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MAKING INFORMATION AVAILABLE Paul Nieuwenhuysen Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium Keywords: information, libraries, information centers, information units, documentation, collection development, classification, thesaurus systems, databases, CD-ROM, Internet, World-Wide Web Contents 1. Introduction 2. Relations with Other Articles of this Encyclopedia 3. Variations on the Theme of “Information Centers” 4. Activities of Information Centers: an Overview 5. Access to the Services Provided by Information Centers 6. Collection Development in Information Centers 7. Assessing the Impact of Scientific Journals 8. Organizing Access to Information in Information Centers 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Organizing Access to Hard Copy Documents in Information Centers 8.3. Organizing Access to Computer-Based Information in Information Centers 8.4. Integrating Access to all Types of Information in Information Centers 9. Applying Information and Communication Technology 9.1. General Considerations 9.2. Using General Office Application Software 9.3. Using an Integrated Online Library Management System 9.4. Methods to Make Databases Accessible Through the Internet 9.5. Web Site Development 9.6. Digital, Virtual, Electronic Libraries 10. Educating Users in Finding and Managing Information 11. Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations in Information centers 12. Cooperation, Networking, and Interaction among Information Centers 13. Future Trends in Libraries and Information Centers 14. Information Sources about Library and Information Science 1 15. Making Information Available in the Domain of “Water” Summary This article presents an overview of activities that are carried out in libraries and information centers to make information available to readers and users of information sources. The previous article by the same author discusses how to find information and that forms a good basis for this one that is focusing less on information users but more on information professionals. Typical activities in libraries and information centers include collection development, cataloguing information sources, organizing information sources for more efficient access by using classification and thesaurus systems, providing reference services, interlibrary co-operation including interlibrary lending, orientating and educating users and potential users in the field of information access, and marketing information products and services. Besides those typical activities, we see also more general activities like creating documents, managing personnel, communicating with higher management, and continuing professional development. Due to the rapid evolution and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in general, libraries and information centers are more and more involved in applying ICT to make their activities more efficient. For instance, they create databases, make information available through the Internet, create web sites, retrieve information through the Internet, and provide access to Internet workstations. The distinction between managing data and information is not sharp. Nevertheless, here we do not focus on numerical data (like for instance hydrometrical data in hydrology), but on information stored in documents. 1. Introduction Acquiring, transferring, using and exploiting scientific and technical data, information, documents, and knowledge is vital for progress in economy, science, and society in general. After the article on finding information, this article presents an overview of activities that are carried out in libraries, information and documentation centers by information professionals, to make information available to readers, users of information sources. Ideally these information professionals should combine skills and knowledge related to “information” and information and communication technology, with expertise in the topic, the subject domain of the “contents” of the particular information sources. 2. Relations with Other Articles of this Encyclopedia The author of this article has also written the preceding article on "Finding information", so that there are relations between both articles. The preceding article focuses on the users of information and tries to guide these users and potential users to an efficient usage of information sources. This article on providing information focuses more on how information professionals can assist users of information by guiding these to information and by providing access to information. The article on finding information comes first, because the contents should be mastered by anyone, not only by information professionals or providers of access to information, but also by users of information. This article on providing access to information builds on the preceding one and goes further by discussing aspects that should be mastered ideally by information professionals, but not necessarily by all users of information. 3. 2 Variations on the Theme of "Information Centers" Many kinds of organizations focus on providing access to information. For instance, there are organizations that are named --libraries, --archives, --information centers / units / services / departments, --documentation centers / units / services / departments. The distinction among these is not sharp. They can operate centralized or decentralized and on a local, national, regional or international scale. 