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Access in Britain to patent documents and information
World Potent Informorion, Prmted in Great Britain.
Vol 3, No. 1, pp. 9-12
1981 Pergamon
Access in Britain to Patent Documents Information Michael
W. Hill, Director, Science Reference
0172.2190:81/01 ooo9-04 $02.0010 lnternat~onal Inlormatmn Corp. @ 1981 CECjWIPO
and
Library, London
The requirements of the UK for patent depository libraries had not been reviewed for some considerable time. It had been noted that the number of readers in many of them was not high’ and this was reemphasised by a study of the use of patent libraries the Community throughout carried out by Directorate-General XIII of the Commission of the European Communities in 19772.
Summary The British Library recently issued a consultative paper inviting comment on the need for collections of patent literature and points of access to patent information outside London. As a result of the replies received, only seven centres are now supplied with patent documents, six of those on a more extensive basis than previously, while nineteen other libraries provide means of identifying required documents.
The British Library, which recognised the importance to industry and to applied research of the information revealed in patent documents, was therefore concerned to find out the extent to which and in what directions improvements were needed to make the nationwide provision and use of documents and information more effective. To this end a consultative paper3, drawn up with the substantial help and close cooperation of the Patent Office, the Department of Industry and the Department of Education and Science, was issued and made widely available.
Background Up to the time of the present enquiry, some thirteen public libraries in the UK have been supplied with sets of British patent specifications, and associated official journals, indexes, abridgements etc. One of these, Liverpool, also received an extensive range of foreign specifications while several of the others received US patents. There was also a patchwork of other foreign material. In addition a further thirteen libraries received just the journals, indexes and in most, but not all cases, the abridgements.
The Consultative
Paper
The paper outlined the way the present arrangement of patent library centres had arisen and its nature, and summarised such data as there was on the use of the resources provided both in terms of the numbers of readers actually visiting the libraries and in terms of the types of use made of the resources, not all of them needing visits (e.g. photocopy supply). To help structure the discussion, the following broad options were put forward : 1. a service provided solely by the Science Reference Library and Patent Office in London (i.e. no depository libraries outside London at all) ; 2. a national service of document and information supply provided by the national authorities but not based solely in London. This envisaged that a loan service might operate from the British Library Lending Division in Yorkshire whose reading room would also be open for consulting patent documents on site (the BLLD has, until now, not collected patent specifications; any requests it receives for copies of patents are
Responsibility for funding the supply of these documents lay with the British Library which paid HM Stationery Office for the material thus distributed. The reason for this is that the former Patent Office Library, always a major technical library in the UK, had in the 1960’s been developed into the major British research library for science and technology and had become in 1973 part of the British Library. The Science Reference Library, as this part of the British Library is now called, has always been the major centre for access to patent documents and patent information and had for many years acted as a focus for the other libraries and a channel of communication with the Patent Office. If, nevertheless, it should seem strange to those in other countries that such activities should cease to be part of the direct responsibilities of the Patent Office it may be interesting to note that in the United States, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) has recently acquired both the entire US patent data-base and a remit to develop the use of patent information in that country. 9
M. W. Hill
10
passed to the Science Reference Library) ; 3a. a substantial network of provincial depository libraries which would contain UK, EPO and PCT patent documents only (even before the consultative paper had been issued there had been representations for the provision of EPO applications to provincial libraries); 3b. a less extensive network of depository libraries, each of which would, however, be better endowed by containing foreign specifications as well as UK and EPO; 3c. a small number of the well endowed centres, as in 3b, supplemented by a further network of libraries providing searching tools and collaborating with the depository libraries to obtain the supply of any documents needed by their clients. A number of other topics were discussed or at least referred to in the consultative paper in order to stimulate comment. Among these were the relative balance of document loan versus photocopy supply, funding arrangements, level of professional assistance which should be available, the use of on-line as compared with conventional searching of printed publications and training. The replies
One hundred and twenty written replies were received. In addition several discussion meetings were held. If the number of replies seems small, it must also be borne in mind that eleven of them were from organizations representing substantial groups of users such as the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, the Confederation of British Industry, the Committee of Directors of Research Association and several Chambers of Commerce. On the other hand some respondents, while contributing very helpful views, were at pains to emphasise that their views were personal and should not be taken as necessarily being those of their employers. Discussions with the Aslib-CBI panel and the InterDepartmental Coordinating Committee for Scientific and Technical Information (ICCSTI) and, after the written replies had been received, with the British Library Advisory Council and the Science Reference Library Advisory Committee provided very helpful means of clarifying some of the issues and getting additional input to the study. Nevertheless, numeric data in the rest of this paper is based on the 120 written replies received plus, where indicated and relevant to the discussion, a further 37 letters which had earlier been received urging the deposit of sets of European Patent Applications in libraries outside London. Choice of options
Ninety-two replies addressed the question of the structure of a future library network. Of these, 63 referred specifically to the options listed in the paper: Option 1 was chosen by no respondents
Option Option
2 was chosen 3 was chosen
by 8 respondents. by 55 respondents.
