '10o001967-TO DATE Y3oJ66/l3 Y3oJ66/13 Y3oJ66/13 Y3oJ66/13 Y3tJ66/13 Y3tJ66/13 Y3oJ66/l3 144 Jf\;TPU6 144 32 22 u,S,S,R, ECONOMY AND !NDUSTRYo GENERAL INFORMATION, 6 40,001966-TO DATE Y3oJ66/13 145 L!BCON ACCESSIONS LISTt CEYLONo 145 32 22 6PI..-480//l967-TO DATE LCle3017/VOLt/NOo 146 LIBCON ACCESSIONS L!STt !ND!Ao 146 32 22 5PL-480//l963-TO DATE LC1,301VOLo/NOo 147 LIBCON ACCESSIONS LISTtiNDONESIA o 147 JZ 2 2 6PL-4801964-TO DATE LC1o30/5/VOL.INOo 1'48 LIBCON ACCESSIONS LISTt MIDDLE EAST, 148 3Z 2Z 5PL-480//1963-TO DATE LClo 30/3/VO.Lo/NOo 149 LIBCON ACCESSIO NS LISTt NEPALo Fig. 1. Accession Number List. 166 113 6 68 66 164 117 113 64 56 163 44 19 31 32 3 71 83 108 195 176 190 78 1~ 172 160 66 123 11 74 18 179 30 62 174 l2.3 177 42 93 . 118 179 166 155 9COOC2 96 176 90vv.J3 139 133 134 128 129 135 55 141 148 KWIC Index 143 CONGRESSo 1949-1951. DESPER * REPTo TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESSIONAl OTRE(TORYo CONGRS *OFFICIAl CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DATA BOOKtREDISTRICTEO STATES• SUPPe CENSUS * CONGRESSIONAL RECORDo CONGRS * CONGRS * CONGRESSIONAL RECORDo CONGRS * FACTUAl.. CAMPAIGN INFORMATIONt1968o CONGRS * MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE U,S, AND ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS CONGRS * OFFICIAl (ONG!iESS!ONAL. DIRECTORYo CONREP * CALENDARS OF THE UoSo HOUSE-OF-REPRESENTATIVES, CONREP * LAWS RELATING TO SOCIAL SECURITY + UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATJONtl9 CONSEN * CALENDAR OF BUSINESS, CONSEN * NOMINATION + ELECTION OF PRESIDENT + VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE U,St CONSERVATION, AGRSCS * SO!~ CONSIR!!CTION REPTSo oHOUS!NG AUTHORIZED BY......B.\.I.l.L.D.lNG. P.E.RMJJ_a_~El!~Y._S_* __ CONSTRUCTION REPTSttHOUSING SALESo CENSUS * CONSTRUCTION REPTSot HOUSING AUTHORIZED BY BUILDING PERMITS, CENSUS * CONSUMER PRICE INDEXES, LSBLAB * CONTEMPORARY ARTISTt PUBo 4730o 1968, SMITHS * THE ARMED FORCES OF THE U CONTRIBUTIONSt OASI-NOo HEWSAA * SOCIAL SECURITY CO•lPERAT I VE WATER RESOJJ_RC..E.S_f3~.E.ft..B~l:LA.~-D_.I.R~ U:U.I'l.Y.Lli~_1_a_l_N_T_~.!H__::*---­ CORONARY DRUG PROJECTt PHS PUBo 1965t REVo l968o HEWPHS * THE CORPS• l967o OPPORT * JOB COST OF CLEAN WATERo 1968o WTRPOL * COUNTRIES FOR ~!SA OF u,s, PASSPORTS, STATED * FEES CHARGED BY FOREIGN COUNTY BUSINESS PATTERNSe CENSUS * COURT DECISIONS, SPCTJU * SUPREME COURTS, 1966 t1967 • CHILDB •. LEGAL- !lil!C'iOGRAT'H;rF"® ·.ruvE'NlLE- ARo-F'A'FiltV·- CRIME + DELINQUENCY ABSTRACTS, HEWPHS * CRIME DELINQUENCY ABSTRACTS, BEFORE 1965 SEE INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CRIME + DELINQUENCYo CRISIS OF OUR CITIESo 1968, PRESDT * MEETING THE INSURANCE CRISIStFACTSt MYTH + SOCIAL CHANGEo 1967• HEWWEL * RURAL YOUTH IN CR')PS + MARKET So FORAGR * FOREIGN AG.RICULT(iR-E INCLUDING • • - • --·- ·~ CT-1o 1967o CENSUS .* DATA ACCESS DESCRIPTIONSt CENSUS TABULATIONS AVAtLA DEAF PEOPLEo1968o VOCREH * VOCATIONAL REHABI~ITATION OF DEFCIV * SAFETY REVIEWo DEFWRO 4 NAVAL RESEARCH REVIEWSt DEL!NQUENCY ABSTRACTS'!. . .':!.~ WPI-)S * CRIME '!' . DEMONSTRATION FINDINGSo LABORD * MDTAtEXPERIMENTAL + DEPARTMENT OF STATE BULLe STATED * DEPARTMENT STORE SALES IN SELECTED AREAS, CENSUS * SPECIAL cURRENT BUSIN DEPTot OR MISSOURI-MISCELLANEOUSo 1863e COMWAR 4 REPTo WESTERN DESCRIPTIONS• CENSUS TABULATIONS AVAILABLE ON COMPUTER TAP! SERIES• CT-1 DESPER * REPTo TO THE PR.E.S.UlE.Iil._AN_D_.JJ:I.E. _CON~R.ES.So_,_ ].9!+9-J.9.-=5~1.t.•=--:-:--=---::=::::­ DEVELOPMENTS 1834-1962t l962o STATED * A HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF UoSo-KORE DEVELOPMENTSol96l-65o1968o ECOSOC * CAPITAL PUNISHMENTt PTtl REPTo1960tP DRUG ABUSE CONTROLo HEWFDA * BOAC BULLETIN ISSUED BY THE BUREAU OF DRUG PROJECTt PHS PUBo 1965t REVo 1968o HEWPHS * THE CORONARY DUTIES• GUARDIANSHIPo 1968o WOMENP * ARENTAL RIGHTS AND EAST AS l A. JNTP..UJL! _ _T_RAI'iS.L.A .. LloN_S_Qtl_. SOUTH_.