4. Activities of Information Centers: an Overview Here an overview is presented first; afterwards, some of the topics receive more attention. The typical activities of information centers aim at providing access to information. We can distinguish the following activities: --Development of a local, physical collection of documents and arranging licenses to access information online. --Storage, organization and conservation/preservation of collected hard-copy documents; cataloguing of documents; classifying documents, adding subject terms to document descriptions, to improve retrieval of documents from the collection. Managing the circulation of materials. (An online integrated library management system can be useful here.) --Providing access to information that is locally stored on hard disks of computers, on CD-ROMs or on DVD. --Providing computers to access online information sources. --Setting up a web site on the Internet as a gateway to the available information. Integrating the access to information sources in various formats, which leads to a hybrid library. --Providing current awareness services to users. --Training users and potential users of information sources in finding and managing information. --Collaboration with related institutes. Many activities can be seen in many organizations, not only in those focusing on providing access to information. For instance: --Space planning --Managing staff --Applying common, general, horizontal information and communication technology (ICT) --Marketing, promotion, public relations --Maintaining good links with senior, higher management --Disaster planning --Continuous professional development. 3 5. Access to the Services Provided by Information Centers Information centers can be accessible by the public to varying degrees: --Is the catalogue accessible locally, on CD-ROM, or through the Internet? --Are the materials accessible for local consultation? --Are loans allowed? --Is interlibrary lending possible? Great variations exist in the prices that are charged for these services. The accessibility and prices can depend on the type of users (internal or external users for instance). 6. Collection Development in Information Centers We can distinguish two classes of activities in collection development: --Classical, traditional acquisitions of documents in hard copy or on CD-ROM or DVD for local storage (and in many cases conservation) and of course for usage. --Relatively recent activities related to licensing access to information available on CD-ROM or DVD or online through the Internet. The trend away from buying information towards licensing to access computer-based information suffers from a disadvantage: more computer equipment, programs and networks and skilled operators must be available; on the other hand, we see many advantages such as a decrease in the costs of storing physical documents, and better accessibility of information, almost continuously and from many places. 7. Assessing the Impact of Scientific Journals One component of collection development is providing access to scientific journals. This is an important activity in scientific information centers. Unfortunately access to journals can take a considerable part of the budget of an organization. Therefore, selecting or deselecting journals is a task that requires some decision support. Information managers are interested in assessing the influence, the impact, the importance, the usefulness, and the prestige of particular scientific journals. Furthermore, assessing the impact of journals is also useful for the following reasons: --Scientific authors need to select journals to publish their articles. --Science and personnel management requires assessment of the influence of a scientific author; indirectly, they can more easily assess the influence of the journals publishing his/her articles. Therefore a few methods in this area deserve to be mentioned: --Relying on the opinion of experts and users; --Measurement of usage frequency: observations of usage of journals in hard copy, or investigation of automatically collected usage statistics of electronic versions of journals --Relying on indicators based on citation analysis, published in Journal Citation Reports, produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). The most important of these indicators are the number of received citations during one year, and the Impact Factor. The Impact Factor by ISI of a journal in a particular year is the number of citations found by 4 ISI in that year to articles published in that journal in the previous 2 years, divided by the number of articles published in that journal in the same 2 years. In this way the Impact factor gives an idea of the importance of the average article in a particular journal. The indicators have been published by ISI in print with the ISI Citation Indexes, on microfiche, on CD-ROM since 1996, and through the WWW since 1999. They provide, in many cases, a view that is more objective than the opinion of experts. They are easy and cheap to use, and widely used. However, some shortcomings of indicators like the Impact Factor should not be neglected: --The Impact Factor has a bias favoring journals in scientific fields with a short half-life period of citation, and in which journal articles are often cited in other articles. --Only for about 4000 journals a value is listed by the ISI, while many others also have non-zero value. --Citation data in the ISI database are not completely free of errors. --The value observed for a journal can fluctuate significantly from year to year. --The meaning of the Impact Factor is not well understood by many decision makers or policy makers. 8. 8.1. Organizing Access to Information in Information Centers Introduction How to organize access depends of course on the type of information source. So we see: --Activities concerning collected hard-copy documents; --Providing access to online computer-based information sources. Also the information center should try to integrate access to all types of information as far as possible in a so-called “hybrid library”. 8.2. Organizing Access to Hard-Copy Documents in Information Centers Several activities focus on organizing access to hard-copy documents: --Storage, organization and conservation/preservation of collected hard copy documents. --Improving the retrieval of documents from the collection: cataloguing of documents according to an existing standard, classifying documents according to a classification scheme, adding terms that describe the subject to the description of each document; these terms are ideally selected from a thesaurus. --Organizing circulation of documents. An integrated online library management system can be useful for organizing access to available documents. 