If this result is very much as anticipated, it is still worthwhile to have confirmation that, even in a country as small as the UK with both good travel facilities from all parts to London and a reasonably good postal service, a single central service appeals to no-one and even an enhanced nationally provided service is preferred by only 13% of those who responded. When, however, one turns to the sub-options 3, the choice given is less clear-cut : 4 preferred sub-option 3a 26 preferred sub-option 3b 11 preferred sub-option 3c.
of option
It does appear that the respondents would prefer a small number of depository libraries which are well stocked with a wide range of patent documents to a more extensive network of depositories containing only UK and EPO documents (3a: (3b + 3c) = 4: 37). But the weight in favour of depositories only as against both depositories and information centres ((3a + 3b): 3c = 30 : 11) is not so substantial and was, not surprisingly, markedly dependent on the location of the respondent. A number of those replying linked their requirements with a request that a specific library should be one of those holding documents. Combining the replies to the survey with earlier requests for sets of EP Applications (and eliminating double counting), the three centres most frequently mentioned were Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, all centres of important industrial regions. Document
supply seroices
There was near unanimity of requirement for photocopy services from provincial patent libraries. The importance of the service from Leeds Public Library was quoted by many of the respondents : roughly half of those mentioning it used the collection there for no other purpose; indeed, several had other collections closer at hand. There was, however, sharp division of opinion among those who commented on the need or otherwise for loan services. On the one hand there were those who deemed an existing loan service valuable. Some quantified their use as about 50 documents a week, as 370 documents over a recent five month period, or simply as extensive. The specifications, it was said, were borrowed for examination and copies obtained of those of interest. On the other hand there were a number of vehement opponents of loan services, mainly on the grounds of inconvenience to other users (waiting periods of up to a month were mentioned), and lack of advantage over obtaining photocopies. It was interesting that the Library Association no longer advocated a loan service
Access in Britain
to Patent
as it had done a few years ago. Certainly the number of respondents advocating loan services did not appear to justify additional facilities. Search facilities Whereas some users commented that they needed patent documents, not in depth information on patents, and that the various search tools such as the indexes, abridgements and abstracts were quite inadequate for their purposes, others held very different views. One East Midlands firm of patent agents said that ‘the days of massive collections of documents are over and the specifications particularly can be disposed of’. Another company felt that the majority ofenquiries could be satisfactorily handled using the abridgements and indexes and there were a number of examples of other respondents who used only these facilities or the gazettes. The benefit of these replies is that they confirm that the range of uses to which patent libraries in the provinces are put is not intrinsically dissimilar from that in the Science Reference Library in London. It might otherwise have been imagined that only the very basic service of document supply was undertaken. Examination of the replies indicates that it would be worth exploring what additional use would result from an increased range of facilities. One use to which the sets of specifications are put, or at least each batch is put when it is received, is current awareness scanning. Only a very small number of people at present do this but I have observed it in three of the centres during visits. Funding There was little comment on this topic. The main one was that since the provincial libraries were supported by city rates (as local taxes are called) and yet the service for patents met the need of a clientele drawn from a much wider area, the resources should be provided free to the libraries. In fact, the cost of the libraries is only partially met from the city rates since all local authorities get a subvention from the Government called the Rate Support Grant which meets something of the order of 50 y0 of the cost running the city. It was noticed during studies that in other countries which have regional depository patent libraries, patent specifications were supplied free of charge or for only a very nominal fee (the US Patent and Trade Mark Office charges each library $50 per year for a set of printed patents). Professional help and training Again there was little comment but, since the majority of replies were by or on behalf of patent experts, this may not be surprising. The libraries themselves, however, did draw attention to the existence of other types of user who do need advice and guidance but who do not appear to have replied to the consultative paper directly. One library wrote ‘instruction . . has always
Documents
and Information
11
been offered to the relatively small number of private inventors and the more numerous students who wish to complete their own search, but always with the caveat that we are not professional patent agents, searchers or lawyers, In many cases, a reader is referred to a local patent agent for expert legal guidance’. And another ‘. . . in a library like this, visits from schools and colleges are a daily occurrence and the Patents Library and its facilities are always included. Also, it is a regular venue for polytechnic courses and the university students who are increasingly turning to patent information’. The point was also made that exploitation and further development of the use of patent collections is dependent on staff to do this and on their expertise and knowledge of the possibilities inherent in patent documents.
