21 Information Analysis, Repackaging and Consolidation

Dr Renu Arti Thakur

Introduction

 

Special libraries are central within the method of information transfer to its users with special desires. These libraries are featured with an assortment of various information sources in different formats. With this dynamical nature of information the services provided by special library modified and thus by the appearance of technology the supply of information has also conjointly modified. Special libraries are established to serve the users like doctors, scientists, administrators, corporate etc., who had special needs. These library services are categorically offered at two levels one at the fundamental and alternative at the intermediate level. Fundamentally, the special libraries disseminate the specialised information by responding the quires of the specialised users either in form of detailed information or in packets through research and technical journals concerning the recent problems, updates and developments in a very discipline. At the higher level the complex information / literature searches are performed, bibliographies, CAS and SDI services are offered to the users. Typically in libraries a critical evaluation is not administered and therefore the resulted information is commonly a non vital and non-evaluated. So as on to supply critical evaluated information the extremely specialised services are used. Such services emphasis the evaluation of contents evaluation of information, condense and repackaging in an appropriate usable format for the said/ target user, timely.

 

In this section these highly specialised services known as ‘information analysis; repackaging and consolidation services’ are discussed. Additionally, the activities and products are further discussed with the help of some of the information consolidation services and centre in India.

 

2. Need and Genesis of Information Analysis, Consolidation and Repackaging In Special Libraries

 

A plethora of literature/ information on any subject these days signals a most alarming fashionable information downside. There is a scarcity of applicable information which may be comprehended, assimilated and used for its users and potential users for their specific need. On one hand there’s a given topic, encompasses a surplus of literature, on the other hand an amazing majority of potential users who might be benefited from the information therein literature cannot use it. The use and impact of information are the central issues for all information professionals, likewise as for the entire information infrastructure. Whereas the concept of information consolidation was developed primarily in concert of the suggests that for assuaging information issues in developing countries, and for serving in technology transfer, the instructed processes, products, and advantages are universally applicable, notwithstanding what the stage of development. The value of such information does not belong its existence (or even within the systems that assure its handiness and accessibility), however in its acceptance and use. In turn, probabilities for acceptance and use of information are increased by its being more appropriate. Consolidated information aims at being more appropriate to the users, their needs, and levels, the capacities and time allotments given to information absorption and similar user-related factors.

 

3. Information consolidation

 

UNESCO Symposium on Information Analysis and Consolidation (held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 12-15 September, 1978) gave the following definition: “Information Consolidation Activities is used to define the responsibilities exercised by individuals, departments or organizations for evaluating and compressing relevant documents in order to provide definite user groups with reliable and concise new body of knowledge.

Individuals or groups of individuals performing information consolidation activities would each constitute an Information Consolidation Unit.”

 

Saracevic and Wood (1981) gave the following elaborate definition: “Consolidated Information is public knowledge specifically selected, analyzed, evaluated, and possibly restructured and repackaged for the purpose of serving some of the immediate decisions, problems and information needs of a defined clientele or social group, who otherwise may not be able to effectively and efficiently access and use this knowledge as available in the great amounts of documents or in its original form. The criteria for selection, evaluation, restructuring, and repackaging of this knowledge are derived from the potential clientele.” In other words consolidation of information refers to providing the right information for the right person in the right form and at the right time.

 

3.1.   Process of information analysis, consolidation and repackaging

 

Prior to analysis and synthesis of the information following aspects required to be resolved:

  • ‘Determination of an associate structure and rationalisation pattern for the contents or characteristics of information to be analyzed and synthesized, i.e. creation of a table of contents, a classification or codification scheme, a typology, or key to characteristics on the idea of that information is first analyzed and so synthesized.
  • Consideration of the objectives, resources, constraints at intervals that analysis and synthesis are to be performed.
  • Determination of evaluative criteria to be used because the basis for analysis and synthesis’.

Without specific guidelines from these three areas no vital and realistic analysis may well be performed.

