The Information Sciences section of ITT Research Institute (IITRI) has developed a Computer Search Center and is currently conducting a research project to explore computer searching of a variety of machine-readable data bases. The Center provides Selective Dissemination of Information services to academic, industrial and research organizations from chemical and biological data bases, using computer programs developed during the first year of the project. This paper discusses the preparation of those programs as it relates to the programming language, PL/1. The paper indicates that PL/1 is admirably suited to the needs of a system designed for search of bibliographic data bases. The most outstanding features of PL/1 in this regard are its flexibility, I/O capability and ease of programming, modification and documentation. The use of PL/1 has given an opportunity to do more true system research and development in less time than machine or assembly code would have, and also has been better for this type of work than other compiler languages. The use of PL/1 allowed development of a better overall system in terms of features and efficiency than could have been obtained by any other methodology. (Author)