Conclusions The small number of replies makes the drawing of statistically valid conclusions impracticable. However, it does appear clear that: (i) a single centre in London for access to patents is not an acceptable option to the respondents; (ii) even this centre plus a national loan/photocopy service does not meet the requirements of more than a very few; (iii)means of access to patent documents or information about them at a number of centres outside London is required; (iv)nevertheless, judging by both the level of response in general and that referring to specific libraries, the number containing full sets of patent specifications need not be as high as hitherto (13); (v) document copying services from the provincial centres are a prized facility and should be encouraged ; (vi)the level of awareness of patents as an information resource and of the facilities for access in the country does appear to be very low other than among the professional patents community. Other _factors Since Denmark, France, Germany and the USA have patent depository libraries in a number of their major cities, the situation in each has been studied with interest. We have noted, for instance, that not all the patent libraries in other countries are associated with municipal public libraries. This is undoubtedly influenced by the different traditions of public librarianship but even in the USA, where the tradition is closely similar to that in Britain, about a third of the libraries are in other types of organization, notably academic institutions.
We have been particularly impressed by the training and regular up-dating given in France by INPI to the four ‘antennes’, so that the staff in them are fully versed in the latest developments in the patents world. We
12
M. W. Hill
also noted with interest the annual meeting of the US librarians organized by the US Patent and Trade Mark Office which similarly gives both. up-dating and a chance to exchange experience. Other features of the interplay between the Patent Office and the libraries in both France and the USA were noted with interest. German libraries too had much to offer by way of food for thought. Some, for example, do not hold all national patents but only those of particular subjects. Some had very close links indeed with certain industrial clients and three even charged admission fees, a thing unheard of in the other countries. Outcome After studying the replies to the consultative paper and after discussing the matter with the British Library Advisory Council, the Board of the British Library decided that it should try to encourage the development of an effective network of both patent depository libraries and information centres to facilitate the greater exploitation of this resource. To this end it agreed : 6) to fund the supply of British, European, PCT and United States patent documents to six libraries outside London, subject to their meeting certain conditions ; (ii) to require the libraries accepting the offer of these funded sets to agree to provide effective reference and photocopy services to all users ; (iii) to make the offer to the public libraries at Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle; funding the supply to these (iv) to continue libraries of any qther foreign sets of patent documents already being received under the former arrangements ; pending clarification of the situation there, to (v) continue to fund the supply of British and Irish patent documents to Belfast Public Library; to discuss with the other 19 patent libraries (vi) outside London the provision of local information services ;
(vii) to collaborate with the patent depository libraries and the information centres in publicising the availability and value of patent information and in developing expertise in exploiting the resource ; (viii) to collaborate in promoting the effective use of modern information retrieval and current awareness services in the patents field; and (ix) to undertake mutually any supplementary post-experience training necessary so that all libraries in the network can ensure that they have available staff fully able to implement the services ; into effect in the (x) to bring the new arrangements 1980-81 financial year and to review progress annually. In the event, the six libraries offered depository arrangements (iii above) have agreed to the terms and the other 19 libraries have agreed to provide a certain level, varying according to local circumstances, of information and other services to their users. Some postexperience training of the librarians has already started at the Science Reference Library and a first meeting of the librarians has been held in Birmingham. As this journal (World Patent Information) has repeatedly reiterated, information from patents is valuable. It remains to be seen whether the new arrangements will attract a greater level of use than the previous ones but certainly the British Library is making a considerable effort to ensure that better resources are provided in order to encourage greater exploitation.
