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
83 The network of Hungarian libraries and information services still bear the signs of extensive development and those of cultural orientation for the people, which had been evolved after the second world war and which were fully justified in that historical epoch and in some respects ever since. But the placing of information activities in government is, to this day, uncertain. (Traditionally there have been organizational frameworks on good theoretical grounds for the high level development of public libraries.) The lack of a general overall conception meant that no information policy had been formed but there have been fragmentary information policies. These exist as fragments and independently of one another. For that reason alone it was impossible to implement worksharing (except on paper) and the dissemination of scientific knowledge based on international experience and on the Bradford Law. It's well known that the latter states that the most valuable information is created at just a few places whereas poor information is created at very many places. In addition to that little has been done to teach information culture and information at third level. There have been some initial steps to incorporate up-to-date knowledge relating to subject literature but the overall approach is still to come. The social and material appreciation of information science bears no relation to its real importance. Whatever is lacking is due to attitudes and in due course can be righted. What is to be done? First of all we need to recognise that the development of information is reckoned with by governments in industrially developed countries. There are reports such as the Anderla report, prepared for the European Economic Community, the Weinberg report, prepared for the White House, or the governmental reports prepared for the Federal Republic of Germany. The commissioned reports needed a commissioner as well as direction by the state. Such direction comprises the legal regulation of the problems and questions of information. When working out an overall information concept we need to distinguish between an information service for national culture and for the strengthening of national identity and a service for trade. The former must be funded by the government, as it is done elsewhere, the latter has to be paid for like any implements or services used by the user. One may use the working hypothesis whereby the more developed the economy the larger is its information-commodity dividend. This kind of information is all based on interest. Up-to-date information needs new type of information experts. They are the full participants of research work and work for decision making. At the focal points of the economy, management and, decision-making and at research units such information officers are needed who sieve through secondary information sources (reference works, bibliographies) then repackage and synthétisé them for desision-makers and for general research and development. Furthermore it is important to implement the decision of a competition of the National Scientific Research Fund for an information infrastructure network and no less important to introduce information science (which includes tackling subject literature) in second and third level and in adult education curricula. This task is far from easy but sacrifices are needed when taking the next step. In: Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian daily), 1987.No. 187. 7.p.
