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The speaker explained that the stimulus for the SRC proposal came partially from the UNISIST study report in which the working group responsible for subject specification had drawn attention to the need for better tools for the control and conversion of information retrieval languages, such as UDC and to the need for further study and experiments. The working group had already considered a study undertaken at their request by a team from the Aslib Research Department under Mr B. C. Vickery in which, however, only the term content of different schemes, mainly in the English language and including UDC, were compared. When this investigation was carried out in 1969, only twenty of the expected one hundred parts of the English Full edition were available, whereas now there are eighty. Even so, UDC was less defective (including over 80 per cent) in content of terms than the other major general schemes of classification studied, i.e. BC, CC and DDC. The study also included a comparison between the classificatory relations used in some major thesauri, i.e. the EJC/TEST, NLM/MeSH and EURATOM thesaurus, with those used in the general classifications already mentioned. As far as UDC was concerned, this did not compare as favourably as more recent studies by Kara, Öhman and Ölivecrona, and Stueart, and Wellisch. This was partly because the Aslib study did not take into account the well‐known synthetic characteristics of UDC, i.e. the use of colon combinations and of common and special auxiliary subdivisions. He maintained that FID should not have embarked upon a programme of radical revision based upon the proposals for an SRC (see Aslib Proc., Vol. 24, no. 4, April 1972, p. 222–5) because:

The group has continued to meet regularly since the publication of the last bulletin and has welcomed a number of new members and visitors from both home and overseas. Many members who joined at the beginning or very early on in the Group's history still attend regularly, but several long‐standing members have also left, or ceased active participation, in the period under review. Towards the end of 1972 Mr Wells relinquished the chairmanship of the Group, due to pressure of work, and his place was taken by Mr Mills. Another departure, and one that robbed the Group of one of its most active and forceful members, was that of Jason Farradane. He left the country in 1974, and the Group presented him with a book as a memento of many enjoyable and provocative discussions stimulated by his presence at the meetings which he unfailingly attended. It was with great pleasure that he was welcomed back to a meeting while he was visiting this country in January 1976.

In this paper we will try to reach a twofold goal. First we will give an analysis of mathematical terminology in order to give practical hints for assigning subject headings to a book. Secondly, we will propose a method which could be helpful for the subject analysis of a given document. The main basis for this method is the connection between a special classification scheme, the Subject Classification Scheme of the American Mathematical Society, and the task of indexing books by subject headings. Examples of this method are given, and they are compared with Library of Congress Subject Headings and PRECIS entries. With both the study of the terminology and the proposed method, it should be possible to increase quality and consistency of the library indexing results for mathematical books. A thesaurus for mathematics with entries along the lines of the PRECIS rules and connected with the subject classification scheme of the American Mathematical Society, would be desirable, as would the printing of appropriate classification data, assigned to them by their authors, inside the books.

Reasons are given for a proposed new universal decimal classification obtained by re‐allocating the subject fields of the UDC main classes according to present day views, state of knowledge, and priorities, and to subdivide these main classes only by subfields of subject fields. The specific facets of each field should be represented by a uniform array of special auxiliaries attached to the fields through the technique of interrupted subdivision. These should express the following categories: (1) Theory, (2) Objects, (3) Processes, (4) Attributes, (6) Order, organization, (7) Relation, (8) Determination, (9) Evaluation ((5) is left free for the moment). Proposals for further simplification of the scheme are outlined regarding the general categories, the symbols used, and the rules for syntagmatic organization, taking into account the implications of computer technology. Possible changes in the layout and editions of such a new classification are discussed.

The background to the Liverpool Polytechnic study of indexer reactions to the PRECIS indexing system and the methodology of the study are described. Some of the findings are discussed, special attention being given to points which some indexers regarded as advantages and others as disadvantages; the alleged labour‐intensiveness of PRECIS; the British Library and PRECIS; and the impact of PRECIS on the British library community. A thesaurus of terms used in the British Library PRECIS indexes is needed, and some consideration should be given to the possible simplification of PRECIS or modification to suit the needs of different users. Feedback from users of PRECIS indexes is required.

Information science, or informatics, has almost from its beginnings been characterized by a seemingly inordinate self‐consciousness, exemplified by concern with its status vis‐à‐vis other disciplines, with its status as a science, and with the significance of its objects of investigation and the goals of that investigation. The bibliography by Port, and the survey by Wellisch, of definitions of information science, and the historical survey by Harmon, all give substantial evidence of this self‐consciousness. Some aspects of this attitude are of course due to the social and political problems facing any new discipline (or field of investigation aspiring to such status), such as indifference or hostility from the established academic community, the fight for a share of limited research and development funds, the inferiority complex associated with having no well‐defined methods of investigation in a social situation which requires them for acceptance, and so on. Other aspects of this self‐consciousness may, however, be more related to strictly internal, ‘scientific’ concerns; that is, to problems within the theoretical structure of information science which must be solved in order for substantial progress in solving its practical problems to be made. This review surveys contributions to one such problem: the question of a suitable concept of information for information science.

Water Planning for Israel, Ltd is the Israeli Government's central planning agency for countrywide projects of irrigation, drainage and water power. Its Technical Library serves the staff of engineers and technicians of the organization itself as well as technologists in other governmental, public and private institutions concerned with all aspects of hydrology and hydraulic engineering. The library's stock consists of about ten thousand books and bound volumes of periodicals, several thousand pamphlets and internal technical reports, and has a collection of articles and theses on microfilm; about two hundred periodicals and serials are taken currently.

The issue of language as a barrier to the work of librarians in post‐war Britain was pinpointed in the report of the Royal Society's Scientific Information Conference in 1948. Concerning the work of information officers, it stated:

This paper begins with a discussion on the need for book indexes and highlights their benefits. Indexes to symposia and reports are considered. Reasons for indexless books are offered and suggestions and guidelines given for deciding whether or not a publication should have an index. Indexes for educational books are discussed. In the corporate environment indexes are recommended for brochures, training and product manuals. An evaluation is made of the benefits and qualities of competent book indexes. Types of indexes and published literature are reviewed together with the role and contribution of the Society of Indexers for training and supply of indexers to the information and publishing industries. The paper concludes with suggestions on search techniques for making best use of indexes.