APPLICATION OF THE UNITERM SYSTEM AND THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS TO A SPECIAL LIBRARY FILE

The best probable way is presented for indicating the depth of a detailed analysis possible with a Uniterm system, as contrasted with systems that make a card or cards for each item. A comparison is made of the 1148 punching positions in the total system employed by the Prevention of Deterioration Center PDC with the fact that for the first 500 reports indexed out of the same group of reports indexed by PDC a 3000-term Uniterm vocabulary was generated which included specific materials, organisms, and chemicals. The average assignment of Unitermsitem was 25. More than the average annual load of PDC was indexed in a few months. Results indicated that it is practically impossible to make a manual dictionary of associations. The complexity of memory and associative trails grows so rapidly that only a system of mechanical, optical, or electronic channels or relays can perform the proper manipulations and present the proper disclosures.