References (1) R. M. Duchesne, Patent library service in the United Kingdom. Journal of Librarianship 2, 196-204; 1970. (2) Commission of the European Communities, Survey readership in public patent libraries. EUR 5831 (1977). (3) The British Library, Access to patent documents mation. The British Library Board (1979).
of
and infor-
Vol 3, No. 1, pp. 9-12
1981 Pergamon
Access in Britain to Patent Documents Information Michael
W. Hill, Director, Science Reference
0172.2190:81/01 ooo9-04 $02.0010 lnternat~onal Inlormatmn Corp. @ 1981 CECjWIPO
and
Library, London
The requirements of the UK for patent depository libraries had not been reviewed for some considerable time. It had been noted that the number of readers in many of them was not high’ and this was reemphasised by a study of the use of patent libraries the Community throughout carried out by Directorate-General XIII of the Commission of the European Communities in 19772.
Summary The British Library recently issued a consultative paper inviting comment on the need for collections of patent literature and points of access to patent information outside London. As a result of the replies received, only seven centres are now supplied with patent documents, six of those on a more extensive basis than previously, while nineteen other libraries provide means of identifying required documents.
The British Library, which recognised the importance to industry and to applied research of the information revealed in patent documents, was therefore concerned to find out the extent to which and in what directions improvements were needed to make the nationwide provision and use of documents and information more effective. To this end a consultative paper3, drawn up with the substantial help and close cooperation of the Patent Office, the Department of Industry and the Department of Education and Science, was issued and made widely available.
Background Up to the time of the present enquiry, some thirteen public libraries in the UK have been supplied with sets of British patent specifications, and associated official journals, indexes, abridgements etc. One of these, Liverpool, also received an extensive range of foreign specifications while several of the others received US patents. There was also a patchwork of other foreign material. In addition a further thirteen libraries received just the journals, indexes and in most, but not all cases, the abridgements.
The Consultative
Paper
The paper outlined the way the present arrangement of patent library centres had arisen and its nature, and summarised such data as there was on the use of the resources provided both in terms of the numbers of readers actually visiting the libraries and in terms of the types of use made of the resources, not all of them needing visits (e.g. photocopy supply). To help structure the discussion, the following broad options were put forward : 1. a service provided solely by the Science Reference Library and Patent Office in London (i.e. no depository libraries outside London at all) ; 2. a national service of document and information supply provided by the national authorities but not based solely in London. This envisaged that a loan service might operate from the British Library Lending Division in Yorkshire whose reading room would also be open for consulting patent documents on site (the BLLD has, until now, not collected patent specifications; any requests it receives for copies of patents are
Responsibility for funding the supply of these documents lay with the British Library which paid HM Stationery Office for the material thus distributed. The reason for this is that the former Patent Office Library, always a major technical library in the UK, had in the 1960’s been developed into the major British research library for science and technology and had become in 1973 part of the British Library. The Science Reference Library, as this part of the British Library is now called, has always been the major centre for access to patent documents and patent information and had for many years acted as a focus for the other libraries and a channel of communication with the Patent Office. If, nevertheless, it should seem strange to those in other countries that such activities should cease to be part of the direct responsibilities of the Patent Office it may be interesting to note that in the United States, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) has recently acquired both the entire US patent data-base and a remit to develop the use of patent information in that country. 9
M. W. Hill
10
passed to the Science Reference Library) ; 3a. a substantial network of provincial depository libraries which would contain UK, EPO and PCT patent documents only (even before the consultative paper had been issued there had been representations for the provision of EPO applications to provincial libraries); 3b. a less extensive network of depository libraries, each of which would, however, be better endowed by containing foreign specifications as well as UK and EPO; 3c. a small number of the well endowed centres, as in 3b, supplemented by a further network of libraries providing searching tools and collaborating with the depository libraries to obtain the supply of any documents needed by their clients. A number of other topics were discussed or at least referred to in the consultative paper in order to stimulate comment. Among these were the relative balance of document loan versus photocopy supply, funding arrangements, level of professional assistance which should be available, the use of on-line as compared with conventional searching of printed publications and training. The replies
One hundred and twenty written replies were received. In addition several discussion meetings were held. If the number of replies seems small, it must also be borne in mind that eleven of them were from organizations representing substantial groups of users such as the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, the Confederation of British Industry, the Committee of Directors of Research Association and several Chambers of Commerce. On the other hand some respondents, while contributing very helpful views, were at pains to emphasise that their views were personal and should not be taken as necessarily being those of their employers. Discussions with the Aslib-CBI panel and the InterDepartmental Coordinating Committee for Scientific and Technical Information (ICCSTI) and, after the written replies had been received, with the British Library Advisory Council and the Science Reference Library Advisory Committee provided very helpful means of clarifying some of the issues and getting additional input to the study. Nevertheless, numeric data in the rest of this paper is based on the 120 written replies received plus, where indicated and relevant to the discussion, a further 37 letters which had earlier been received urging the deposit of sets of European Patent Applications in libraries outside London. Choice of options
Ninety-two replies addressed the question of the structure of a future library network. Of these, 63 referred specifically to the options listed in the paper: Option 1 was chosen by no respondents
Option Option
2 was chosen 3 was chosen
by 8 respondents. by 55 respondents.
