Historical Note: Shining Palaces, Shifting Sands: National Information Systems

This article discusses post-Sputnik national information systems under three major headings: Shifting Sands, the false assumptions that the Soviets were first in space because of the superiority of their educational system and their scientific and technical information system, VINITI; The Shining Palaces lists as appendixes 31 reports since 1958 which propose various forms of a national information system, and analyzes 30 National Plans. The author does not presume to favor any of them; in Solid Rock--The Ugly Houses the author lists in an appendix the involvement of the federal government with scientific and technical information since the first patent act of 1709, and discusses what he thinks should be done for the users of a national system, the role of technical documentary reports, project information systems and scientific journals. The Summary and Conclusions starts with three quotations, written 22 years apart, which show that nothing has changed in over two decades. In a Personal Note the author summarizes his forty year career as an information scientist.