1 of 18 Information Access Introduction to Information Access © FAO 2005 IMARK Investing in...

1 of 18Information AccessIntroduction to Information Access

© FAO 2005

IMARK Investing in Information for Development

Information Access

Introduction toInformation Access


Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives

At the end of this lesson you should be able to:

acknowledge the need for the development of an Information Access Plan;

describe the main features of information as a commodity.


Today, many organizations are moving from printed to electronic media.Also, the Internet has introduced new ways of accessing information.

How do these new conditions influence a manager’s decisions regarding access to all types of information?

IntroductionIntroduction


Here is an example.

Yelena is a director of research in an agricultural organization based in Brazil.

2-3 years ago, the organization received a large government grant, and investments could be made.

Let’s see what kind of decisions she had to make.

A scenarioA scenario



We decided which books the library

would buy, to which journals it would

subscribe, and how much it would

spend.....how much time the organization could

spend to teach people how to use

the library…... how much time library staff could spend to classify

these materials for easy retrieval...



...we had to think about external acquisitions, but also about keeping track of our internal information, so that we could

easily locate it...


The need for an Information Access planThe need for an Information Access plan

...we had to make decisions on other issues as well:

where to acquire this “new” information;

how to move from printed journals to access to electronic journals;

how to train people to use a new “digitalized” library;

how to organize our internal documents and records for easy retrieval...

...we had to make decisions on other issues as well:

where to acquire this “new” information;

how to move from printed journals to access to electronic journals;

how to train people to use a new “digitalized” library;

how to organize our internal documents and records for easy retrieval...



From Yelena’s example, we can see that good information access requires planning.

The basis for such planning is an organization-wide Information Access Plan.


Information access planning occurs in three phases:

1. assessment of information needs;

2. consensus on the formats of information to meet these needs; and

3. analysis of where and how to acquire and mobilize information inthese formats.



One consideration will be most important throughout the planning process:

Information often

comes with a price.

Information often

comes with a price.

Information as a commodityInformation as a commodity


If information is a “good” in the economic sense, then there is a market for it.

We will distinguish between two different kinds of markets:

EXTERNAL information

INTERNAL information

Information as a commodityInformation as a commodity


Relevance;

Timeliness;

Ownership; and

Long-term Usability.

The features of information as a commodityThe features of information as a commodity

In an information market we must consider four special features of information as a commodity:


Relevance of informationRelevance of information

Four features of information as a commodityFour features of information as a commodity

In a digital environment, there is the danger of “information overload”. We can use three types of resources to improve our information selection:

Internal alerting services;

Publishers’ alerting services; and

Subject-oriented portals.


Another important factor when acquiring information is its relevance in time.

Currency of information will affect its probably cost more than out-of-date information.

Timeliness of informationTimeliness of information



Many organizations are prepared to pay for access to a digital version of an information product, rather than ownership of its printed version.

Also, the move to a digital environment has introduced at least two new challenges, regarding:

Intellectual property rights.

Previous Issues.

Ownership of informationOwnership of information



Long-term Usability of informationLong-term Usability of information

Will the information that you are buying or licensing today still be accessible in 10-20 years?

What can an organization do to ensure the long-term usability of digital information?



RELEVANCE OF INFORMATION

RELEVANCE OF INFORMATION

TIMELINESS OF INFORMATIONTIMELINESS OF INFORMATION

OWNERSHIP OF INFORMATION

OWNERSHIP OF INFORMATION

LONG-TERM USABILITY OF INFORMATION

LONG-TERM USABILITY OF INFORMATION

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CRITERIA FOR INFORMATION SELECTION

During the development of an Information Access plan, it is important to keep in mind the implications of each of these four features.

This can help analyze whether the benefits of accessing certain types of information outweigh the costs.

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ConclusionsConclusions

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Summary

It is important for an organization to have an Information Access Plan.Development of such an Information Access Plan include:•assessment of information needs;•agreement on the formats of information; and •analysis of where and how best to access the required information.

One of the underlying assumptions is that information is a commodity with a market price. Four features of information as a commodity are:•Relevance •Timeliness•Ownership•Long-term Usability.

1 of 18 Information Access Introduction to Information Access © FAO 2005 IMARK Investing in...

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