8.3. Organizing Access to Computer-Based Information in Information Centers Several activities focus on organizing access to computer-based information: --Making information accessible in the form of databases or web sites or combinations, on hard disks of 5 computers or on CD-ROM disks or on DVD, on stand-alone microcomputers or on a networked computer. --Providing users and potential users with access to microcomputer workstations, to the local area network of the organization, and to the Internet with the WWW, so that they can easily identify and use online accessible, computer-based information sources. 8.4. Integrating Access to all Types of Information in Information Centers Users are in general more interested in the contents of the information carriers (documents) than in the type of information carrier such as hard copy or computer-based. Therefore, an information center should try to offer access in a way that offers all documents nicely integrated, irrespective of the type of document / information carrier. In this way the so called “hybrid libraries” are created. However, access to all types of documents cannot be fully integrated in an ideal way. Some tools can help to integrate access. For instance: --An integrated library management system that offers a catalogue that points not only to hard-copy documents, but also to online accessible information. --A web site created, offered, and maintained by an information center which can point out how to access the available hard copy documents and can offer hyperlinks to online accessible documents. 9. 9.1. Applying Information and Communication Technology General Considerations In view of the many applications of information and communication technology in information centers, the following provides evaluation criteria for selecting computer systems, hard- and software. General criteria: --History and quality of the producer and of the dealer? --Time required for delivery? --Technical support, help, assistance by phone; by fax; by e-mail, via WWW, via a user group, on site, during installation, in the future, during the weekend? --Warranty: how long? In the case of hardware: Repair work and required parts free of charge? On-site or only carry-in? General criteria for application software packages: --Which operating system is required by the application software? --How good and reliable is the software producer: its history, reputation, future…? --How good and reliable is the software supplier (distributor, dealer)? --How many installations and users are there in the country? in the region? in the world? --To what extent is the software compatible with hardware that is already available (such as computers, displays, printers…)? --To what extent does the software require new hardware? 6 --Does the software allow an efficient usage of a mouse? --Is the software package easy to use? Ergonomic aspects are important, as training of personnel is expensive and time-consuming. --Does the program use random access memory and other computer system resources efficiently? --Are good and up to date manuals for the package available? --Is an online tutorial (computer-based training) available? --Does the software provide online help? (in context?) --Is good training and support available in your area, from the producer directly, or from the distributor, or from others…? At what price? --Is communication with other users easily available for discussions and to solve problems? Online? Through the Internet? --What is the initial price per user, per site…? --Are regular and substantial updates available? Online or only offline? At what price? --Can the user program extensions? --When some computer system is already used, can existing, available data be exported from that system and can they be imported to be managed by the new system? --Is using an ASP (Application Service Provider) through a network (such as the Internet) considered as an alternative for in-house implementation and development of computer software? (Examples: computer networks for libraries; electronic mail through the WWW) --How well can data be imported from other persons, institutes, computer systems, databases? (Example: downloading of database records from an available database/catalogue of books, compact disks, films, videos…) --How well can data be exported to other persons, institutes, computer systems, databases? (Example: contributing database records to a union catalogue of journals, books…) --Is the software compatible with standards used in data input, import from other systems, and export to other systems? (Examples: in the case of software for a database system, the availability of a thesaurus module with standard relations among thesaurus terms; book database record formatting according to Unimarc for export to another database; import and export of HTML or XML files used on a web…) --Is the software suitable for use in an Internet context? (Examples: create or export files in HTML or XML format to make them available through the WWW or an intranet; the creation of e-mail messages by the software to alert users of problems, things to do…) 9.2. Using General Office Application Software Information centers can and do apply so-called “horizontal” software packages that can be found in many places for functions that are carried out in many organizations: word processing, calculations, general (relational) database management, presentations, use of Internet with email and the WWW, web site development and maintenance. Integrated office software packages are available at a relatively low price, as the development costs are shared by many customers. However, using a general, “horizontal” database management system to develop a more specific “vertical” package may turn out to be costly, due to the 7 high wages of skilled persons that can develop and maintain computer software. 