Strategies and methods for the development of national information systems in the less developed countries

In spite of significant and continuing progress, the current situation regarding the provision of information services both within the less developed countries (LDCs) and at the international level remains characterized by relatively low level of bibliographical control of the information produced in the LCDs. This is a result of the combination of many different factors. A major one however is the lasting discrepancy between the structure of the real communication cycle and the organization of national information infrastructures. The latter are basically centralized and dependent from the provision of relatively formal publications. Meanwhile the actual production and use of information occurs within all the elementary units which compose the oraganizational structure of the institutions, which are loosely interconnected and rely to a much limited extent on formal communications