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Margin-Punched Card Bibliography Reference Index
Margin-Punched Card Bibliography Reference Index Robert W. Noyes, M.D., and Thomas H. Clewe, M.D.
IN 1956, a subcommittee of the Research Correlating Committee' of the American Society for the Study of Sterility has been working on the problem of collecting data pertinent to the study of infertility. Although the immediate problem of this committee is simply to establish uniform definitions for the important factors relating to fertility, it is apparent that the form of these definitions will depend upon how they will ultimately be coded and tabulated. In our Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine, we have used a center-punched, machine-sorted, card system for several years, but have become very much discouraged by its many drawbacks. At the same time, we have been experimenting with a margin-punched card for bibliography indexing, which promises to be much more satisfactory. This system utilizes a superimposed punching method' that has recently been especially adapted for scientific bibliographic indexing.' A further modification of this system would make it an ideal coding and indexing method for infertility records. Basically, the superimposed punching system involves the assignment of specific meanings to code words, which are maintained in a small, separate authority index file. An example authority index card is shown in Fig. 1. A four-letter code has been chosen, and the idea corresponding to each word is listed in alphabetical order. Code words which pertain to the subject matter on a given punched card (Fig. 2) are written on the face of the card, as shown on the second line from the bottom of the example.
SINCE EARLY
From the Deparhnent of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, San Francisco, Calif. 282
SUBJECT INDEX1 All 6 All amnion amphetamines ambulation amount amenorrhea
AMNI AMPT WALK QANT AMEN
antibiotics anterior analgesia . anovulation, -atoey anti (hormones,etc)
~~ anemia, general ANEM anesthesia ANES llllllrogen ANDR anomaly ANOM anatomy, gross ANAT anatomy, microscopic HIST antihorroone ANTH antidiuretic hormone ANTD antimetabolite ANTM anterior chamber (of eye} EYEE anuria ANUR
Fig. l.
A typical authority card.
Fig. 2. A typical reference card.
ANBI ANTE ANAL A!XlV
ANTI 1'f{IA.
284
NOYES & CLEWE
Fertility & Sterility
These words are then punched into the top margin of the card in the following manner. The first letter of each code word is punched in the outer row of holes in Field I, the second letter goes in the second row of this same field, the third letter is punched in the first row of Field II, aod the last letter goes in the second row of Field II. All the remaining words are punched in exactly the same manner into the same two fields. The third ro':" of holes is punched to indicate duplication of punching in Rows 1 and 2. Twenty or more such words cao be so punched, one superimposed on the top of the other, without impairing the selectivity of sorting. Sorting is accomplished by skewering, with four. or more needles simultaneously, the desired cards dropping from the pack by gravity, aided by gentle shaking. An inexpensive needle-holding device makes this a rapid, simple procedure. The final sorting of the cards requires visual inspection in order to discard the occasional "false drops," i.e., undesired cards which fall because individual letters of their properly punched codes fortuitously have formed the code word being sorted. With proper selection of code words, the number of such "false drops" is negligible. Using a similar technic, the names of the authors are recorded in Field III on the bottom edge of the cru:d. The other fields can be used to record the journal, the date, or any other desired material, and the back of the card is free for writing a generous abstract. The stock is thin, 100 cards to the inch, so that good carbon copies can be made, allowing for duplicate file, yet the edges are strong enough so that the holes are not easily torn. The chief advantage of such a system lies in its immediate usefulness. The time and expense of setting up a machine sort discourages its free use. Another outstanding advantage is the delightful flexibility of the superimposed punching system. Code words can be added practically ad infinitum, allowing for changes, additions, even different interpretations by the different users of the same file. By contrast, the limitation both in numbers and in the size of the columns available on machine sorted cards necessitates great constraint and much arbitrariness in coding. Machine sorting is advantageous when enormous numbers of cards are involved, but new sorting methods for edge-punched cards bid to compete favorably even here in the near future. Perhaps an ideal system for infertility coding would be one primarily designed for the ready use of individual practitioners, but one that could
Vol. 8, No. 3, 1957
PUNCHED-CARD INDEX
285
easily be extended by means of duplicate cards, so that a central file may . ultimately be established from which common experience may be gained. A margin-punched card system, using the superimposed punching method, would accomplish this purpose very well. REFERENCES 1. HOOD, S. L., MoNROE, R. A., an4 VISEK, W. J. Edge Punched Cards for Scientific Literature References. Technical Information Service, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, OR0-102, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, November, 1953. 2. SIEGLER, A.M. (Chairman), JoNES, G. E. S., and NoYEs, R. W. Subcommittee of the ASSS Research Correlating Committee. 3. WISE, C. S., CAsEY, R. S., and PERRY, J. W. (Eds): in Punched Carda. New York, Reinhold, 1951.
