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THE SELECTION AN0 ASSIGNMENT O F ABSTRACTING RESPONSlBl L l T l E S

E l l i s A. P i e r c e SOUTH DAKOTA STATE COLLEGE

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The select ion and assignment of abatracting responsibi l i t ies pre- senta many complex problems. Such fac tors aa the acquisit ion of the various publications, the condeneatton of highly technical information by experts i n narrow 8ubJects f ie lds , and the establishment of schedulee f o r t h e reasonably prompt appearance of t h e abstracts are some of the most common. problem which f i t s i n t o t h i s f i e l d is the eeouring of the f inanc ia l backing neceesazy f o r the publiehing of the aesembled abstracts . is perhapa the most d i f f i c u l t of' a l l , and a recommendation for i t s solution w i l l appear later.

Another

T h i s lat ter problem

I n order t o inaure canplete and accurate abstracting of a l l t h e l i t e r a t u r e appearing i n the periodicala l i a t e d i n an earlier report , surveys of periodicals ava i l ab i l i t y and individual i n t e re s t must be made. These sur- veys w i l l furnish information on the names of the periodicals passing Over the desks of a l l meats men, the phase of meats research i n which the reporting individuals are most interested, and the number of personnel available f o r ab- s t rac t ing details. It l e thought t h a t the information obtained from t h i s survey w i l l provide an accurate and ef f ic ien t means f o r t he al locat ion of the various periodicals t o the individuals who w i l l be doine; the abstracting. I n th i s connection, each individual member of the research review committee W i l l be aesigned several periodicals t o abstract and a l l other meats men w i l l be assigned abstracting dut ies i n accordance wi th the ava i l ab i l i t y of periodicals. It may be that aome individuals w i l l receive more than t h e i r fa i r share of ab- s t rac t ing assignments because of differences i n the circulat ion of periodicals. This inequality of responeibi l i ty w i l l be equalized by assigning other Jobs t o those individuals who may not have their share of abstracting aseignments.

Abatracte dealing with each of the many phases of the meats work such as hietological studies, chemical and physical analyses, freezing and storage studies, curing and smoking, lard and rancidity, bacteriological, e tc . , w i l l be aseenibled and c lass i f ied according t o the methods described i n an earlier report. I n general, each member of the research review committee w i l l have the responsibi l i ty of assembling a l l the abst13GtB of one par t icu lar phaee of meats research work and forwarding these abstracts as a group t o the publiehing agency. t e r i a l may be asaigned t o the same individual.

I n some instances, two phase8 or claeses of subject ma-

After determining t h e ava i l ab i l i t y of the various perlodicala, spe- c i f i c periodicals w i l l be aeslgned t o each member of the review conrmlttee for abstracting. It w i l l be his responsibi l i ty t o abstract a l l the meats l i tera- ture as soon a8 possible and forward the cmpleted abetracte t o the member of the committee responsible f o r the indexing and assemblance of that par t icu lar subJect f i e l d of the meats work.

After the abs t rac ts have been aesembled and indexed, they w i l l be forwarded t o the publishing agency. sponsibi l i ty requires financial backing, it is suggested tha t the National Livestock and Meat Board be approached with a view toward securiqj t he i r sup- port i n publishing of the abstracts . the abstracts should be published on a aemi-annual basis and tha t the number

Since t h i s portion of the abatracting re-

It la t h e thought of this wr i t e r that

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published be l e f t t o the discretion of the research review cormnittee. Haw- ever, t h i s number should 'be a t least the same as f o r the circulat ion of the report of the Annual Conference.

I n summary, the select ion and assignment of abstracting reeponsi- b i l i t i e e w i l l be as follows:

1.

2 .

3.

4 .

All abstracting w i l l be done primarily by members of the re- search review committee and other meats men having access t o the various publications.

Aaeigment of periodicals w i l l be made i n accordance with the ava i lab i l i ty of the different publications t o the members of the committee and other meats men.

Members of the review committee w i l l be assigned as indexers and assemblers of the abstracts , and w i l l be reaponsible for forwarding the abstract8 t o the publishing agency.

It I s proposed tha t the abstracts be published aemi-annually and that t h e National Livestock and Meat Board be so l ic i ted f o r the f inanc ia l backing and publication.

CHIlIRMAN WANDERSTOCK: I hope tha t you did not get scared by h i s proposal. Chairman of the varioue committees, and asked if they would be w i l l i n g t o do some abs t r ac t iw . Since we did not get any violent refusals, we assume tha t maybe some of the r e s t of you w i l l be will ing t o help i n t h i s abstracting job.

We sent a l e t t e r t o the Executive Committee and t o the

If we are going t o abstract more than one hundred publica- tione, plus the material publiahed by the s ta t ions; the United States Department of Agriculture; the American Meat Ins t i t u t e ; the National Live Stock and Meat Board and the packing companies, it w i l l be qui te a job, and w e w i l l need more help than the cclmmittee can furnieh.

