COMMON PROBLEMS OF DOCUMENTARY INFORMATION TRANSFER, STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL IN INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS

The aim of this project, as its title indicates, was to explore common problems of documentary information transfer, storage and retrieval in industrial organizations. Consultancy projects over many years had repeatedly shown us similar faults and weaknesses in the ways that firms manage their information—especially the kinds of information that are not looked after by information specialists or trained library staff. It was difficult, however, to draw firm conclusions from these scattered impressions and instances. The organizations we had worked in were of all shapes and sizes—industrial and commercial enterprises, government departments, international organizations and research associations. Their only common characteristic was that at one time or another they had come to us for advice, thus admitting an awareness that something was wrong!