OCR YOUR INFORMATION CENTER GUIDE TO THE RESOURCES OF THE OFFICE OF CENTRAL REFERENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00134R000100050001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 29
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: MISC

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This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited bylaw
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YOUR INFORMATION CENTER
A GUIDE TO THE RESOURCES
OF THE OFFICE OF
CENTRAL REFERENCE
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SECREV
MEMORANDUM FOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS:
The Office of Central Reference (OCR) in the DD/I area
is your information center in the Agency.
OCR has a single purpose-to provide the information
which Agency components require. Its organization, proce-
dures, and scope of coverage are flexible and responsive to
the changing requirements of both intelligence operations
and intelligence research and production. Within personnel
and budgetary limitations, therefore, your needs are its
directives.
This booklet directs you to the many and varied special
files and services currently available in OCR. I expect that
you will use these information resources freely and often.
Marshall S. Carter
Lieutenant General, USA
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
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CONTENTS
THE OFFICE OF CENTRAL REFERENCE
General 1
Organization 1
Resources 5
Intellofax 5
Intelligence Publications Index 6
Special Register System 7
8
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OCR COMPONENTS
CIA Library
8
Biographic Register
11
Graphics Register
14
Special Register
16
Document Division
18
Machine Division
20
Foreign Documents Division
22
Liaison Staff
24
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SECRET 1
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THE OFFICE OF CENTRAL REFERENCE (OCR)
OCR is, in a sense, the Agency's positive intelligence
memory. Except for certain sensitive operational data, OCR
receives all intelligence issuances, remembers through the
mechanism of its reading panel those units in the Agency
which require specific types of information, and promptly
disseminates the documents accordingly. Equally impor-
tant, OCR analysts scan the incoming documentation, and
index or extract its substantive content for storage in the
OCR memory (extensive files supported by a detailed mech-
anized system), thereby permitting the future retrieval of
intelligence reports on a given. subject or area.
Not only does OCR comprise a vast reservoir of information
available for reference, it also serves the intelligence com-
munity in a dynamic and positive fashion, spontaneously
producing reference aids in support of intelligence produc-
tion, and taking the initiative to fill gaps in the over-all in-
telligence reference facilitie
OCR issues reports erive rom -
eign-language publications and provides translation service
for Agency components and to a limited degree, for other
USIB a encies.
OCR supplies active guidance for inter-
agency cooperative efforts in the field of information process-
ing for the purpose of eliminating duplication and ensuring
the compatibility of systems.
ORGANIZATION
In fulfilling its central reference responsibilities, OCR has
organized its assets to meet both the basic needs as well as
the specialized interests of intelligence production and opera-
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5MM
OFFICE
OF
CENTRAL
REFERENCE
BIOGRAPHIC REGISTER
Compiles and publishes information
on virtually oil types of foreign per-
sonalities other than military.
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OFFICE OF THE AD/CR
Directs the Agency's central reference facilities and promotes
USIB cooperative efforts in the field of information processing.
CIA LIBRARY
Offers a general library and cen-
tralized intelligence document cal-
lection; administers a world-wide
publications procurement program.
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MACHINE DIVISION
Providesmachine
support for the refer-
ence services of OCR.
LIAISON STAFF
Arranges and con-
ducts interagency
liaison; coordinates
the Agency briefing
&debriefing program.
SPECIAL REGISTER
Provides reference
service as the Agency's
centrollihraryof spe-
cially controlled Intel-
ligence documents.
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS DIVISION
Issues reports derived from foreign lan-
guage publications and provides
DIVISION
Receives, indexes,
and disseminates CIA
and USIB Intelligence
reports.
GRAPHICS REGISTER
Provides intelligence
support from an extensive
collection of still and ma-
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SECREV
tions. For the former purpose, the Document and Machine
Divisions, OCR, collaborate in a program designed to provide
a subject and area index to the substantive content of all
significant regular intelligence reporting. To meet more
specialized interests, the Biographic and Graphics Registers
have established extensive detailed files of information on
foreign personalities and photography; and the Library pro-
vides an information service from a vast collection of overt
reference materials. The Foreign Documents Division is or-
ganized by geographic area to provide information from for-
eign language publications as a service of common concern to
the USIB community and to perform classified and unclassi-
fied translation service for CIA components and, in the rarer
languages, for USIB members.
