The RELATIONS BETWEEN A CENTRAL INFORMATION UNIt AND SECTIONAL UNITS. PART I. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The decision by Aslib to allocate a complete session of the Annual Conference to two papers on the relations between a central information unit and sectional units is an attempt to bring into the open a question which has for years been clouded in prejudice. The growth of information services, whether on an international, national, industry, or laboratory scale, has often been haphazard. A central unit, or a number of sectional units, or both systems together, may have developed as a result of pressures which often do not reflect the true needs of the users. The purpose of this paper is to try to review the problem objectively and to see what principles should govern the relationship between various units concerned with information within an organization (using the word organization in its widest sense).