We w i l l need your help. Your individual burden w i l l not be great, we promise you.

We a re very fortunate i n our Committee i n having a young man who has gone through t h i s experience tha t Nvey Mackintoeh speaks about, t he Review Reports of the Co-operative Meat Investigations Group.

This gentleman was an abstracter. He was a super abatracter, I should say, becauee he did the greatest ahare of the work i n abstract- ing the material which appears in the publicatione of that Co-operative Group, and we have asked him t o lead the discussion f o r our Committee.

Of course, you a l l know I am epeaking about Professor William J. Loeffel of Nebrash.

MR. LOEFFEL: M r . Chalrman, and lad ies and gentlemen.

Ed MarGerum showed the need f o r the abetracting service. Voegeli haa pointed aut that a t least 109 publications not including ex- periment e ta t ion publicatlone, have a r t i c l e e on meat and I m i g h t say that I noted the absence i n the report of women'e publications, which frequently carry a r t i c l e e on the we and preparation of meat, which prob- a b l y should be included.

M i s s Tucker has indicated tha t there are a t leaat f if ty-one ex- periment etations, many of which w i l l produce meat, o r produce experi- mental work on meat, and tha t there are many di f fe ren t typee of pub'lica- t ione publiehed by theee various etatione.

Tom Blumer haa suggeeted two typea of abetracte. I l i k e par- t i cu l a r ly h i e emphasie on the fact tha t t he abetract is not meant t o be a eubat i tute f o r the or iginal data, but should be ueed ae a clue t o the or iginal publioRtione which you may want t o read.

Kernp b e proposed a r a the r elaborate c lass i f ica t ion propoeal. It cer ta inly looke all- lnclueive, and I hope tha t it can be followed.

Jerry, reporting on Meyer'o paper, has reported method8 of' in- dexing and croee-indexing, and I l i k e par t icu lar ly h i s proposal of the key oerde which eeem t o me R very time-saving mesne of get t ing t o these abetracte.

Pierce has covered t h e f inancial backing which is necessary, and the help needed t o abetract the work, an& euggeeted tha t publicstione be on a eemi-annual bnela .

ReeeRrch, t o be worth anything a t a l l , must be organized, and must be readi ly accessible, and t h i e abetracting eervice, if it i s t o mean anything a t all, muet b e accurate.

I had the miafortune, with several others who are here today, t o be on the Meat Review Committee. that, and it wae qui te a chore. date, t o t a l ing f i v e volumes.

We have a l l eerved our spe l l on Three reviews have been published t o

They were publiehed by the National Live Stock and Meat Board, and i n each caae, only 100 copiea were printed. volume, and a t othere i n two volumee. did not cover the coet of publiehing. publication t o a considerable extent. eay t h a t I have hrtd l e t t e r e f r o m a l l over t he world from people who have been t rying t o buy theee meat reviews. and w e have not had enough t o take care of the demand.

A t t i m e s it was a s ingle Each edi t ion sold f o r $10, which The Meat Board eubeidized this It w a 8 mltneographed, and I might

They want them for t h e i r l ibrary,

The members of the Old Review Committee have had several 88s- eione with Mr. Flynn, Editor of Biological Abetracte, and M r . Flynn pro- posed two ways of handling t h i e abetracting service.

F i r e t , he euggeeted enlarging one of two sections of the Biological Abetracte. The f irst eectlnn of which deala with animal science, and put t ing meat abetracte i n tha t par t icu lar section. another section, on Hwan Nutrition, under which t h i s m e a t material might be file&.

There i s

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The second a l te rna t ive which he propoeed t o ue w&s se t t ing up a new section on Meat Technologg.

It eeemed t o the Camittee thst the eimgler thing wae t o use the or iginal plan of enlarging one of the two exieting sections. happened t o be lese expensive, and i f it worked very well, we could p r in t 8 section on Meat Technology.

It

This conference, with Mr. Flynn, wae held eeveral years ago. k t that time, he estimated the cost of the f i r e t plan, the lees expen- s i v e one, at $1,500 a yeax, provided we would furnish the abstractere. That wae the publication coat.

The d i f f i cu l ty we ran in to w a s securing the funde. i t e d a number of our good fr iends i n the induatry, but were unable t o obtain enough t o finance the abstracting.

We sol ic-

We had a policy i n the old Co-operative Investigation prod- e c t that everyone who submitted a paper ehould aubmit an abetract . I think that many of the ec i en t i f i c journal8 require an abetract with every a r t i c l e you aubmit, but t o the beet of my knowledge, none of the meat researchere ever eubmitted an abetract t o the old Meat Review Com- mittee. these abstracts .

It. would simplify the work very much i f the Committee has

Incidentally, get t i - back t o these mul t l l l th cards, we have a number of men on our staff who go through the abstracts they want copied, and turn them mer t o our stenographic staff t o be copied. This method seems too time-coneuming.

