In this paper we consider the following combinatorial problem. In how many ways can n distinguishable objects be placed into an unrestricted number of indistinguishable boxes, if each box can hold at most r objects? Let us denote this number by Gn, rSpecial cases of this problem have been the object of considerable study. In the case r = 2 we have the numbers Gn, 2 = Tn which have been treated by Rothe [12] as early as 1800. Tn is also the number of solutions of x2 = 1 in the symmetric group on n letters , and in this and related guises has been studied by Touchard [13], Chowla, Herstein and Moore [3] and two of the present authors [7].
The specter of impending change in library catalogues is strong but not very clear. In an attempt to help the clarification process, the first part of the present report discusses historical themes from the modern library catalogue legacy that has developed since the mid-nineteenth century—the origins and subsequent dominance of the dictionary catalogue for more than a century, considerations of library catalogue users and use over the same period, developments apart from the library catalogue during the twentieth century that have affected it, and aspects of the idea of the objects of a catalogue. In a second part, the general environment for the most recent period of library catalogue development is described, after which aspects of the historical legacy are used as a basis for raising questions relevant to impending library catalogue change.
o f Texas at A ustin My purpose here is to com m ent on the future of the academ ic research library. In making these com m ents, I will assum e what alm ost no one will deny, that libraries in general and academ ic re search libraries in particular are going through a period o f significant change. In this light, my task will be twofold-first, to characterize the change that is taking place; and second, to explore implica
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