f
100
services. The Science and Technical Division of the Library of
Congress prepared for the National (American) Federation of
Science Abstracting and Indexing Services 'A Guide to the World's
Abstracting and Indexing Services in Science and Technology' (1963).
It lists some 1855 services arranged by titles A-Z, giving details
of frequency, date of starting, number of abstracts, arrangement,
price and subjects covered. The text is preceded by a hst of titles
classified by UDC and followed by country and subject indexes.
Of the 1855 titles, the USA are represented by 265, Great Britain
by 195, West Germany by 182, France by 147, and the Soviet
Union by 117.
1.2.7 'Index Bibliographicus' by T. Besterman (4th ed. 1959-
64), is another main source of information. Published by UNESCO,
the 1800 items are arranged by UDC and are accompanied by notes
on coverage, frequency, etc. Abstracting journals, serial biblio
graphies and reviews are listed, but the work is essentially selective.
Only half of the US items listed in the previous work are included.
It consists of two volumes. Volume 1 is devoted to Science and
Technology, Volume 2 to the Social Sciences. The International
Federation of Documentation (FID), has used both the preceding
works, as well as its own research in 1962-63, in compiling 'Abstract
ing Services in Science, Technology, Medicine, Agriculture, Social
Sciences and Humanities'It is intended that this list, published
in 1965, will be the starting point for a continuous survey of ab
stracting activity. Changes and new services will be reported in the
'FID News Bulletin'It is hoped to issue an updated list periodically.
The services are listed alphabetically by name. There is an alpha
betical subject index and a UDC subject index.
1.2.8 The importance of abstracting and indexing publications
is, of course, only a reflection of the value of the information
contained in periodicals. Many countries produce fairly com
prehensive lists of periodicals usually in relation to those held in
the major research libraries in their country. The most useful
guide to lists of periodicals is 'Guides to Scientific Periodicals
annotated bibliography'by M. J. Fowler, Library Association,
1966. This work is in three partsPart Iuniversal guides, is divided
into two sectionsgeneral lists covering all subjects and all coun
tries, and guides which cover all countries but are restricted to
specific subjects; Part II covers guides to the periodicals of inter
national organisations; Part III covers national and other regional
guides. The 'World List of Scientific Periodicals' consists of three
volumes listing periodicals concerned with the natural sciences and
technology published at some time during the period 1900 to i960.
It records some 60,000 serials and indicates some of the locations
in British libraries. The most widely used international guide is
'Ulrich's Periodicals Directory' published in New York and revised
every few years. The latest edition lists some 20,000 titles under
200 subject headings. Entries indicate whether the journal includes
