Some problems of the information supply of social science research in West Europe
Abstract
On a three-month UNESCO fellowship, the author studied the problems of the information supply of social science research in Sweden, France, Great-Britain and in the Germen Federal Republic in 1970. The article sums up the author's major findings.
The information supply of social science research is being given ever more attention. This is mainly due to the fact that the individual fields of social activities – e.g. public administration – tend to rely increasingly on the achievements of social science research, involving a corresponding increase in their expectations as to the improvement of information supply. Both the extension and specialization of higher education and training in social sciences also necessitate the improvement of information supply. There is also an increase in the number of professionals requiring up-to-date information services.
Social science information far the time being is still in the process of identifying and formulating the fundamental problems. Debates are going on to determine to what extent social science information differs from the nature of information in the natural sciences, which arises from the difference between natural and social science disciplines. The information demands of social science research still remain to be clarified.
The development of information supply in the social science field still appears as a major problem of library development. As regards the performance of libraries, the author surveys those erroneous and simplifying opinions which inevitably lead to the conclusion that new paths will have to be opened up since libraries cannot cope with the requirements of development.
It will certainly take a long time before the recognized and systematized demands of research for information have been brought into harmony with the supply of Information. Researchers do not analyze their own information needs, thus the identification as well as the systematization of such needs is left to the libraries and other information supplying bodies. The exploration of users' information needs (users studies) are important undertakings, requiring consider-able efforts, both intellectual and materials. The author reports on the three-year work of the Bath University of Technology (England) aimed at determining the information needs of the faculty-members of social science departments of the Bath and Bristol universities. He gives a detailed account of experiments complementary to other methods of investigations (questionnaires, interviews) by which the information officer explores the needs for new and modified information services, taking into account the opinion of users.
There is also an increased demand for the superimposition of services. This method can be outlined as follows: a certain service rendered by one institution forms an end product from the aspect of another information supplying institution, and from the given service the latter will develop another service. This presumes a high level of organization, division of labour, and co-operation. The author also points to some obstacles in the way of planned organization in West Europe. He analyzes the problems of information supply both at a national level and within the individual institutions, the relationship between nation-wide and local services, and quotes examples of aspirations for a nation-wide information supply. Finally, he refers to the importance of data banks, particularly as regards the development of the supply of social science information.