If this result is very much as anticipated, it is still worthwhile to have confirmation that, even in a country as small as the UK with both good travel facilities from all parts to London and a reasonably good postal service, a single central service appeals to no-one and even an enhanced nationally provided service is preferred by only 13% of those who responded. When, however, one turns to the sub-options 3, the choice given is less clear-cut : 4 preferred sub-option 3a 26 preferred sub-option 3b 11 preferred sub-option 3c.
of option
It does appear that the respondents would prefer a small number of depository libraries which are well stocked with a wide range of patent documents to a more extensive network of depositories containing only UK and EPO documents (3a: (3b + 3c) = 4: 37). But the weight in favour of depositories only as against both depositories and information centres ((3a + 3b): 3c = 30 : 11) is not so substantial and was, not surprisingly, markedly dependent on the location of the respondent. A number of those replying linked their requirements with a request that a specific library should be one of those holding documents. Combining the replies to the survey with earlier requests for sets of EP Applications (and eliminating double counting), the three centres most frequently mentioned were Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, all centres of important industrial regions. Document
supply seroices
There was near unanimity of requirement for photocopy services from provincial patent libraries. The importance of the service from Leeds Public Library was quoted by many of the respondents : roughly half of those mentioning it used the collection there for no other purpose; indeed, several had other collections closer at hand. There was, however, sharp division of opinion among those who commented on the need or otherwise for loan services. On the one hand there were those who deemed an existing loan service valuable. Some quantified their use as about 50 documents a week, as 370 documents over a recent five month period, or simply as extensive. The specifications, it was said, were borrowed for examination and copies obtained of those of interest. On the other hand there were a number of vehement opponents of loan services, mainly on the grounds of inconvenience to other users (waiting periods of up to a month were mentioned), and lack of advantage over obtaining photocopies. It was interesting that the Library Association no longer advocated a loan service
Access in Britain
to Patent
as it had done a few years ago. Certainly the number of respondents advocating loan services did not appear to justify additional facilities. Search facilities Whereas some users commented that they needed patent documents, not in depth information on patents, and that the various search tools such as the indexes, abridgements and abstracts were quite inadequate for their purposes, others held very different views. One East Midlands firm of patent agents said that ‘the days of massive collections of documents are over and the specifications particularly can be disposed of’. Another company felt that the majority ofenquiries could be satisfactorily handled using the abridgements and indexes and there were a number of examples of other respondents who used only these facilities or the gazettes. The benefit of these replies is that they confirm that the range of uses to which patent libraries in the provinces are put is not intrinsically dissimilar from that in the Science Reference Library in London. It might otherwise have been imagined that only the very basic service of document supply was undertaken. Examination of the replies indicates that it would be worth exploring what additional use would result from an increased range of facilities. One use to which the sets of specifications are put, or at least each batch is put when it is received, is current awareness scanning. Only a very small number of people at present do this but I have observed it in three of the centres during visits. Funding There was little comment on this topic. The main one was that since the provincial libraries were supported by city rates (as local taxes are called) and yet the service for patents met the need of a clientele drawn from a much wider area, the resources should be provided free to the libraries. In fact, the cost of the libraries is only partially met from the city rates since all local authorities get a subvention from the Government called the Rate Support Grant which meets something of the order of 50 y0 of the cost running the city. It was noticed during studies that in other countries which have regional depository patent libraries, patent specifications were supplied free of charge or for only a very nominal fee (the US Patent and Trade Mark Office charges each library $50 per year for a set of printed patents). Professional help and training Again there was little comment but, since the majority of replies were by or on behalf of patent experts, this may not be surprising. The libraries themselves, however, did draw attention to the existence of other types of user who do need advice and guidance but who do not appear to have replied to the consultative paper directly. One library wrote ‘instruction . . has always
Documents
and Information
11
been offered to the relatively small number of private inventors and the more numerous students who wish to complete their own search, but always with the caveat that we are not professional patent agents, searchers or lawyers, In many cases, a reader is referred to a local patent agent for expert legal guidance’. And another ‘. . . in a library like this, visits from schools and colleges are a daily occurrence and the Patents Library and its facilities are always included. Also, it is a regular venue for polytechnic courses and the university students who are increasingly turning to patent information’. The point was also made that exploitation and further development of the use of patent collections is dependent on staff to do this and on their expertise and knowledge of the possibilities inherent in patent documents.