 

Figure 1: Process of Information Analysis, Consolidation and Repackaging

 

3.1.1  Step 1:  Selection of Information Source

  • Selection is  a  crucial  step  in  the  process  of  information  analysis,  consolidation  and  repackaging determines the content of information consolidation services and products. Selection includes evaluation and is a basic, essential and indivisible a part of information consolidation. Selection requires a selection policy,selection aids and tools, and specification of a selection process.
  • A selection policy involves the statement regarding users and needs; subject, topic, or mission to be dealt with and kind of information sources and materials to be covered.
  • Selection aids and tools guides in selection and facilitate verification. These aids are the tools that facilitate to spot materials applicable for considering in selection are summarised in Table 1.
  • Specifications of a selection process involve decisions on procedures for judging: intrinsic values of information in sources; and demand and user appropriateness. The procedures for judging intrinsic values: concerned is judgment of the quality, validity, and reliability of materials selected. The strategy of making judgment is directly on the premise of expressed or unstated evaluation criteria and should embody examination of ‘reviews and state-of-the-art of a topic, refereeing and peer review and citation indexes’. Various other results can be obtained, like co-citation patterns or bibliographical couplings are tabulated in Table 1. There are procedures which can be concerned in selection are: comparison (data on the same aspect from completely different sources is compared for similarities and variations and selection made accordingly) and testing (data is tested during a sort of ways that or samples are recollected to ascertain its reliability).  Procedures for judging demand and user appropriateness: these involve deciding the utility of materials that pass the selection on their own intrinsic value. Other procedures concerned are: connexion feedback, use analysis, demand analysis, user tests and consultation

 

 

Selection is judgmental and clearly involves evaluation. Development of criteria for selection of information sources to be consolidated is a complex process involving input from users, subject specialists, and information specialists. Again, user studies and cooperation between subject and information specialists are essential. Closely connected with criteria for selection of information sources is criteria for evaluation of information consolidation products and services, therefore they’re conferred here along in Table 1.

 

The selectors concerned in step one are information specialists, librarians with necessary subject knowledge; experts in given subjects; committees involving either one or each and; committees involving users. ‘Information specialists and librarians had the knowledge regarding the subject often are the best selectors as a result of they combine a knowledge or sensitivity that directly have an effect on the time in access of information and also the user with specific need’.

  • Acquisition is the physical procurement of documents or alternative items recording information. It needs procedures for procurement of necessary information sources, in cases of no outright procurement: procedures for access to sources involving getting information sources on loan, photocopying pertinent information, obtaining permission to use these information in another information systems/ libraries.
  • Evaluation involved the criteria for assessing the standard or intrinsic advantage of information, criteria for assessing the quality of information products and services on the idea of users demand/ expectations, and procedures for  achieving consent  in  assessments.  In  this  step  validity,  reliability,  accuracy,  credibility,significance, etc. assess the intrinsic advantage of the information.

Following selection and evaluation, information is in due course analyzed then synthesized to be used in information product and services for dissemination to users with special needs.

 

3.1.2. Step 2: Information Analysis

Information explosion result a huge quantity of sources however their amount is compromised and most of them are redundant. To overcome/ to cope up such issues and retrieving/ or dissemination of information in specialised environment of libraries the systems were designed one of them is information analysis, its synthesis and eventually the evaluation so as to extract the main points of information to be restructured and resulted in updated ‘state- of –information’ on the given topic or special needs.

