G‘o~~t~r.rzmenr Publiccrtions Re\*im~, Vol. IS, pp. 203-204, 1988 0277-9390188 $3.00 + .OO

Printed in the USA. Ail rights reserved. Copyright 0 1988 Pergamon Press plc

PERGAMON PRESS 40TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

1948 -1988

An Editorial

During the early years of building Pergamon Press, Robert Maxwell attended meetings of professional and scientific societies to learn first-hand the state of their scholarly com- munication systems.

As part of his continuing market analysis program, Mr. Maxwell attended the Annual Meeting of the American Library Association in July 1973. An organizational meeting of members interested in government documents was held separately to discuss issues and problems of concern. It was agreed by the committee, later known as the Government Documents Round Table, that the growing interests in government documents in many countries and international agencies were not adequately served by existing newsletters. Having been involved with government publications in various capacities in the U.S.A. and in England, I proposed that the field had come of age and now warranted a scholarly journal that gives focus and promotes serious study to issues and problems. This expecta- tion was later realized by notable contributions not only by librarians, but by government administrators, researchers, writers, and users of official documents worldwide.

Robert Maxwell offered to publish the proposed journal, tentatively titled G~~?e~n~e~~l Pub~i~~tio~s Review, and appointed me Founding Editor. The first issue appeared in the Fall of 1973, and carried the follo&ng editorial declaring its mission and scope. The estabiishment of this journal opened a whole new era of scholarly study and encouraged governments worldwide to evaluate and improve the quality and public availability of

publications heretofore considered primarily for official use only. Government Publications Review, the first and most successful journal in this field, has

validated Robert Maxwell’s judgment of the public need for access to official reporting on a broad range-of social, economic, and scientific affairs.

BERNARD M. FRY Dean and Professor Emeritus

School of Library & Information Science Indiana University

Bloomington, IN 47401 USA

In 1984, Professor Bernard M. Fry retired as Editor of the Journal and was succeeded by Steven D. Zink, Head of Public Services at the University of Nevada in Reno.

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