32 - The scientist and engineer and their need for information

Summary

Introduction

A variety of factors have affected the development of science and technology libraries over the past century and a half. The most important have been related to the growth in the number of publications appearing and in the number of people wishing to read them. Complaints about the proliferation of publications were heard well before the nineteenth century, but it was scientists in that century who had most reason for concern. Scientific knowledge was agreed to be cumulative. New research must always be built on the basis of what had gone before. This implied absorbing the relevant information in the literature before adding one's own contribution. By the nineteenth century, the growing number of scientific publications was making this ideal unattainable. Even so conscientious a researcher as Faraday was driven to complain: ‘It is certainly impossible for any person who wishes to devote a portion of his time to chemical experiment, to read all the books and papers that are published in connection with his pursuit.’

It became apparent during the nineteenth century that scientists' demands on libraries differed from those of most other readers. In good part, this was due to their emphasis on reading journals. Another difference was that scientists often required good subject-based catalogues, rather than the customary author-based catalogues. Moreover, the flood of publications meant that scientists had to become increasingly specialised in their interests in order to keep up with the research front. Libraries serving scientists, correspondingly, had either to become large, or to specialise. Inevitably, the typical library catering for scientists in the twentieth century has concentrated on acquiring those titles most required by its clientele.