Fire-relevant literature and its availability

摘要

The primary goal of the National Fire Data Center which was authorized by the U.S. Congress on 29 October 1974 is “the selection, analysis, publication and dissemination of information related to the prevention, occurrence, control, and results of fires of all types” (Section 9a, Public Law 93–498). In pursuing this goal it was clearly necessary to determine the relevance and usefulness to fire researchers of the many computerized bibliographic data bases which already exist in support of science and technology, and to assess the extent to which existing computerized bibliographic data bases can provide information relevant to fire research. We describe here the results of a study which was directed at this particular problem.