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Before documentation became his primary interest, Robert Fairthorne would conventionally have been described as an applied mathematician. Such a description, however, does not give a true indication of his special abilities. He is, in fact, dedicated to the task of bringing to science and engineering the benefits of mathematics in all its forms, and to him such classifications as ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ were mere irrelevancies.

The papers by Robert A. Fairthorne are always both stimulating and challenging to me. Their insights and their obscurities are fascinating. While my own intellectual works have usually been quite separate from his, we have frequently shared a concern with many of the same topics in the principles of information work. These have included such topics as the mathematical basis of classification, applications of mathematical lattice theory, insights from Shannon's signalling theory (habitually misnamed ‘information theory’), and the delegation of retrieval.

Since 1960, and especially during the past three years, many papers have appeared about particular manifestations and applications of a certain class of empirical laws to a field that may be labelled conveniently ‘Bibliometrics’. This term, resuscitated by Alan Pritchard (see page 348), denotes, in my paraphrase, quantitative treatment of the properties of recorded discourse and behaviour appertaining to it.

Aims to build on the work of Buckland and Hindle regarding statistical distribution as applied to the field of bibliometrics, particularly the use of empirical laws.

Gives examples of hyperbolic distributions that have a bearing on the bibliometric application, and discusses the characteristics of hyperbolic distributions and the Bradford distribution.

Hyperbolic distributions are the inevitable result of combinatorial necessity and a tendency to short‐term rational behaviour.

Supports Bradford's conclusion from his law, i.e. that to know about one's speciality, one must go outside it.

The purpose of this paper is to present the initial relationship between the Classification Research Group (CRG) and the Center for Documentation and Communication Research (CDCR) and how this relationship changed between 1952 and 1970. The theory of normative behavior and its concepts of worldviews, social norms, social types, and information behavior are used to characterize the relationship between the small worlds of the two groups with the intent of understanding the gap between early classification research and information retrieval (IR) research.

This is a mixed method analysis of two groups as evidenced in published artifacts by and about their work. A thorough review of historical literature about the groups as well as their own published works was employed and an author co-citation analysis was used to characterize the conceptual similarities and differences of the two groups of researchers.

The CRG focused on fundamental principles to aid classification and retrieval of information. The CDCR were more inclined to develop practical methods of retrieval without benefit of good theoretical foundations. The CRG began it work under the contention that the general classification schemes at the time were inadequate for the developing IR mechanisms. The CDCR rejected the classification schemes of the times and focused on developing punch card mechanisms and processes that were generously funded by both government and corporate funding.

This paper provides a unique historical analysis of two groups of influential researchers in the field of library and information science.

Most of us knew Leo Jolley at Aslib or through his writings only, so we are grateful to Kevin Jones for telling us of his career. We are not surprised, because Jolley's own presentations made it clear that they arose from long experience and deep thinking. Here lies my difficulty. It is my task to outline his theory the of holotheme, but no one could do it better than he nor, indeed, as well. So I will recommend to you his contribution in absentia to the Ottawa Conference of 1971. Admittedly his writings are concentrated. He had what is sometimes called the mathematician's approach to prose. The writing is coherent, but every sentence is meant to mean something and something different. This leads to clarity, but it does demand attention and thought. His style certainly sharpens his arguments and the impact of his apt and often witty examples. I will indicate in what field of endeavour his work lies, and then go over the salient features of his grand design.

To test is not to evaluate. Tests reveal to what extend a retrieval system performs in some specific way; what value is or should he put upon such performance is another matter altogether. Clearly one should test only such performance as is necessary to the aim of the system, because one cannot test everything. Thus we must first decide what is the aim of the system, then test to find how well it achieves this aim. These matters can be examined and discussed usefully without going into profound matters such as man's place in the universe, the nature of unrecorded knowledge, the library's place in next year's budget, or whether some individual user's knowledge is changed to his individual satisfaction.

I am not sure whether I was asked to give this paper as an innovator, a researcher and developer, or a user. If I claim to have some elements of all three, this presumably exonerates me from having to be expert at any one of them. I should perhaps say that I see all three as closely interlinked: for me, at any rate, all worthwhile library and information research has arisen out of strictly practical problems, which present knowledge is inadequate to solve; and these problems occur to one as a librarian trying to give an adequate service within various economic, social and political constraints—the definition of an adequate service being arrived at by seeing the library through the consumer's eyes, and by using it oneself as a consumer.

With preceding chapters setting the stage, this one will provide a view of Brian C. Vickery's accomplishments from the vantage point of several thousand miles. His career in information science has been an impressive one. What has made it so? To answer that question, it is first necessary to examine his research accomplishments, then their impact, which has spread farther than might have been anticipated at the time of their publication.

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