ORGANISATION OF INFORMATION SERVICES:

Documentation and information services are activities that grew out of information needs of user communities engaged in research, industrial development, management of different types of institutions organisations and planning for socio-economic development. Sev-eral new types of information centres have sprung up, resulting in the development of a national framework of information institutions. This framework is generally referred to as the information infrastructure, comprising a set of institutions, organisations and resources which support the flow, handling and delivery of information from generator to user. Such institutions are involved in acquiring, processing, storing, retrieving and disseminating information.

This information infrastructure encompasses libraries, documentation centres, information centres, referral centres, information analysis centres, data centres and clearing houses. They are the components of the total information system of a country.

These component units function as intermediaries linking information and users. Each one of these units has a distinct role, and, at the same time, a common objective of serving the information needs of specialised users. After defining documentation centres, information centres, databases, etc. we shall discuss their types with reference to their ownership, specialised interests, and levels at which they operate and function.