its efforts in collecting, organizing and disseminating results of research on human nutrition. It is developing a nutrition information network with state

Departments of Education, professional societies, and other nutrition information centers throughout the nation.

At the same time, TIS is planning to open additional channels of information dissemination through the Congressional Research Service: the Legislative Affairs Unit of SEA; and, the Visitor's Information Center of the Office of Governmental and Public Affairs, USDA. A new demonstration and teaching facility has been installed in the D.C. Library Branch of TIS to facilitate the transfer of information to USDA and other government agencies.

In addition to the preceding activities, SEA/TIS must also provide for collection preservation. This involves the microfilming and restoring or important documents, unbound serial issues, newspapers, and historical materials.

(1)

Justification of Increases

A net increase of $451,000 for services consisting of:
(a) An increase of $27,000 for FY 1981 pay increase.

(b) An increase of $424,000 for Technical Information Systems
for increased operating costs.

Need for Change. The increased funds are needed in order
to maintain a current level of program effort. The costs
of providing services has risen over the last few years
especially for the purchase of books and journals, and
the need to apply new technology. In fact, the cost of new
publications is rising faster than the overall rate of
inflation. Increased usage of on-line data bases coupled
with an increase in demand for new services, such as the
growth of the current awareness literature service, which
in turn creates a greater demand in other areas such as
document delivery service, have also contributed greatly
to the problem.

Nature of Change. This increase would ameliorate the impact
of inflation on non-salary operating costs enabling TIS to
maintain the services it is currently providing.

Technical Information Systems

Status of Program

Technical Information Systems (TIS) is taking the initiative in responding to information needs associated with current and anticipated national concerns in such areas as alternate energy sources, development of aquacultural food and non-food sources, and human nutrition. Resources are being used in support of technical data using advanced technology.

In these and other areas requiring special emphasis, TIS is increasing cooperation and contacts with the research and extension components of the Science and Education Administration (SEA) and with other USDA agencies. It is also broadening its contacts with the Interior and Energy Departments, with the other two National Libraries (Congress and Medicine), and with the State land-grant and other institutions of higher learning, particularly the 1890 or minority-oriented schools.

Current Activities:

Integrated programs requiring cross-unit participation for success are being conducted through the continuing cooperation and interaction of three TIS units: the Library Operations Division (National Agricultural Library), the Information Systems Division, and the Educational Resources Division. The addition of new audiences last year to those scientists and researchers traditionally serviced by the NAL has encouraged entirely new projects based on the needs of these users which include extension personnel, nutritionists, non-land-grant institutions, and private industry.

One of the projects begun this year centers on the systematic inclusion of some 60-75,000 4-H and adult State Extension popular publications in the TIS master bibliographic data base. This unprecedented effort is a cooperative project of the State Extension Services, SEA Extension, and TIS. The project, when completed, will assure mutual accessibility, for the first time, to Extension publications by all states and the Federal government. The project should reduce or eliminate duplication of effort and waste of shrinking resources.

Another recent program targeted at potential client groups involves coordinated and broadened training and education in the use of the latest electronic means to access technical information stored in the TIS data bases. These bases include not only AGRICOLA, the master bibliographic file for the library, but also CRIS (Current Research Information). State and private nutritionists, school administrators, State extension specialists, and others are being encouraged to take advantage of the world's greatest storehouse of agriculture-related information (Current Awareness Literature Service).

Technical Information Systems also has begun cooperative planning to open additional channels of communication: (1) with Congress through the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, (2) with the legislative affairs unit of SEA and (3) with the Visitors Information Center operated by the Office of Governmental and Public Affairs for USDA. The efficient transfer of agriculturally related information on legislative as well as scientific affairs among TIS and these other units is the objective, using the latest available tools and techniques for accessing technical information data bases through terminals, word processors, teleconferencing, etc.

The introduction of a demonstration and teaching facility in the D.C. Library Branch of TIS, centrally located in the USDA South Building is expected to have significant impact during the coming year on TIS outreach efforts. This facility will serve as the focal point for TIS educational activities designed to support other A and USDA components and agencies of the Department located in downtown Washington, D.C.

In areas of concern such as energy and aquaculture, and in communications outreach, TIS is shifting emphasis to reach broader and more varied audiences both within the Federal and State governments and the private sector.

Selected Examples of Recent Progress:

Energy. Two landmark agriculture-related energy publications and a new bibliographic file, all three created in cooperation with land-grant universities, were initiated in response to the acute national need for information on the development of alternate sources of energy. Solar Energy and Nonfossil Fuel Research: A Directory of Projects Related to Agriculture, 1980 prepared in response to Federal legislation includes Federal, State, private, and foreign projects scheduled for publication in early 1981, it is the second in a series of annual energy research compilations, with most projects accessible through the TIS Current Research Information System (CRIS data base. Energy for Agriculture: a Computerized Retrieval System was compiled by B. A. Stout and C. A. Myers of the Agriculture Engineering Department, Michigan State University. This publication is the basis for a new bibliographic sub-file with over 2,600 initial citations on energy literature added to AGRICOLA, the master bibliographic file of the TIS National Agricultural Library collection.

