György Rózsa: Information: from claims to needs (Joint edition published by the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Kultura Hungarian Foreign Trading Company. Budapest, 1988)
II. International relations in the field of scientific information
102 as far as possible base their information work on document and on official publications, both national and international, especially where the information relates to a particular region. This spirit of objectivity in international documentation services is an institutional characteristic of theirs and it is precisely this international institutional character which is specific and which distinguishes this type of international service from other professional types. First of all, international documentation services may be distinguished from one another according to their orientation in serving the main group of users. In order of priority, the first type is oriented towards the international organization itself, in other words, the Governments themselves, and the second towards the scientific community. These orientations must be harmonized. International documentation services are not only responsible to international organizations and Governments but, without forgetting the order of priority, they are also responsible to the world of research. Such services therefore occupy a place in the world community of scientific information services while retaining their specific character. In addition to official publications, international documentation services draw upon specialized literature - books, series, journals and other scientific publications - without which they would be no more than repositories, mere catalogues of official publications, mere bones without flesh. It should be noted that, despite its powers and specific official functions, international documentation is no island in the midst of a sea of information. 4. Aspects of the Orientation of International Documentation and its Sources of Information With regard to the utilization aspects of international documentation, emphasis must be placed first of all on the possibilities offered by the documents of international organizations for purposes of the economic, scientific and technological activity of States. The ambitious programmes of the United Nations system for a scientific decade, such as hydrology, the development of short-, medium- and long-term scientific projects and activities, the Geophysical Year, the desalinization of seawater, or again the programme for arid zones, etc., all afford useful information — leaving aside foreign policy — on the economic and scientific policy and the technological progress of States. A long-term programme (hydrological, meteorological or soil improvement) may at the same time furnish suggestions for industry, foreign trade and technological progress. Today s resolution instituting a long-term project contains the elements of production and export, even intellectual export, of the day after tomorrow. Consequently, the processing and abstracting of the documents of international organizations go well beyond the normal processing of publications in libraries. Such documentation calls for systematic, dynamic and highly specialized analysis. The documentation services for international organizations can facilitate this work by producing an up-to-date index of their documents. What is needed is a constructive co-operation among international and national information services, including the transmission of "national " information to international organizations.