The Special Register provides reference service on specially
controlled intelligence documents similar to that provided
by other OCR divisions on regular intelligence reports. In
addition, for those personnel cleared for access to informa-
tion at all levels of security classification, SR also provides
"all source" reference service. The objective of the program
is to provide a single point to which the research analyst or
operations officer can address his request for over-all refer-
ence support and to ensure that all intelligence reports per-
tinent to his interest, regardless of security classification, are
made promptly available. SR coordinates these requests
with other OCR components and brings together such in-
formation as they can provide with information contained
in specially controlled documents for review by the requester
in SR reading rooms. SR is also the repository for all-
source information on selected foreign industrial installa-
tions. In addition to its large reference facilities, OCR,
through its Liaison Staff, arranges and coordinates briefings,
debriefings, and tours in the Headquarters area and, as a
service of common concern, maintains and controls liaison
with other government agencies.
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OCR'S INFORMATION SYSTEMS
In its efforts to satisfy the reference needs of the Agency,
OCR has developed numerous manual and machine systems
and is currently studying computer applications for its infgr-
mation storage and retrieval problems. Its present operations
include both document retrieval and information retrieval
systems. The difference between these systems is a matter
of the type of response which the system provides. Whereas
a document retrieval system identifies and provides references
to documents which bear on an inquiry, an information sys-
tem provides specific information on the question posed. The
reference service provided by the Biographic and Graphics
Registers, and by the Information Section of the Library, is
based on OCR's information retrieval systems. In addition,
OCR maintains three primary document retrieval systems
_F_
INTELLOFAX
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25X1 5M M
Requests from Agency and other consumers for subject
and area information are directed to the Intellofax Reference
Group (IRG) in the CIA Library; they make every effort to
ensure the highest degree of retrieval relevance by specific
definition of subject and area codes, security classification
restrictions, and date limitations. The highest relevance
correlation occurs when the customer and IRG representa-
tives meet personally to discuss an index search; this direct
contact is strongly encouraged. The Intellofax machine card
files, currently estimated at 12,400,000 cards, are then searched
mechanically and those cards containing the codes desig-
nated by the requester as interpreted by the IRG are sorted
out. These cards which contain a bibliographic citation of
the document are then reproduced and arranged in any
sequence desired (e.g. chronologically, by originating depart-
ment, by security classification, or by area), thus constituting
a bibliography of documents relevant to a given interest. The
requester reviews these prints, selects those which are of
particular interest, and requests copies of the reports by
merely sending the print to the Library.
INTELLIGENCE PUBLICATIONS INDEX (IPI)
Complementing the detailed indexing of raw intelligence
reports in the Intellofax system, the IPI provides more gen-
eral indexing of selected finished intelligence periodicals,
monographs, reports and studies (e.g. the DIA Digest, CIA
Current Intellioence Week
s an s, State e
6i~CG3(4
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intelligence studies, finished OSI, ORR, and OCI studies).
Issued monthly and cumulated semi-annually the IPI con-
tains complete bibliographic citations and is arranged (1) by
subject with subdivisions by area; (2) by area with subject
subdivision; and (3) by originating source and series. Copies
of documents cited in the IPI are available in the CIA Library.
