INFORUM 2006 - 12. Annual Conference On Professional Information Resources

What is Our Future Standing on?

Author: Boris Škandera,  Informetal, interest association, Czech Republic

Co-author: Miluše Fukalová / Mittal Steel Ostrava a.s., Blanka Polochová / VÚHŽ a.s.

Fulltexts

Abstract

The future is necessarily influenced by its historical foundations and the present state. The necessity for preservation of continuity and need of easier search of available information sources requires digitisation of sources from "pre-computer era".

Contemporary user prefers search of information in electronic form and he is therefore unaware of many "classical" paper non-digitised sources that are not included in databases. Information techniques, particularly tools for information processing and searching, undergo a turbulent development. Quality of periodical and non-periodical scientific and technical publications, however, changes as well. Many professional journals have changed their profile and character. Articles are nowadays more concise and contain less factographic accessories. Many journals were also discontinued or they merged with other titles. Due to decreasing institutional financial support of publication activities many professional journals contain nowadays more publicity advertisements than professional articles. Along with new forms and possibilities for publication there appear new limitations of information transfer. The companies nowadays conceal much more strictly any references about their know-how, that’s why importance of patent information becomes more significant. In academic sphere publication activities focus primarily on publishing of results of various grants. Globalisation of business logically requires also globalisation of databases. The existing databases usually do not contain very valuable information from local, i.e. national or regional conferences, etc., acquiring and processing of which cannot be made centrally and cannot be realised without collaboration with local partners. Fulltext databases must ensure better coverage of non-English sources. Knowledge management systems assert themselves more and more in practice. The future cannot do without the basic chain link – information centre and information specialist.

About the author

n 1971 graduated at the Prague University of Economics. After shorter employment at the foreign trade organisation PZO Ligna Praha he started to work in 1972 at the branch information centre for metallurgical industry (Informetal) of the Iron and Steel Research Institute in Dobra (ISRI). Since 1980 he worked manager of this centre till 1994 when ISRI was privatised and this centre was dissolved. During his function he participated in several projects aimed at automation of information services and implementation of modern computer and telecommunication technology. Informetal was in early eighties one of the first Czechoslovak information centres frequently accessing and using international database centres – through then existing central information institute UVTEI-UTZ. Informetal started its own bibliographic database METAL in 1972 and in 1983 it became available to professional public in the database centre of UVTEI-UTZ. It was one of the most frequently used databases in this centre. In 1994 he helped creation of the interest association Informetal, which was founded by metallurgical companies and related institutions and became director of this association. He still holds this position. In the period 2002-2004 he was investigator of the project of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MSMT) "Multifunctional information and library centre for metallurgical industry". At present he is investigator of the MSMT project "Integrated information and library system for development of metallurgical industry".