SPIRES (Stanford Public Information REtrieval System) is a computer information storage and retrieval system being developed at Stanford University with funding from the National Science Foundation. SPIRES has two major goals: to provide a user-oriented, interactive, on-line retrieval system for a variety of researchers at Stanford; and to support the automation efforts of the university libraries by developing and implementing common software. SPIRES I, a prototype system, was implemented at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in 1969, from a design based on a 1967 information study involving physicists at SLAC. Its primary data base is a high-energy-physics preprints file. Evaluation of SPIRES I resulted in the definition of a production information storage and retrieval system, SPIRES II. This system will be available daily, beginning in mid-1972, to faculty, staff, and students of the University. It is characterized by flexibility, simplicity, and economy. SPIRES II will operate on-line on an IBM 360/67 computer. This report summarizes the uses of the SPIRES I system over the past year and describes both the nature of SPIRES II and this system's development over the past year. (Author)