This publication aims to provide a guide to government organisations holding information that may be of value to business. Certainly there is much valuable information to be gained from official sources, but changes within the structure of government, the introduction of executive agencies and the increase in the amount of information being made available can result in very time consuming searches.
The bulk of the guide comprises an alphabetical listing of government departments, agencies and other organisations. Libraries and information departments are included, although the majority are not primarily for end business users without prior arrangement, but for use by civil servants. Detail included for each entry is comprehensive: address, telephone and fax numbers, functions, library and information services, printed sources (if relevant), telephone contacts, related organisations and electronic sources, with a very useful inclusion of Internet page reference. It is interesting to note that the majority of entries do contain an Internet page reference. The editor does admit that this publication will be soon out of date; two changes which should have been known about before publication were spotted ‐ the change from UK Markets/Taylor Nelson AGB to the Product Sales and Trade series within the Office for National Statistics stable of publications and the change in access for Companies House Direct from Mercury Business Information to direct access. That said, the degree of detail included in this guide makes for a useful reference point in gaining knowledge on the types of bodies under the “government” banner and their potential in terms of provision of not just business information but information with a wider context.
Following the main body of the guide is a name index and a subject index. Both are brief and could have benefited from more research and a broader remit, that is aiding the user to locate a relevant organisation from the stance of a particular enquiry or subject approach. It is felt that the guide offers more to the information worker who is willing to spend a deal of time working through the publication to build up knowledge for subsequent use rather than being able to quickly locate the possible source for a specific enquiry. The guide is recommended not just for business libraries but also for reference libraries.
