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
Ill s) items, co-operation which would neither cause gaps in, nor redundancy of, information. Will information systems outside the country quarantee a high quality and a rapid exchange of information? How can a given country's ideological orientation be aligned with systems in a foreign country of a different political persuasion? How will foreign political motivations influence the coverage of domestic information demands? In terms of financial outlay, is it at all economical to rely on foreign systems? Recent information theory will hardly be able to answer these questions. The answers require extensive research and appropriate empirical data. And a pertinent answer is likely to be provided only in the course of practical operation of a given system. Therefore, it would not seem advisable for a country to plunge headlong into international co-operation in information systems and services at large; rather, it would be more expedient to co-operate initially only in certain well-defined information fields in which favourable home reception and high-quality services may be expected, i.e. areas most advantageous in terms of international, centralized information output as well as domestic capability for receiving such output and providing national (decentralized) input. Concluding remarks Internationa] co-operation in the field of social science information is gathering momentum. Therefore, in elaborating the concepts and development of social science information, each country should keep in mind the potential rights and responsibilities attendant upon relevant international co-operation. It is advisable to choose those international solutions which will increase the domestic feasibility of information reception and service. It is indispensable that each country should first ensure the coverage of its own national primary sources of social science information, before linking up with international co-operative efforts aimed in particular at the coverage of secondary information sources. Moreover, the question of information techniques and the compability of services is extremely important for small countries. These countries are above all interested in the development of internationally co-ordinated and compatible techniques and systems, as a means for partly or wholly overcoming their own traditional information self-sufficiency and isolation. It is therefore very important for small countries to decide on the priorities to guide their international co-operation policy in the field of information. The development of international co-operation depends on different objective factors, some of which have been mentioned in this article. But, if not more, an equally significant subjective factor concerns the attitude of information specialists participating in cooperative information efforts. It is imperative that information specialists acquire, early in their training, an attitude of co-operation instead of the still prevailing "do-it-yourself" outlook. Explicit institutional policy directives should reinforce the