9.3. Using an Integrated Online Library Management System In contrast with the more widespread, general, “horizontal” office software packages mentioned above, many information centers and libraries use also more specific, “vertical” software packages, such as software to create a catalogue of available documents, or an integrated library management system. Most of these systems offer modules that are integrated more or less with each other for: -- acquisitions of non-serial documents, -- the control of serial publications, -- catalogue management, -- searching the catalogue (an OPAC, online public access catalogue), -- interlibrary lending… An evaluation or selection procedure can be supported by the many general criteria that are applicable to the evaluation and selection of most types of application software packages. Furthermore, more specific criteria for library management systems are also applicable. An important consideration is: What is the underlying database management system (DBMS) or retrieval system? What are the consequences of this basic architecture/structure from a business point of view and from a technical point of view? A program for storage and retrieval of structured text information is developed by UNESCO and is available free of charge in various versions. It is named CDS/ISIS for the computer operating systems MS-DOS and Unix, while the more recent version, Winisis, exploits better the operating system Microsoft Windows, offering a more user-friendly graphical interface. This software package can be used for instance for catalogue management and for the exchange of databases, but is not a fully integrated library management system. 9.4. Methods to Make Databases Accessible through the Internet A growing number of methods are available to provide (end-) users access to the contents of databases (catalogues for instance) through the international Internet or through an institutional intranet. Figure 1 illustrates the basic approach and flow of information from the user’s query to results on his computer display. Figure 1: Basic approach and flow of information from the user’s query to results on his computer display. The following are some of the important variations on this theme: -- The end-user applies a client program that supports the telnet protocol to connect to a telnet server that provides access to some program on a server computer to retrieve data from the database. An advantage is that relatively cheap, old client workstations can be used; in other words, more expensive, recent and powerful workstations are not required. A disadvantage of this approach is that the user interface in telnet is character-based only, providing not some graphical user interface that most users prefer; furthermore, not only a telnet server is required but also a database server. Many consider telnet as obsolete, due to the popularity of the web; telnet access is replaced by access through web browsers. Nevertheless, it is still applied. 8 -- The end-user applies not an open standard client program, but a proprietary client program that is specifically developed to retrieve data through the Internet from the database on a server computer. Such a retrieval client program is developed in most cases by or for the distributor of the database. Advantages are that the proprietary client program for retrieval is designed specifically for the target databases, so that it can provide a more suitable user interface than a more general, standard client program; furthermore, some metadata related to the specific databases on the server can reside on the client together with the client software, so that the end-user can access these offline, for instance to prepare a search action or to select a particular database from a set of databases that are accessible. Disadvantages, however, are that this approach requires installation, maintenance and learning of specific software on each client computer, which cost time and disk space; furthermore, using a graphical interface as well as metadata on the client system requires a relatively powerful client workstation. This method is obsolete due to the popularity of the web approach and is replaced in many cases by access through more “universal”, general web client programs. -- The end-user applies a general, “universal” web client program that supports the hypertext transfer protocol (http) to connect to a web (http) server that provides access to some program on a server computer to retrieve data from the database. Advantages of this approach are that it requires only common, well known, “universal” web browser software on the client computers, and that a graphical interface is possible with a graphical web client program. Disadvantages, however, are that using a graphical interface in the web client requires a relatively powerful client workstation, and that a web client provides only a general user interface, so that the database server has to provide additional components to the user interface for retrieval; furthermore, not only a web server is required but also a database server. An increasing number of classical, character-based commercial, public access database hosts offer access in this way. This approach has been very common since the end of the 1990s. -- The end-user applies directly on the client workstation one of the available client programs that function according to the open protocol Z39.50, that is developed to retrieve data through the Internet from one particular Z39.50 compliant database server computer, or even from several Z39.50 compliant database server computers at the same time. This approach is mainly used in some libraries for access to catalogues and other databases. An advantage is that more than one database can be accessed at the same time; this allows timesavings when searching for rare records. Disadvantages, however, are that this approach requires the installation, maintenance, and learning of Z39.50 client software on the client computers, which cost time and disk space; furthermore not all databases are accessible using the Z39.50 protocol. This approach is not common, in spite of the sophistication and the suitability for retrieval purposes. 9.5. Web Site Development Information centers can create a web site on the Internet as a gateway to the available information and to the services offered by the center. Through this web site, the information center can attempt to integrate access to information sources in various formats accessible through various media. Such a “WWW-based guide” can be interesting for internal as well as external users of the services offered by the information center. 