An experiment in standardization: Report from Washington

This is the story of an experiment in standardization being conducted by the documentation branches of four government agencies. At least two reasons occur to me why the account may be of interest to readers of Physics Today. First, so many scientists are at present associated one way or another with government‐supported research that improvements in techniques of disseminating information about such research become of rather general scientific interest. Second, as is shown later, this particular development represents an unusual approach to a standardization problem—one which conceivably may prove to have other applications. (Some of my friends say they find the movement interesting for a third reason; they claim the very fact that four government agencies are cooperating voluntarily on anything is newsworthy. This cynical viewpoint, however, I am prepared to ignore.)

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