+ __ __ ·~ -~=c=;;:---:T.=c:-=---::--=:,...,-;-= EAST EUROPEAN AGRICUL TURF t FORESTRY + FOODt I NDUSTRI ES o JNTPUB * TRANSL-,;" EAST EUROPEAN FORF.IGN TRADEo JNTPUB * TRANSLATIONS ON EASTERN EUROPEo JNTPUB * POLITICAL TRANSLATIONS ON EASTERN EUROPEo JNTPUB * SOCIOLOGICAL TRANSLATIONS ON EASTERN EUROPE o JNTPUB * TRANSLATIONS ON ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION AND MANAG EASTERN EUROP~-L-STATE!L!'_t;_~_Qi}._t;I.§_E_?_W!TH THE. s_ovg,T .UNION .• + .•• . ·----- EASTo JNTPUB * TRANSLATIONS ON THE NEAR EAST, LIBCON * ACCESSIONS Ltsro MIDDLE Fig. 2. KWIC Index. 144 Journal of Library Automation Vol. 2/3 September, 1969 The copies were usable only on the temporary basis for which they were intended. Pages ripped easily in the binders. The printing on copies two and three, which were carbon copies, smudged readily. Production of more permanent copies of the list was deferred until the catalog should be more complete. Because of the preliminary nature of this project, no specific time ac- counting was made. There was an attempt to increase student assistant duties in order to save regular staff time. The Librarian annotated Super- intendent of Documents shipping lists to indicate which items required new punched cards. She omitted, for example, journals that were entered once with an open holdings statement. After annotation, punched cards for United States depository documents were made by student assistants who had been previously introduced to the allocation of columns and to punching procedures. For non-depository United States and United Na- tions publications, the Librarian mapped cards on 80-column format sheets. In the production of part two, the KWIC index, staff was involved only to make cross references. Since the KWIC program had been designed to make entries for all words in the title field other than the dictionary of exceptions, cross references had to be interfiled manually after the KWIC entries had been made and alphabetized. The cost of materials for the addition of 100 entries to the list is tabu- lated below: Materials IBM cards ( 800) Print-out paper ( 8 sets) IBM 1620 computer rental ( 4 minutes) Costs $ .80 + freight .32 + freight 1.68 $ 2.80 + freight There was no charge for the use of the keypunch (IBM 026), sorter (IBM 082), and Accounting Machine (IBM 407), nor was the Library charged by the computer center persom:iel who wrote the program. For the first 100 items, all cards were duplicated in production as insurance against destruction (thus the card expense itemized above was doubled). The duplicate deck was later eliminated because the time spent in dupli- cating and interpreting these cards was greater than that required to re- punch the deck from the list entries. Storage space was available without cost, and no new storage equipment was purchased. The KWIC program was written so that keyword cards were made for all words in the title field except listed exceptions, single letters and in- tegers. It seemed at the inception of the project that such a program, which allowed untrained assistants to punch cards with a minimum of difficulty, was preferable to one that involved tagged keywords. However, ' the necessary filing and removal of cross references subsequently proved an inconvenience when the list was updated and reprinted. KWIC Index 145 DISCUSSION The productivity of government publishers has directed so much mate- rial into the library that ordinary procedures have been overtaxed. Card catalog entries, for