The Information Worker in Isolation: Problems and Achievements

Whether they can legitimately be described as virtuosi or one man (sic) bands, information professionals working in isolation have become something of a cause célèbre recently. This study looks first at their contribution to the collection, analysis, synthesis and dissemination of information in a single field — that of employment studies. Then, using the test of relative job satisfaction as a function of effectiveness, the characteristics, problems and satisfactions of the workers themselves are examined. The present work is based on two reports of a survey undertaken on behalf of the British Library Research and Development Department in 1983.