These three volumes constitute the edited Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Statistical Distributions in Scientific Work held at the University of Calgary from July 29 to August 10, 1974. The general title of the volumes is "Statistical Distributions in Scientific Work". The individual volumes are: Volume 1 - Models and Structures; Volume 2 - Model Building and Model Selection; and Volume 3 - Characterizations and Applications. These correspond to the three advanced seminars of the Institute devoted to the respective subject areas. The planned activities of the Institute consisted of main lectures and expositions, seminar lectures and study group dis­ cussions, tutorials and individual study. The activities included meetings of editorial committees to discuss editorial matters for these proceedings which consist of contributions that have gone through the usual refereeing process. A special session was organized to consider the potential of introducing a course on statistical distributions in scientific modeling in the curriculum of statistics and quantitative studies. This session is reported in Volume 2. The overall perspective for the Institute is provided by the Institute Director, Professor G. P. Patil, in his inaugural address which appears in Volume 1. The Linnik Memorial Inaugural Lecture given by Professor C. R. Rao for the Characterizations Seminar is included in Volume 3.