Aquaculture. TIS, through its Current Research Information System (CRIS), has established procedures for creating a sub-file of aquaculture research projects in CRIS. All ongoing and recently completed projects directly or indirectly related to aquaculture have been classified in subject categories. Eighty-four translations of important scientific and technical publications on this subject in foreign languages (particularly Japanese) were completed by TIS for the Interagency Committee on Marine Sciences and Fisheries. Lists of the translations were distributed to

key USDA, Commerce, Interior, and land-grant program officers in aquaculture, as well as information officers, libraries, and State experiment station directors. TIS is working with the interagency group to greatly expand national and international technical information resources available to researchers, technicians, and farmers on the subject.

Agricultural Information Conference. In conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges November 26-28, 1979, Technical Information Systems provided a discussion forum to explore the landgrant agricultural librarian information needs of agriculturists and ways in which cooperative systems make possible the integration of state and local information sources. A joint session with Agriculture Division, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges provided an opportunity for administrators and information handlers to consider together implications for meeting the information revolution underway. The Conference program dedicated one morning to the subject of Cooperative Library Systems, particularly the creation of a national agricultural sciences information network.

Extension Publications Bibliographic Systems. Some 60-75,000 4-H and other State extension popular publications produced and used by the nation's State extension services in their educational programs are being included in the National Agricultural Library's master bibliographic data base.

The state extension services, SEA Extension, and SEA Technical Information Systems are working together on this massive project which will assure mutual accessibility for the first time to state publications among all states and by the Federal government. The project is designed to reduce or eliminate duplication of effort and encourage more efficient use of resources at both the Federal and state levels. The submission of 4-H and youth publications for the northcentral states should be completed by January 1, 1980, and additions of adult publications finished by July of

Electronic Mail. A national electronic mail network to meet the needs of the Extension Service is being set up by TIS based on the findings from a 1-year test. When the system is set up, it will be accessible to the entire SEA-state research and education community. Implementation of the system is scheduled for January 1981. It is anticipated this network will serve a wide variety of devices, including programmable terminals, word processing equipment, teletacsimile machines, and optical character readers providing not only communication services, but electronic filing and retrieval, data transmission, hard copy production and transmission services. Education and Training. In support of its increased efforts to inform actual and potential users of TIS about its operations resources and services, TIS produced an 18-minute video tape, The Information Cycle, and a number of publications, including the TIS Guide to Services, Food and Nutrition Center, AGRICOLA (on the use of its Audiovisual Resources in Food and Nutrition, and 33 quick bibliographies on subjects of current concern to the public such as energy, volcanic ash, acid rain, minimum tillage, small farms, nutrition and aging, etc. Demonstrations of the AGRICOLA data base were held throughout the United States in cooperation with land-grant colleges and universities and professional societies.

International Input. As part of its expanded program for cooperation with AGRIS (International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology), TIS increased its contribution of citations from 12,000 input work sheets annually in fiscal years 1976-77 to 50,000 machine readable records for 1978-1980 period. This increase makes the United States the most prolific of the AGRIS participants. Development of computer compatability is the result of cooperative agreements with AID and is also enabling TIS to incorporate selected AGRIS citations for non-U.S. imprints with the AGRICOLA file.

Work with 1890 College Libraries. TIS has worked closely in the past few years to aid the Colleges of 1890 and Tuskegee (black land-grant) libraries in updating and improving their services. This includes the distribution of duplicate books and journal pieces, the introduction of on-line bibliographic searching, and the free distribution of photocopies of journal articles to agricultural researchers upon request. In the fall of 1978, NAL at a 3-day meeting in Huntsville, Alabama, with the 1890 college library directors, focused on agricultural information needs. As a result of this meeting, the library directors have been meeting twice yearly since 1979 and Federal legislation has been proposed to aid in the development of local agricultural library information services.

Food and Nutrition. The TIS Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) reached nearly 1.5 million persons in FY 1980 through its audiovisual lending program with films, tapes, slides and other educational aids shown in classrooms and before citizen groups. Requests for reference services tripled from 565 to 1,546 with schools, State departments of education, universities and colleges, private industry, hospitals, Congress, and other Government agencies as major users. Outreach and demonstration of on-line computer searching has increased contacts with over 4,000 dietitians and nutritionists. Fifty-nine presentations were given, and three bibliographies prepared on Dietary Guides and Dietary Guidelines, Nutrition and the Elderly, and Maternal and Infant Nutrition.