Computer‐based Information Services in Science—Have they a future? Available to Purchase

It seems hardly necessary to sell the view that ready access to information is a ‘good’ thing. As members of Aslib we all, in one way or another, depend for our livelihood on the belief that the storage, retrieval and dissemination of information is as necessary, indeed as fundamental, an element in scientific research and development as it is in every other field of human endeavour. Happily our belief in the service we perform appears, in general terms, to be shared by those we serve. It would be very easy, of course, to catalogue the frustrations of both the users and the providers of information and to give the impression that the art (I cannot give any serious credence to the view that it is a science) of the information ‘middle‐man’ serves only as a barrier to the effective flow of information from the producer to the ultimate user. But I hope that you will agree with me that the evidence of the need for, and value of; the ‘middle‐man’ is too strong for us to have any doubt that, if I asked the question ‘Information services in science—have they any future?’ the answer would be an unqualified ‘yes’.