9.6. Digital, Virtual, Electronic Libraries Access to a growing amount of information is provided by combining: -- classical, traditional, standardized methods, practices and structures used in physical libraries and archives, 9 -- computers and computing power that is decreasing in price, -- the growing communication possibilities of electronic, digital networks like the Internet with the application WWW that is very popular now. This leads to a growing number of so-called “digital (or virtual or electronic) libraries”. When building a digital library it should be kept in mind that it should be accessible easily now and in the future; these following principles and standards can help. 10. Educating Users in Finding and Managing Information To make sure that information sources are better appreciated, used, managed and exploited, the users and potential users should receive training. This activity can be taken care of by schools and universities, or directly by the information centers or libraries that provide access to information sources. 11. Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations, in Information Centers Information units should continually assess their products, work and services to ensure that they are relevant for their users and potential users. Feedback from users should be collected informally as well as more systematically. Also, information centers should remind their users as well as their potential users of the products and services that are available. To achieve this aim, the center can display recently acquired books and other documents, in the center or during scientific conferences, and it can make available short texts, guides, lists of recently acquired documents, other announcements, annual reports, articles in the professional literature, etc, in printed format and/or through a local web site. Seminars for users and potential users can also be organized with speakers from the center or with information experts from other organizations. 12. Co-operation, Networking and Interaction among Information Centers No information center can be self-sufficient. Information professionals share a tradition of co-operation and interaction. Collaboration among information centers can take many forms. For instance: -- Developing and maintaining common union catalogues of monographs in the collections, and of serials available; -- Avoiding unnecessary overlap in collections; -- Resource sharing, interlibrary lending, document supply/delivery to external requesting institutes or persons; -- Forming a consortium of organizations, in order to obtain lower prices when buying hard-copy documents or access to online accessible information sources like electronic journals and databases; -- Developing standards related to information sources and services. Information centers and of course their staff members can work together in professional organizations related to information. Those organizations can be generally oriented with an international, regional, or national membership, or they can be more subject-oriented. Examples of international organizations are: 10 -- IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: http://www.ifla.org/ -- SLA, the Special Libraries Association: http://www.sla.org/ -IATUL, the International http://educate.lib.chalmers.se/IATUL/ Association of Technological University Libraries: 13. Future Trends in Libraries and Information Centers The evolution shows more application of information technology, a growing impact of online access information sources, a growing together in many organizations of the library and the computer center (in some cases the computer center takes over the library, creating an information center), information delivery directly from producer to end-user without involvement of a library as intermediary, and the disappearance of the library as a place. 14. Information Sources about Library and Information Science Like in any subject domain, information can be found in books, journals, abstracts, Internet-based sites and documents, online interest groups, etc. A dictionary focusing on library and information science is accessible online and free of charge through http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/library/odlis.html Abstracts of publications in library and information science are produced in printed format, on CD-ROM, and online accessible, but not free of charge, by several competitors such as Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and Information Science Abstracts (ISA). Several sites in the WWW on library and information science are accessible free of charge. Some examples are: --The full text of some http://dois.mimas.ac.uk/ computer-based journals in information science is searchable: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/~emorgan/morganagus/index.html http://www.bubl.ac.uk/journals/ --Information about information technology used http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding/ltg.html by and in libraries is available from --Vertical portals (“vortals”) for librarians and information professionals offer access to professional information, free of charge: general, for all domains of information: http://libraryhq.com/, http://www.librariansyellowpages.com/ offers a buyer’s guide for librarians, http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_bib/ offers links to WWW sites of national libraries, government information services, library associations and on-line resources, with special emphasis placed on activities in UNESCO's fields of competence namely education, sciences, culture, communication and information, and special sections regularly feature news and articles of interest to librarians and highlight the activities of a selected library and/or collection. An overview of library-related computer-based discussion groups has been made available at http://www.wrlc.org/liblists/ 15. Making Information Available in the Domain of "Water" 11 The methods applied in an information center in the domain or “water” are not significantly different from those used in other scientific information centers. Nevertheless, besides the more general other parts of this article, we focus here briefly on making information available that is related to water. Some thesauri include water as an important component, so that they can be used in