Conclusions The small number of replies makes the drawing of statistically valid conclusions impracticable. However, it does appear clear that: (i) a single centre in London for access to patents is not an acceptable option to the respondents; (ii) even this centre plus a national loan/photocopy service does not meet the requirements of more than a very few; (iii)means of access to patent documents or information about them at a number of centres outside London is required; (iv)nevertheless, judging by both the level of response in general and that referring to specific libraries, the number containing full sets of patent specifications need not be as high as hitherto (13); (v) document copying services from the provincial centres are a prized facility and should be encouraged ; (vi)the level of awareness of patents as an information resource and of the facilities for access in the country does appear to be very low other than among the professional patents community. Other _factors Since Denmark, France, Germany and the USA have patent depository libraries in a number of their major cities, the situation in each has been studied with interest. We have noted, for instance, that not all the patent libraries in other countries are associated with municipal public libraries. This is undoubtedly influenced by the different traditions of public librarianship but even in the USA, where the tradition is closely similar to that in Britain, about a third of the libraries are in other types of organization, notably academic institutions.
We have been particularly impressed by the training and regular up-dating given in France by INPI to the four ‘antennes’, so that the staff in them are fully versed in the latest developments in the patents world. We
12
M. W. Hill
also noted with interest the annual meeting of the US librarians organized by the US Patent and Trade Mark Office which similarly gives both. up-dating and a chance to exchange experience. Other features of the interplay between the Patent Office and the libraries in both France and the USA were noted with interest. German libraries too had much to offer by way of food for thought. Some, for example, do not hold all national patents but only those of particular subjects. Some had very close links indeed with certain industrial clients and three even charged admission fees, a thing unheard of in the other countries. Outcome After studying the replies to the consultative paper and after discussing the matter with the British Library Advisory Council, the Board of the British Library decided that it should try to encourage the development of an effective network of both patent depository libraries and information centres to facilitate the greater exploitation of this resource. To this end it agreed : 6) to fund the supply of British, European, PCT and United States patent documents to six libraries outside London, subject to their meeting certain conditions ; (ii) to require the libraries accepting the offer of these funded sets to agree to provide effective reference and photocopy services to all users ; (iii) to make the offer to the public libraries at Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle; funding the supply to these (iv) to continue libraries of any qther foreign sets of patent documents already being received under the former arrangements ; pending clarification of the situation there, to (v) continue to fund the supply of British and Irish patent documents to Belfast Public Library; to discuss with the other 19 patent libraries (vi) outside London the provision of local information services ;
(vii) to collaborate with the patent depository libraries and the information centres in publicising the availability and value of patent information and in developing expertise in exploiting the resource ; (viii) to collaborate in promoting the effective use of modern information retrieval and current awareness services in the patents field; and (ix) to undertake mutually any supplementary post-experience training necessary so that all libraries in the network can ensure that they have available staff fully able to implement the services ; into effect in the (x) to bring the new arrangements 1980-81 financial year and to review progress annually. In the event, the six libraries offered depository arrangements (iii above) have agreed to the terms and the other 19 libraries have agreed to provide a certain level, varying according to local circumstances, of information and other services to their users. Some postexperience training of the librarians has already started at the Science Reference Library and a first meeting of the librarians has been held in Birmingham. As this journal (World Patent Information) has repeatedly reiterated, information from patents is valuable. It remains to be seen whether the new arrangements will attract a greater level of use than the previous ones but certainly the British Library is making a considerable effort to ensure that better resources are provided in order to encourage greater exploitation.
References (1) R. M. Duchesne, Patent library service in the United Kingdom. Journal of Librarianship 2, 196-204; 1970. (2) Commission of the European Communities, Survey readership in public patent libraries. EUR 5831 (1977). (3) The British Library, Access to patent documents mation. The British Library Board (1979).
of
and infor-