We can put them on cards and handle them i n the way suggeeted. To begin with, it would save a l l of that unnecessary c l e r i ca l work when they a r e publiehed i n paper fom.

There are eeveral new ways of dis t r ibut ing t h i e material t h a t I think we should give thought to. One i e the mult i l i th , which makea a very, very f l n e copy--much better than the old mimeograph. They take a photograph, a8 I underatand it, make an etching, which l e then ueed a8 the p l a t e t o pr in t , and it l e not neceesary t o set up type, so it does eave a l o t of expenae.

Another method I would l i k e t o mention j u s t br ief ly , i s the u8e of microf ilme .

Most of our l i b ra r i ee have grown t o the point where the fo lks a re wondering what they a r e going t o do with the books and periodicals they a r e rpccumulating. booke, and put them on microfilm, and atore i n a cracker box. wondering if there m i g h t not be a good poesibi l i ty of mklng negatives of these abstracte, and putting them on microfilm f o r future use. think that could be done very cheaply.

They t e l l me they can take a whole shelf of I am

I

I think most of our inet i tut ione have microfilm readere where we can read th i a material, and it WQuld not take a l o t of room.

219.

The l ib r s r i an from the Department of A@culture was a t our in- a t i t u t ion and to ld us t h a t they were working on a machine which would put a l l of t h i e material on microfilm. the key, m n the film through the machine, and it w i l l photograph the abstracte, I think at t e n thouaand a minute. apeed.

They have a key on it. They eet

It is almost unbelievable

If you photograph the abatracte which deal with a par t icu lar eubject, you can ge t t ha t microfilm f o r uae in your ins t i tu t ion .

I am supposed t o lead t h l a diacueeion. A l l r ight , the floor l a youra.

MR. MACKINTOSH: Haw many ins t i tu t ions do we have represented?

MR. MARGERUM: Thirty-one a re l isted.

MR. LOEFFEL: We have one problem a a far as the Review Com- mittee is concerned. instance, I got a few from Poland. I can not read Polieh, myaelf, eo I aent them on t o Jerry, and I do not know when he l a going t o ge t those abstracted.

I get repr in ts from fr iends i n foreign lands. For

MR. BRADY: I a t h i s report of the Research Review Committee proposed f i n a l sheet on c lass i f ica t ion of subject matter?

MR. ICEMP: No. If there a r e any suggestions, additions, o r deletione you want t o make, they are perfectly i n order.

MR, LOEFFEL: I w i l l re turn the b a l l t o you.

CHAIRMAN WANDERSTOCK: I would l i k e t o conclude by asking you i f you have any euggeetians regarding any of these things, please aend them t o me. l i k e t o ge t under w a y .

We would l i k e t o receive your euggeatione, because we would

Do you l i k e the card ayetem of abstracting? (Definitely). Haw many of you would l i k e t o see the abstracts on these cards? (Ye8).

How many would l i k e them on eheeta i n the form of a book? No- body. No one, apparently.

Do you think tha t Tom Blumer hae a pre t ty good abstract form i n t h i e second abstract?

(There were c r i e s of "yes.")

MR. MACMNTOSH: I do not know whether th ie Committee needs any authority o r not, but I ehould l i ke t o Bee them given authority t o pro- ceed with determining what the coat would be t o have cards made and die- t r ibuted periodically, provided the abstractine: were dis t r ibuted among t h i e group.

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MR, LOEFFEL: I think there are many commercial organizations that would be interested i n t h i s abstracting eervice, and would be w i l l - ing t o pay a f e e f o r i t .

I think it would not be l imited to the members of the Confer- ence.

I think we should explore the posalbi l i%ies of' selling t h i s t o t h e refr igerat ion organizations, the locker wsociatione, the canning companiee, and other agencies that might b e interested i n it.

MR. MACKNl"TSH: I w a 8 thinking Or our group i n par t icular , as a nucleue of what it would coat each ina t i t u t ion t o subscribe t o it for the first year.

CHAIRMAN T W V E : Do you want t o take any act ion i n regard t o t h i e m t t e r , or are you simply going t o r e fe r it t o the Committee with parer t o get what information they can, and r e f e r it back t o the Executive C o m i t t e e?

MR. MACKINTOSH: I would l i k e t o eee them make acme progress before t h i s time next year.

MR. BRADY: I so move.

MR. PEARSON: I second the motion.

CHAIEMAN TCM3AVE: W i l l you state your motion, please.

MR. BRADY: I move that the Chairman of the Review Committee be authorized t o proceed and see what arrangeqenta can be made, and then confer with the Executive Committee before the decision is made.

CHAIFMAN TQWAVE: Thank you. Is that agreeable t o the se cond?

MB. PEARSON: Yes.

CHAIRMAN TCPIIHAVE: A l l thoee i n favor of t he motion, make it known by saying "aye"; opposed, "no." It is unanimously carried.

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