Bradford

Bradford, Samuel C. (1878-1948)

Samuel C. Bradford, mathematician and librarian at the Science Museum in London, developed the "law of scattering" regarding differences in demand for scientific journals. This work influences bibliometrics and citation analysis of scientific publications. Bradford founded the British Society for International Bibliography and he was elected president of FID in 1945. Bradford was a strong proponent of the UDC and of establishing abstracts of the scientific literature.

Literature:

Bradford, S. C. (1934). Sources of information on specific subjects. Engineering, 26, 85-86.

Bradford, S. C. (1948). Documentation. London: Crosby Lockwood.

Bradford, S. C. (1953). Documentation. 2nd ed. London: Crosby Lockwood.

Gosset, M. & Urquhart, D. J. (1977). S. C. Bradford, Keeper of the Science Museum Library 1925-1937. Journal of Documentation, 33, 173-179.