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)

I. The socio-professional aspects of the development of the scientific information with special regard to social sciences

62 7) INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE USE (collective) Collective use offered by libraries with a stimulating atmosphere, possibilities of browsing though new acquisitions, consultation of catalogues, is irreplaceable. 8) SOCIOLOGICAL EFFECT (human relations) The sociological effect is clearly positive, as human and professional relations and contacts are created among individuals. 9) DISPLACING THE READER'S ACTIVITY (active) The use demands a certain activity, sometimes uncomfortable (moving to a distance, noise in the library). 10) AESTHETICISM (yes) Handling of books, and of documents in general in the libraries makes the manifestation of a certain aesthetic effect possible (the typography, the binding of works, etc.) 11) ACCESSIBILITY (unlimited) Access is unlimited, free of charge (or nearly so), democratic, and has a socializing tendency. 7) INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE USE (individual) The data bases penetrate "privacy", the homes of the users; the latter are deprived of a stimulating atmosphere. 8) SOCIOLOGICAL EFFECT (alienation) This has a contrary effect: the use of viewdata dissociates the individuals from each other, and pushes them towards solitude. 9) DISPLACING THE READER'S ACTIVITY (passive) The use has a certain effect towards passivity, which however can be very comfortable as it introduces the library, at least in part, to the home. 10) AESTHETICISM (no) The print-outs of the databanks make writing uniform, and they have no aesthetic effect. 11) ACCESSIBILITY (limited) The access is limited by the higher cost, and there is a tendency towards isolation in this domain. Leonardo da Vinci conceived that in some respects the ideal proportion of man would be to have four arms and six legs. Viewdata can provide some elements of this ideal proportion. Culture and science are imperfect by definition, but are always