National Federation of Abstracting and Indexing Societies



	ORGANIZATION:	National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services
	ACTIVE DATES:
	ADDRESS:	1518 Walnut St., Suite 307, Philadelphia, PA 19102-3403
	E-MAIL:	nfais@hslc.org.
	PERSONS INVOLVED:	Dale Baker
	MAJOR PROJECTS:
	OTHER INFORMATION:	Founded in 1958, the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS ) is a membership organization made up of more than 60 leading information publishers, producers, and providers. Its purpose is to serve the world's information community through education, research, and publication. Stella Keenan, NFAIS Executive Director from 1968 to 1974, once commented on the NFAIS name. "The 'Federation,'" she said, "sounds like a galactic mass born out of Star Wars, although in reality it was born out of Sputnik . . ." The year was 1957. The Soviet Union had just launched the world's first spacecraft. Suddenly, everyone west of the USSR was focused on international competitiveness in science and technology. It was generally acknowledged that information would be the key . . . high-quality, reliable sci-tech information. As the United States mobilized to create a new information infrastructure to promote scientific innovation, G. Miles Conrad, Director of Biological Abstracts--now BIOSIS--called an urgent meeting of leading not-for-profit and government scientific abstracting and indexing services. Conrad implored the assembled group to join forces, cooperate, and interact, so that together we could make rapid progress in achieving national priorities while at the same time promoting the international advancement of science. As a result, the Federation was formed. From the ensuing cooperative efforts of Federation members the world's first computer-assisted publishing efforts were innovated, the world's first electronic databases were developed, and the world's first online services were deployed. The Information Age was born. Today--nearly 40 years after the birth of NFAIS--social, economic, and political forces are once again driving change in the scholarly publishing world. Once again, the newspapers are full of talk about the need for a national information infrastructure, this time to be built around the "new" electronic media that NFAIS members helped invent In the last year alone, the once esoteric terms "online" and "Internet" have risen to the status of household words. The Internet--which is growing increasingly synonymous with "online"-- promises a global information highway for the sale and distribution of information and other goods and services. But it also opens the door to new competitors, including information pirates. And it challenges existing institutions--publishers, libraries, and other information providers--to reinvent themselves and their products and services for the new age. There has never been a more important time for the Federation to exist. There has never been a more urgent need for information publishers, producers, and providers to collaborate. The Federation provides the context. Federation Activities The Federation dedicates itself to the enhancement and advancement of the scholarly publishing community by: facilitating the exchange of information among NFAIS members presenting the collective opinion of NFAIS members to the public promoting NFAIS members and the role they play in the information community sponsoring timely and topical conferences, seminars, and courses publishing newsletters, books, report series, and codes of practice for new technologies encouraging cooperation among the players in the information community
	SOURCE:	NFAIS home page



	PAPERS AT: LOCATION	Temple University Library, Philadelphia, PA.
	PAPERS DATES:	1958-1985
	SIZE:
	INCLUDES:	The records of this international federation of abstracting and indexing services includes corporate bylaws and meeting minutes, correspondence, membership directories, reports, speeches, manuscripts, conference proceedings, and financial records. The archives have been arranged into fourteen series including: the Board of Directors Files (1958-1984); the NFAIS Assembly (1971-1984); NFAIS Committees, Task Forces and Working Groups (1962-1985); Membership and Member Organizations (1968-1985); Annual Conferences (1964-1984); Seminars (1969-1984); Manuscripts and Correspondence (1963-1985); Publications (1958-1986); Special Projects (1959-1983); Liaison Organizations (1959-1985); Unaffiliated Organizations (1969-1985); Other Meetings (1969-1984); and Personnel and Professional Papers (1970-1985). The records include papers and talks given by prominent leaders within the organization including; Toni Carbo Bearman, Raymond A. Jensen, Stella Keenan, M. Lynne Neufeld, and John W. Senders. Frequent references are made to the following organizations including; Syracuse University School of Information Studies, American National Standards Institute, American Society for Information Science, and the Miles Conrad Memorial Lectures. Note: The National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services grew out of a conference convened in Philadelphia in 1958 by the director of BIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS, G. Miles Conrad. The original membership of fourteen scientific abstracting and indexing services organized to improve the documentation of scientific and technological literature and to foster the exchange of information among scientists worldwide. The goals are pursued through a variety of activities including; conferences, publications such as the NFAIS NEWSLETTER, research projects, and seminars. The membership has been broadened to 50 organizations, including humanities and social science agencies. Indexes Register-Descriptive inventory.
	SOURCE:	Temple University Library Web catalog