example, have become tardy, cumbersome, and in- comprehensible to the Library user and expensive for the Library. The KWIC list was designed as a substitute; however, it was useful only where the subject of a publication had been fairly reflected by its title. The possibility of incorporating descriptors in the title field of the list was considered, but rejected in the interests of speed and efficiency. The list depended upon standard reference sources for more complete subject and analytic cataloging. Most often used in the case of United States publica- tions were the Superintendent of Documents Monthly Catalog (9) and its auxiliaries such as the Bureau of the Census Catalog ( 10). Other sources included: Wilson, Popular Names (11), the Readers Guide, the Social Science and Humanities Index, the Business Periodicals Index, the Index to Legal Periodicals, and the Commerce Clearing House Index. For the United Nations publications, greater use was made of the trade publications such as the Periodic Check List (formerly the Monthly Sales Bulletin), the International Reporter, the UNESCO Catalogue, and the Publishers Trade List Annual section for "UNESCO." The KWIC index also was limited in that it covered only documents in the Library's collection. While the user was convenienced by the ready availability of all items listed, he was obliged to consult reference sources for other existing documents. The new tool had advantages similar to book catalogs in terms of space saving and ease of duplicating. Although originally only three copies were made, the possibility of duplication and distribution of this list to inter- ested academic departments had been considered. It was also intended that new punched cards would be used to produce lists of new acces- sions, which would be duplicated and circulated. The problem of updat- ing involved reprinting of part two, the KWIC index, after previous inter-alphabetizing of entries. Part one, however, was not reprinted as new entries were added successively. Corrections were made by dupli- cating parts of cards and punching where necessary. The availability and cun-entness of such a list would presumably have encouraged the faculty and students to make greater use of these materials, and eliminated dupli- cation of purchase orders. A major drawback to the list was that its arrangement, by accession munbers, bore no particular logic. A classification number an-angement would have been more meaningful to the reader; it would also have served as a shelf list and provided material for subject holdings lists. However, the IBM cards were not so arranged because neither the mechanical nor manual sorting of multi-digit and letter numbers was practical. Arrange- ment by Superintendent of Documents numbers was employed at North- 146 Journal of Library Automation Vol. 2/ 3 September, 1969 eastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, and proved so inadequate that the Librarian added subject headings to documents punched cards. This extra time-consuming step, plus the need to manually file punched cards, influenced the author to abandon shelf list order. A second difficulty involved in the KWIC project was the dependence of the Library upon use of equipment owned by another agency. It was conceivable that alterations in the equipment, policies or personnel of the University Computer Center could enforce changes on the Library's listing procedure. This evaluation of the KWIC index excluded considerations of the sepa- ration of the Documents and Reference Departments. This matter has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere ( 12) . Two other subjective consid- erations appeared during the first year of operation. Most