Information providers: A growth area
| Pages | 469-472 |
| Published date | 01 June 1997 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045598 |
| Date | 01 June 1997 |
| Author | Arthur Winzenried |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Information providers:
a growth area
FOCUS
brief
communi-
cation
..the changing
face
of
information
Arthur Winzenried
Information Manager/Librarian, Lilydale Adventist Academy, PMB
#1,
Lilydale,
3140 Victoria, Australia
E-mail: arthurw@ozonline.com.au
http://www.cybernex.au/school/Iaalib/headof1.htm
1.
Introduction
In recent times there have been occasions when information providers have voiced concerns regarding their
permanency. Modem technology appears
to be
threatening their existence. 'Why employ an expensive infor-
mation professional when
I can
simply connect
my
employees directly
to the
Internet and they can
get the
facts for themselves?' And there are places where this
is
happening. However, I would suggest, on
the
basis
of some considerable research, that this development
is
limited and likely
to be of
short
duration.
As soon
as
the first time and motion studies
are
carried
out
on this situation,
it
will
be
realised that
it is
very wasteful
to
allow specialists
in a
particular field
to
search
for
data they need
via
the Internet, when Internet specialists
could
do it
faster and more reliably.
By its
very nature
the
Internet
is
vast, somewhat confusing
to the
less
experienced and often very, very distracting.
This article suggests that there
is a
strong case
for
retaining and even expanding the employment
of
profes-
sional data managers/providers
who
will locate
and
prepare data
for
those regularly applying
it.
Only
by
employing professionals
in
this area will
the
educational and business institutions
of the
future economically
access
the
fast growing and ever-changing world
of
modern information.
2.
Past times
In
the
past, emphasis
has
been
on
information
providers offering
a
storehouse
of
data
in
which their
clients were able
to
locate
the
desired information.
This
is no
longer feasible. Times
are
changing:
the
astronomical growth
of
the information industry illus-
trates this
as
does,
of
course,
the
never-ending
Internet. Storehouses cannot
now
contain
all the
data being required,
and
with
new
data being
added/created faster than storehouses
can be
built
or
filled,
the
possibility
of
this concept satisfying
future information needs
is
unrealistic.
3. Present pressures
In the present
world,
demand
for
data
is a
changing
thing.
More frequently educational curricula
at all
levels
are
taking
on the
shape
of
what
was
once
exclusively a tertiary situation and requiring students
to carry
out
investigations
of
their
own
choosing.
Sometimes guides
are
given, sometimes they
are
not. Either
way,
students
are
requiring
a
broader
spectrum
of
data, increasingly
of a
more specialised
nature.
The educational information/data provider
is
thus
expected
to be
able
to
provide
the
most obscure
information,
in
great
detail,
at a moment's notice
and
in
a
particular format (usually electronic)
to
suit
the
students' need.
In
the
business world
the
situation
is
virtually
the
same.
No
longer
do
professional information users
need data
for
their latest development: they are also
increasingly demanding similar data
on
what
the
opposition
are
doing, futuristic projections
of
likely
outcomes
and
market projections with increasingly
unpredictable variables
all
included. Like
the
educa-
tional clients, they
too
require increasingly obscure
data and they require
it on
immediate delivery
— if
not sooner.
4.
The
knee-jerk reaction
The short term solution being tried
in a few
places
presently is the highly simplistic one of connecting all
clients
to the
largest available data source
— the
Internet.
For
some this seems
the
most appropriate
answer.
The
Internet
is
modem (so
it
must be good),
it
is
unbelievably large
(so the
information required
most
be
there somewhere)
and it is
relatively eco-
nomical (only
a
few cents
a
day).
However, this measure
is
most appealing in terms
of
immediate cost savings
and
this leads
to its own
The Electronic Library, Vol. 15, No. 6, December
1997 469
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