Symposium on Abstracting and Indexing
Chemical & Engineering News · 1952
THE need for abstracting scientific writings arose in the 17th century with the appearance of the first scientific journal. As the labyrinth of scientific publications has become increasingly complex, so have the problems of abstracting. Many different aspects of these problems were discussed in nine papers presented before the Division of Chemical Literature at the 120th national meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in Boston, April 1951. Five additional papers on "The Company Abstract Bulletin" were presented at the Buffalo session of the 121st national meeting, March 1952. All seemed to agree that abstracting is a mixed blessing and evil to those using abstracts and a chore and challenge to those engaged in preparing them. Perhaps the ultimate will be satisfactory operation of an organization which can act as liaison between all abstracting services. This millenium is far off. There is not only no such organization; there is not even a complete list ...