Caleb Fiske Prize for 1956 The nation's oldest medical essay award, The Caleb Fiske Prize of the Rhode Island Medical Society, was won in 1956 by Dr. Fred Albert Simmons, Jr., Boston surgeon and Harvard Medical School faculty member. The prize-winning essay was on 'The Present-Day Treatment of Infertility," and Dr. Simmons will be invited by the Society to present a summary of his study at its 146th Annual Meeting to be held in Providence on May 1. Dr. Simmons thus becomes the seventy-fourth priZe essayiSt in a com:· petition that was instituted in 1834 by Dr. Caleb Fiske of Scituate, Rhode Island. Dr. Fiske, the fourth president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, bequeathed $2,000.00 as the. prize, the income from which provides premiums for outstanding essays on subjects selected by the trustees of the fund. The current trustees are Drs. Charles L. Farrell of Pawtucket, George W. Waterman, and Joseph C. Johnston, of Providence. Last year the prize was won by.Dr.·R. Kenneth Loeffier of Houston, Texas. In addition to. his fellowship in the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Simmons is a fellow (and past president) of the American Society for the Study of Sterility and a member of the Endocrine Society, th~ American Therapeutic Association, and the Editorial Board of FERTILITY AND STERILITY.
IN 1956, a subcommittee of the Research Correlating Committee' of the American Society for the Study of Sterility has been working on the problem of collecting data pertinent to the study of infertility. Although the immediate problem of this committee is simply to establish uniform definitions for the important factors relating to fertility, it is apparent that the form of these definitions will depend upon how they will ultimately be coded and tabulated. In our Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine, we have used a center-punched, machine-sorted, card system for several years, but have become very much discouraged by its many drawbacks. At the same time, we have been experimenting with a margin-punched card for bibliography indexing, which promises to be much more satisfactory. This system utilizes a superimposed punching method' that has recently been especially adapted for scientific bibliographic indexing.' A further modification of this system would make it an ideal coding and indexing method for infertility records. Basically, the superimposed punching system involves the assignment of specific meanings to code words, which are maintained in a small, separate authority index file. An example authority index card is shown in Fig. 1. A four-letter code has been chosen, and the idea corresponding to each word is listed in alphabetical order. Code words which pertain to the subject matter on a given punched card (Fig. 2) are written on the face of the card, as shown on the second line from the bottom of the example.
SINCE EARLY
From the Deparhnent of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, San Francisco, Calif. 282
SUBJECT INDEX1 All 6 All amnion amphetamines ambulation amount amenorrhea
AMNI AMPT WALK QANT AMEN
antibiotics anterior analgesia . anovulation, -atoey anti (hormones,etc)
~~ anemia, general ANEM anesthesia ANES llllllrogen ANDR anomaly ANOM anatomy, gross ANAT anatomy, microscopic HIST antihorroone ANTH antidiuretic hormone ANTD antimetabolite ANTM anterior chamber (of eye} EYEE anuria ANUR
Fig. l.
A typical authority card.
Fig. 2. A typical reference card.
ANBI ANTE ANAL A!XlV
ANTI 1'f{IA.
