PROFESSIONAL STAFF IN INFORMATION WORK—SOME FACTS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR The FUTURE

The survey which I shall describe was first discussed early in 1964 when the DSIR Information Committee turned its attention to the problem of the training and recruitment of information staff. To this end it set up a working party under the chairmanship of Dr C. J. Smithells to examine the problem in detail. The working party came to the conclusion that the first thing that was needed was a lot more factual information about the present position. So it decided to launch a national survey of staff employed in information work by means of two questionnaires which it drafted, one to be answered by management and the other by individuals. (Perhaps this is a convenient point to mention that the working party defined information work as ‘… all the normal activities of information departments and special libraries engaged in science and technology, but excluding clerical and typing duties, public relations, advertising and sales’; this is the definition of ‘information work’ used throughout this paper). A pilot survey was then carried out in order to test the questionnaires; participating in this were an information department of a nationalized industry, a research association together with some of its member firms, a DSIR Branch Office which included some firms in the private sector of industry within its area, a DSIR Research Station and the DSIR Headquarters Library. This allowed us to finalize the questionnaires to be used. I should like to thank all those who helped us with the exercise—the chairman and members of the working party and all those who assisted in the pilot survey.