In describing the role of Soviet libraries in the satisfaction of information needs of specialists, I.K. Kirpicheva has provided a comprehensive picture of the extensive system for the State System Scientific and Technical Information (SSSTI) in support of the accelerated development of Soviet science and technology. Information needs arising at various stages of research and in the practical realization of scientific and technological developments are classified as needs satisfied mainly through information services, through library services, or through informal channels; improvement of services to the information user is accomplished through a cooperative information network along with the utilization of library science user research. A centrally controlled, national integrated plan underlies the information network with a set of unified principles and standards covering all levels of information transfer. In a reaction paper, M.S. Day, Director of the National Technical Information Service, notes the comprehensiveness of the SSSTI plan but questions the formal structure linking and cross-linking the libraries regarding possibilities for change. In addition, Day probes different usages of formal and informal communication channels in the USSR and the United States and asks for elaboration of other problems. (CWM)