284
NOYES & CLEWE
Fertility & Sterility
These words are then punched into the top margin of the card in the following manner. The first letter of each code word is punched in the outer row of holes in Field I, the second letter goes in the second row of this same field, the third letter is punched in the first row of Field II, aod the last letter goes in the second row of Field II. All the remaining words are punched in exactly the same manner into the same two fields. The third ro':" of holes is punched to indicate duplication of punching in Rows 1 and 2. Twenty or more such words cao be so punched, one superimposed on the top of the other, without impairing the selectivity of sorting. Sorting is accomplished by skewering, with four. or more needles simultaneously, the desired cards dropping from the pack by gravity, aided by gentle shaking. An inexpensive needle-holding device makes this a rapid, simple procedure. The final sorting of the cards requires visual inspection in order to discard the occasional "false drops," i.e., undesired cards which fall because individual letters of their properly punched codes fortuitously have formed the code word being sorted. With proper selection of code words, the number of such "false drops" is negligible. Using a similar technic, the names of the authors are recorded in Field III on the bottom edge of the cru:d. The other fields can be used to record the journal, the date, or any other desired material, and the back of the card is free for writing a generous abstract. The stock is thin, 100 cards to the inch, so that good carbon copies can be made, allowing for duplicate file, yet the edges are strong enough so that the holes are not easily torn. The chief advantage of such a system lies in its immediate usefulness. The time and expense of setting up a machine sort discourages its free use. Another outstanding advantage is the delightful flexibility of the superimposed punching system. Code words can be added practically ad infinitum, allowing for changes, additions, even different interpretations by the different users of the same file. By contrast, the limitation both in numbers and in the size of the columns available on machine sorted cards necessitates great constraint and much arbitrariness in coding. Machine sorting is advantageous when enormous numbers of cards are involved, but new sorting methods for edge-punched cards bid to compete favorably even here in the near future. Perhaps an ideal system for infertility coding would be one primarily designed for the ready use of individual practitioners, but one that could
Vol. 8, No. 3, 1957
PUNCHED-CARD INDEX
285
easily be extended by means of duplicate cards, so that a central file may . ultimately be established from which common experience may be gained. A margin-punched card system, using the superimposed punching method, would accomplish this purpose very well. REFERENCES 1. HOOD, S. L., MoNROE, R. A., an4 VISEK, W. J. Edge Punched Cards for Scientific Literature References. Technical Information Service, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, OR0-102, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, November, 1953. 2. SIEGLER, A.M. (Chairman), JoNES, G. E. S., and NoYEs, R. W. Subcommittee of the ASSS Research Correlating Committee. 3. WISE, C. S., CAsEY, R. S., and PERRY, J. W. (Eds): in Punched Carda. New York, Reinhold, 1951.
Caleb Fiske Prize for 1956 The nation's oldest medical essay award, The Caleb Fiske Prize of the Rhode Island Medical Society, was won in 1956 by Dr. Fred Albert Simmons, Jr., Boston surgeon and Harvard Medical School faculty member. The prize-winning essay was on 'The Present-Day Treatment of Infertility," and Dr. Simmons will be invited by the Society to present a summary of his study at its 146th Annual Meeting to be held in Providence on May 1. Dr. Simmons thus becomes the seventy-fourth priZe essayiSt in a com:· petition that was instituted in 1834 by Dr. Caleb Fiske of Scituate, Rhode Island. Dr. Fiske, the fourth president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, bequeathed $2,000.00 as the. prize, the income from which provides premiums for outstanding essays on subjects selected by the trustees of the fund. The current trustees are Drs. Charles L. Farrell of Pawtucket, George W. Waterman, and Joseph C. Johnston, of Providence. Last year the prize was won by.Dr.·R. Kenneth Loeffier of Houston, Texas. In addition to. his fellowship in the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Simmons is a fellow (and past president) of the American Society for the Study of Sterility and a member of the Endocrine Society, th~ American Therapeutic Association, and the Editorial Board of FERTILITY AND STERILITY.