serious was the estrangement between Documents and Reference Personnel. Since both Departments served the public, and their material was distinguished only by publisher, each staff relied extensively upon the other. Cooperation and acquaintance with library material was difficult to maintain in two separate Departments. Because Documents staff were primarily public service personnel, their extensive involvement in technical processes was not an efficient use of staff expertise. On the other hand, complete respon- sibility for this portion of library holdings insured that the staff became thoroughly acquainted with the collection and were better able to serve the public. CONCLUSION The KWIC index to government publications at Brandeis is difficult to evaluate before the tests of time and use have been made. The system was suitable for the University Library in that it was frequently consulted by the same, relatively sophisticated, users who were eager to familiarize themselves with library material. The KWIC list itself emphasized cur- rentness and flexibility at the expense of detailed subject access. This system attempted to utilize a potential goldmine of material without major investment or upheaval in the Library. It has been sufficiently resilient to withstand a complete change of Department personnel and was suc- cessful enough so that the possibility of expansion is being considered. NOTE This report described the Documents Department as it functioned at its inception in September, 1967. The author left Brandeis Universityin June of 1968. The scope of the Documents list was changed in September 1968 to include all United States and United Nations publications ac- quired by the library. Any inquiries about the present system should be directed to the current Documents Librarian: Mr. Michael Abaray, Gold- farb Library, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02154. KWIC Index 147 REFERENCES 1. "Report on the Sixty-Ninth Meeting of the Association of Research Libraries, New Orleans, La. 1/8/67," LC Information Bulletin, 26 (January 26, 1967), 70. 2. Kane, Rita: "The Future Lies Ahead: the Documents Depository Li- brary of Tomorrow," Library Journal, 92 (November 1, 1967), 3971- 3973. 3. Morehead, Joe: "United States Government Documents-A Mazeway Miscellany," RQ, 8 (Fall1968), 47-50. 4. Janda, Kenneth ed.: "Advances in Information Retrieval in the Social Sciences," American Behavioral Scientist, 10 (January and February 1967). 5. Sternberg, V. A.: "Miles of Information by the Inch at the Library of the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, Westinghouse Electric Cor- poration," Pennsylvania Library Association Bulletin, 22 (May 1967), 189-194. 6. Lawson, Constance : "Report Documentation at Texas Instruments, In- corporated," Special Libraries Association, Texas Chapter Bulletin, 15, (February 1964), 14-17. 7. Minton, Ann: "Document Retrieval Based on Keyword Concept," Special Libraries Association, Texas Chapter Bulletin, 15 (February 1964)' 8-10. 8. Bauer, C. B.: "Practical Application of Automation in a Scientific In- formation Center-A Case Study," Special Libraries, 55 (March 1964), 137-142. 9. United States. Superintendent of Documents: Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (Washington : Government Printing Office, 1895- ) . 10. U. S. Bureau of the Census : Bureau of the Census Catalog ('Wash- ington: Government Printing Office, 1945- ). 11. Wilson, Donald F. and William P. Kilroy, comps.: Popular Names of United States Government Reports, a Catalog (Washington: Govern- ment Printing Office, 1966). 12. Shaw, Thomas Shuler, ed.: "Federal, State and Local Government Publications," Library Trends, 15 (July 1966), 3-194.