J SPECIAL REGISTER SYSTEM (SRS)
Complementing the detailed indexing of the Intellofax sys-
tem, the general indexing of the Intelligence Publications
Index, and the information retrieval system of the Bio-
graphic Register for regular intelligence documents, the Spe-
cial Register System (SRS) provides reference service in a
similar manner from specially controlled intelligence docu-
ments. Special Register analysts review these specially con-
trolled materials and then code information contained in
them relating to subjects, commodities, areas, personalities,
and organizations. These codes, with identifying clear text
information and the document source citations, are punched
into machine tabulating cards which are later sorted and
arranged in major area and category groups for future ref-
erence. Requests for information are directed to Special
Register and, as in the Intellofax system, an analyst-to-
analyst discussion of the details of the request is strongly
encouraged. The SR machine card files, currently estimated
at 20,000,000 cards, are searched mechanically and those cards
containing the pertinent codes are sorted out. The informa-
tion contained in these cards is printed out in the form of a
machine listing and also is reproduced on charge-out cards
for the SR Library, which pulls the referenced document for
the requester. Basically a document retrieval system, the
SRS has, however, elements of information retrieval in both
its organization and biographic retrieval mechanism. Fur-
ther, due to the nature of the material in the system, the
SRS codes, both detailed and general, have a higher degree
of specificity for subjects, commodities, and areas than the
ISC or IPI classification systems.
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OCR COMPONENTS
L] CIA LIBRARY (LY)
Furnishes materials and reference service from current
and historical collections, both classified and unclassified,
and administers a world-wide publications procurement
program for CIA and other government agencies.
8 nGL?3C 4
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^ RESOURCES:
^ SERVICES:
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() Provides a general information serv-
ice from an extensive collection of
classified and unclassified publications
and from other collections in the
Washington area.
0 Provides bibliographic support by
searching in catalogs and published
indexes; by direct examination of pub-
lications; and through the Intellofax
and other machine-supported docu-
ment systems.
Supplies specific publications from
its own collection or from other li-
braries; or obtains copies through pur-
chase or from the originator.
0 Places subscriptions to periodicals
and newspapers.
0 Maintains reading rooms, modern
microfilm viewing equipment, and card
catalogs, as well as three specialized
branch libraries (at Headquarters for
Office of General Counsel, at Arlington
Towers for LAS/OTR, and at Alcott
Hall for Commo).
0 Manages the publications procure-
ment budget for all components of
CIA.
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The following publications are is-
sued by the CIA Library:
Bibliographies, prepared upon de-
mand
Russian Book List, a monthly list
of titles purchased in Moscow
Books Accessioned by the CIA Li-
brary, issued monthly
Periodicals and Newspapers Cur-
rently Received in the CIA Library
Chinese Communist Journals Held
in the CIA Library Acquisitions
Branch
Chinese Communist Newspapers
Held in the CIA Library Acquisi-
tions Branch
REQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
Requests for service may be made in person, by telephone,
on Form 1395, or by memorandum. Whenever possible, docu-
ment requests should include document number, source, and
date. Direct consultation is especially recommended when
requesting Intellofax service. Page 2 of the Agency tele-
phone directory lists current room and telephone numbers.
10 SICREU
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tory for biographic intelligence on virtually all types of
foreign personalities other than military.
BIOGRAPHIC REGISTER (BR)
Comprises the intelligence community's central reposi-
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I captured
enemy files; and overt literature, particularly foreign lan-
guage publications.
^ SERVICES:
12 OME4
automatic reporting on significant
governmental and diplomatic as-
signments;
red line telephone service to all BR
specialists for spot answers to ur-
gent questions;
availability of file material for study
within BR and retention copies of
pertinent documents;
reproduction of author/title biblio-
graphic items from Sovbloc tech-
nical literature from 1948 to the
present; and
machine-selected biographic briefs
on scientific and technical person-
alities.
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O Provides biographic support for the
conduct of official US activities, as
well as for intelligence operations or
headquarters research projects, in the
form of:
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information reports on forthcoming
international conferences (primarily
scientific and technical) at which
Sovbloc participation is expected
(CR/C series) ;
basic biographic country handbooks
issued in loose-leaf form and aug-
mented quarterly (CR/BH series).
0 REQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
Requests for information may be made in the manner most
acceptable to the requester: by memorandum, by personal
visit, or by phone, if security considerations permit. Personal
visits to the Register are usually mutually advantageous.