subject descriptions in information centers that focus mainly on water. Examples are the thesaurus systems that are used in building the Aquatic Science and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), the bibliographic database Aqualine, and the bibliographic databases of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau (CAB). A WWW site that provides many links http://www.wco.com/~rteeter/waterlib.html to water-related information is for instance Some organizations and associations stimulate co-operation of information centers that focus on waterrelated subjects: -- Information professionals have established organizations like IAMSLIC, the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers: http://siolibrary.ucsd.edu/IAMSLIC/, and EURASLIC, the European Association of Aquatic Sciences Libraries and Information Centers: http://atlantis.fl.ncmr.gr/euraslic.htm --The UNESCO-IOC recognizes that information is a valuable resource and therefore promotes and improves international co-operation. This has resulted, for instance, in International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE). Glossary CD-ROM: Compact disk – Read-only memory ftp: file transfer protocol HTML: hypertext mark-up language http: hypertext transfer protocol ICT: information and communication technology URL: universal resource locator WWW: World-Wide Web XML: extended mark-up language Bibliography Arms W.Y. (2000). Automated digital libraries: How effectively can computers be used for the skilled tasks of professional librarianship? [online] D-Lib Magazine, July/August 2000. Available from: http://www5.cnri.reston.va.us/dlib/july00/arms/ [A provocative article available online free of charge about the trend that relatively cheap computers can increasingly provide services similar to those carried out traditionally by relatively expensive, trained, expert librarians and information professionals.] Brown S., Downey B., and Race P. (1997). 184 pp. 500 tips for academic librarians. London : Library Association,. [A practical book full of tips for librarians.] 12 Cline McKay S. (1999). Accessing electronic journals. Database, April/May 1999, pp. 16-23. [A description of the state of the art in the field of electronic journals.] Information processing. in Encyclopaedia Britannica, available online from http://www.britannica.com/ [cited 2000] [A good overview that is available free of charge.] Kenney A.R. and Rieger O.Y. Using Kodak Photo CD technology for preservation and access: a guide for librarians, archivists, and curators. [online] Cornell University. Available from: http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/kodak/cover.htm. [Available free of charge.] Kreizman Karen (1999). Establishing an information center: a practical guide. London : Bowker-Saur. [Includes a few good chapters that are relevant in this context: Chapter 4: Building a collection. Chapter 7: Marketing the information center. Chapter 8: Working with information technology (IT). Chapter 10: Acquiring and managing staff.] Lynch P.J. and Horton S. (1999). Web style guide: basic design principles for creating web sites. 164 pp. New Haven and London : Yale University Press. [A no-nonsense book with good advice on how to create a web site. The text is independent of a particular type or brand of software, so that it is not immediately obsolete. In contrast with many books on this subject, it does not offer many spectacular screenshots and examples, but focuses on really sound and basic advice in the form of well structured texts.] Manifold A. (2000). A principled approach to selecting an automated library system. Library Hi Tech, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2000, pp. 119-129. [A non-technical article about how to select software to automate a library.] McCray A.T, and Gallagher M.E. (2001) Principles for digital library development. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 49-54. [Good advice for developers who want to make information sources available through computers and networks.] Price S.P. Morris A. and Davies J.E. (1996). An overview of electronic document request and delivery research. The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 435-448. and Price S.P., Morris A., and Davies J.E. (1996) An overview of commercial electronic document delivery suppliers and services. The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 523-542. [Two articles that form together a good overview of the state of the art in the area of document supply.] Tenopir C. and Barry J. (1999). Database marketplace 99. Library Journal, May 15, 1999, pp. 40-48. [A good overview article of the online documentary information market, published annually in the last few years in Library Journal.] Varley, Allen. (1991) Marine Information Center Development: an introductory manual. IOC Manuals & Guides, No. 23. Paris : Unesco-IOC. [A guide about managing information centers that is rather unique as it focuses on marine information.] Biographical Sketch 13 Paul Nieuwenhuysen received the degrees of Licentiaat in Physics in 1974, Doctor in Science in 1979, the Belgian postdoctoral degree of Geaggregeerde voor het Hoger Onderwijs in 1983, and the inter-university postgraduate degree in Documentation and library science in 1986. Since 1983, Paul Nieuwenhuysen has been a full-time member of the academic staff at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, nowadays as professor. He is head of the information and documentation department, and science and technology librarian, both in the framework of the University Library, as well as teaching courses on information retrieval. At the inter-university postgraduate program in Information and Library Science of the Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, he is guest professor responsible for courses on information technology and on the information market. He has organized international training courses on management of information in science and technology. In the domain of information science, he is a member of several societies and of the editorial board of four journals, and he has worked for various international agencies (including Unesco-PGI, Unesco-IHP, Unesco-IOC, Unesco-MAB, and UNDP). 14