Information demand of mechanical engineers

Abstract

The information centres must have a firm knowledge of the demand on the market of information services, they have to know what is of interest to the experts engaged in different theoretical or practical fields and when. further where they have to turn to receive information. There questions can be answered more or less precisely by studying continously and carefully the situation in research and development, industry and economy, by processing the available data on the demand of information and by surveys based on questionnaires.
In 1966 the Library Association, London, organized a survey to explore the present state of information, supply to and the information demand of mechanical engineers. According to the findings of the survey the most popular information sources among mechanical engineers are documents presenting data which are easy to grasp and overlook, descriptions of new equipments and processes, trade catalogues and similar advertisements. Oral communication plays an important role, while patent specifications and conference reports are of surprisingly little importance. The British mechanical engineer is very rarely utilizing external information services, relying mainly on the information unit in his own firm and - like his colleagues in the United States - is reading almost exclusively literature in English.
The results of the survey might be generalized only to some extent for other countries. A similar survey would be very useful for Hungary, because we still do not know fairly the information demand in our country, neither in general nor according to the different special subject fields. A systematical analysis of the utilisation of existing services and carefully organized surveys could render considerable help.