Page 2 of the Agency telephone directory lists current room
and telephone numbers. Lists of BR area analysts are also
available in the Register.
SECREV
0 Further, for the purpose of putting
selected information within easy reach
of desk officers, BR produces five types
of reports:
governmental directories, organiza-
tional and other biographic listings
(CR/BA series) ;
automatically-disseminated bio-
graphic briefs on foreigners of cur-
rent intelligence interest (CR/BB
series) ;
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H GRAPHICS REGISTER (GR)
Collects, maintains files on, and services requests for
intelligence photography world-wide in the form of both
still and motion pictures.
LJ RESOURCES:
Provides photographic support for
all categories of intelligence research
and reporting, as well as still and
motion picture coverage on current
news topics of intelligence interest,
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S. EC12EV
and motion pictures (covering all
areas) for orientation and training
purposes.
0 Supplies photographic coverage on
significant foreign personalities of all
types.
0 Maintains an extensive collection of
ground and personality photographs
indexed by area and subject, including
color slides for briefing and lecture
use. Machine listings of subject cov-
erage are available, including locations
arranged by geographic coordinates.
Administers a world-wide photo-
graphic collection program.
0 Provides videotape facilities for
showing television news and docu-
mentary programs of intelligence in-
terest.
0 Provides theater facilities equipped
for the presentation of all types of
visual aids.
0 Prepares Intellofax tapes referenc-
ing films according to subject and/or
area. Training films are available on
many subjects, with special emphasis
on items of a tradecraft nature.
0 Serves as a central facility for ob-
taining photography from other USIB
agencies, including enclosures to State,
Army, Navy or Air Force reports which
can be ordered by report number.
0 Loans color slides, still and motion
picture projectors, and supplies both
cameras and film to Agency travelers
whose itinerary suggests photography
of intelligence interest.
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0 Furnishes all-source reference serv-
ice on foreign areas, subjects, com-
modities, personalities, and organiza-
tions and maintains current all-source
information files on priority intelli-
gence targets.
0 Maintains the Agency's central li-
brary of specially controlled intelli-
gence documents.
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Requests for information may be made in the manner most
convenient for the requester: by memorandum, by personal
visit, or by telephone, if security considerations permit. Dis-
cussion with a GR analyst is encouraged on matters of cover-
age and training, and for current and long-range procure-
ment needs. Page 2 of the Agency telephone directory
lists current GR room and telephone numbers.
U SPECIAL REGISTER (SR)
Provides reference service on specially controlled intel-
ligence documents, including all-source coverage, when
desired.
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MCM
0 Operates a mechanized, detailed in-
formation processing system which
affords retrieval of the significant sub-
stantive content of these materials.
J REQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
Individuals cleared for these specially controlled materials
may request reference service in the manner most convenient
for them: by memorandum, by personal visit, or by grey line
telephone. Personal visits to the Register are usually mu-
tually advantageous. Current room and extension numbers
are available in the organization section of the Agency tele-
phone directory.
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0claEv
DOCUMENT DIVISION (DD)
Receives, disseminates, and indexes intelligence re-
ports, and provides a comprehensive index to finished
intelligence.
Disseminates to Agency and USIB
components over 720,000 information
and intelligence reports, totaling ap-
proximately 10 million copies, annu-
ally. These copies are distributed to
CIA and other agencies
according to requirements levied by
CIA components and, in the case of
CIA reports, by other agencies.
Indexes for the Intellofax system the
area and subject matter of selected in-
telligence information reports, on the
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51 ECREV
basis of the Intelligence Subject Code
(ISC).
0 Maintains and revises the ISC for
the Committee on Documentation
(CODIB) of the USIB.
0 Compiles and publishes the Intelli-
gence Publications Index (IPI), a cur-
rent cumulative guide to selected in-
telligence periodicals and monographs.
0 Maintains the Central Top Secret
Control responsibility, providing pro-
cedural guidance and central reference
facilities for Top Secret intelligence
documents.
JREQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
Requests for information may be made in the manner most
acceptable to the requester: by memorandum, by personal
visit, or by phone, if security considerations permit. Page
2 of the Agency telephone directory lists current room
and telephone numbers.
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RESOURCES:
chine techniques.
Facilitates OCR reference support through special ma-
SECPIEV
El MACHINE DIVISION! (MD)
Provides machine support for the reference services of
OCR and maintains machine indexes to the vast amount
of intelligence material held in the DDI collections. These
files of 27,000,000 machine index cards contain coded inf or -
mation derived from the indexing of intelligence reports
and other material by OCR, ORR, OBI and the DDI Collec-
tion Guidance Staff. Also provides support, on a limited
basis, for a variety of special projects of other Agency com-
ponents.
Administers a complex of IBM punching, sorting, col-
lating, and tabulating machines; and an extensive array
of photographic and microphotographic equipment includ-
ing peripheral developing, printing, and reproduction gear.
^ SERVICES:
20 SECQE4
0 Plans and provides machine sup-
port to intelligence data handling
problems, including those concerned
with data base files and machine-
prepared publications.
0 Microfilms and/or reproduces intel-
ligence documents for both reference
Oservice and storage files.
Performs machine searches of the
card files; locates pertinent references,
and arranges them in the desired
sequence; and produces for the con-
sumers' retention a printed copy of
the selected data.
0 Maintains OCR electronic, photo-
reproduction, and document handling
equipment; builds or modifies special
purpose devices for intelligence sup-
port.
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REQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
Requests for advice and assistance regarding machine sup-
port for intelligence problems may be made by telephone, by
memorandum, or by personal visit. Page 2 of the Agency
telephone directory lists current room and telephone numbers.
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OECnEv
_J FOREIGN DOCUMENTS DIVISION (FDD)
Issues reports prepared from world-wide foreign lan-
guage publications in compliance with continuing pro-
grams recommended by CIA and other USIB compo-
nents; similarly exploits foreign documents against ad
hoc requests for specific information; performs transla-
tion service for CIA offices, and to a limited degree for
other USIB com onents
_J RESOURCES:
Classified linguistic capabilities in 60 to 70 foreign lan-
guages. Unlimited linguistic capabilities for unclassified
translation exploitation. Native fluency in all common lan-
guages.
0 As a service of common concern,
issues more than 40 classified or con-
trolled serial reports covering priority
areas of information recommended
by the USIB agencies, and, through
0 Performs search and reporting
service for information from foreign
language documents on specific sub-
jects or areas as requested in ad hoc
requirements of the intelligence com-
munity.
0 Provides translation service for all
areas of CIA, and within its capa-
bilities translates the rarer languages
for other USIB components.
0 Provides reverse (English into for-
eign language) translation service.
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MCM
0 Immediate scanning, oral transla-
tion, excerpting, and evaluation of
content of foreign language material
are provided by the Foreign Lan-
guage Service Center.
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Service may be requested in person, by telephone, on Form
122, or by memorandum. Direct consultation is encouraged
REQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
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LIAISON STAFF (LS)
Provides a central facility which arranges and con-
ducts interagency liaison for a wide variety of intelligence
purposes.
SERVICES:
Maintains a wide range of accredited
liaison contacts in all US Government
departments, at all levels. Assists
other US Government representatives
to conduct official liaison with Agency
personnel.
Obtains from other US Government
departments information and services
which are required to support intelli-
gence research and operations. Also
coordinates requests for CIA intelli-
gence information and action which
may be required by those departments.
Coordinates the Agency program for
briefing and debriefing ambassadors,
ministers, Foreign Service officers, and
military attaches en route to or re-
turning from tours of duty abroad.
Arranges briefings and tours of
DD/I facilities.
REQUESTS FOR SERVICE:
Requests for service may be made in the manner most
convenient for the requester: by memorandum, by personal
visit, or by telephone, if security considerations permit. Page
2 of the Agency telephone directory lists current room and
telephone numbers of the Liaison Staff.
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