 

Selection and evaluation are followed by, information analysis and synthesis to be used in products and services for dissemination to the target special users. ‘Analysis is a process of determining and isolating the most salient information conveyed by a given information sources and separating this information into its constituent elements on the basis of predetermined evaluative and other criteria’. The units or systems that are instituted to perform such activities are known as information analysis centres. These are evolved in response to information problems that don’t seem to be traditionally handled by libraries. Sometimes libraries are instituted and homeward to deal primarily with bibliographic and subject controlled of the large amount of literature i.e. the documents and publications. The information sources are selected and examined for its validity and must be evaluated to extract the main points to restructure and synthesise and/or repackaged the information. Analysis involves the assembly of the indexes, abstract summaries and similar non evaluated information products concerned. Information analysis centres, are instituted to deal with the extraction, sifting, filtering and also the quality of information in the literature. These two types of information systems (libraries and information retrieval systems on the one hand, and information analysis centres on the other) are addressing the different issues. The information analysis units are installed for evaluative analysis. Thus, evaluation criteria are crucial in information analysis for its consolidation.

  • The process of analysis is based on preliminary and fundamental process as well as the study of specialised area and the users on the basis of which information would be analysed. This information is organised on the basis of subject by creation table of contents, classification, and codification. The objectives, resources and constraints of the system through which information ought to be transferred should be considered following the determination of evaluative criteria. The steps involved in information analysis are:
  •  Familiarisation  with  contents  of  the  documents  involves  the  specification  of  topics  in  relation  that information are going to be analyzed and extracted from documents,Preliminary sorting of contents (first evaluation)
  • Selection / extraction/ unneeded information or content involve the specification of a scheme for organizing and systematizing information, specification of procedures for extraction of the relevant information or data and assessment
  • Verification of content (second evaluation) verification of the extracted information or data into given categories or headings.
  • Sorting of the information based on typology.
  • Synthesis follows analysi Synthesis is a process of condensation and embodiment of analyzed information from one or more sources and presentation of information in a new arrangement or structure with an interpretive or evaluative point of view. It requires the comparative arrangement of extracted information, compression or merger into a structure or form most suited for intended users and uses and evaluation of the final result. Synthesis involve following steps
  • Comparative arrangement and merging (within each class and subclass)
  • Comparative evaluation (in each class and subclass) (third evaluation)
  • Resolution of conflict
  • Compression of information ( on the basis of objectives, resources and constraints of the system)
  • Evaluation of final product ( forth evaluation)

 

Evaluation is concerned with determination of the intrinsic merit, validity and reliability, or in brief, the quality of information and of information sources which is able to eventually be consolidated. As such it is crucial in both selection and later in analysis and synthesis. The evaluation stages involved:

  • Evaluation of information sources
  • Verification of individual extracts
  • Comparative evaluation of various extract in every class and taxonomic class
  • Evaluation of the synthesised product.

1.3. Step 3: Restructuring of extracted information into a content that can be used most effectively and with efficiency by users; this might involve synthesis, condensation, rewriting, simplifying, review, state-of-the- art presentation, etc. Restructuring of content aspects needs the determination of a mode and language within which the contents of information consolidation products ought to be conferred to users in a way that is most compatible with users’ scenario and desires which can enhance the comprehension and assimilation of information presented. Additional specifically, restructuring requires determination of:

  • extent to which available content is to be incorporated (subject breadth and depth)
  • degree of invariability of information as found within the original text and the also the degree to which new information (points of view, comparisons, etc.) is to be added
  • degree of detail in information (specific to general)
  • degree of changes in sequence of presentation relative to the original
  • technical sophistication (minimal, moderate, high, very high)
  • temporal aspects (timeliness, time spans covered, frequency of issue)
  • editorial qualities (grammar, clarity, balance, logic of presentation)

3.1.4. Step 4:  Information repackaging

 

‘Packaging of information may be a substantial recording, arrangement and presentation of information on a specific medium and form. Packaging media is supposed for the recorded, displayed, or given information and packaging formats are meant for arrangement, shape, and lay-out of information during a given product on a specific medium.’ Information repackaging is a method to pack the consolidated information within the type that is appropriate and usable for library users. Information Repackaging services assemble the pertinent information from a range of sources. The aim of repackaging is to reinforce the acceptance, usage of information sources,and assimilation and recall of their contacts.

 

According to Saracevic and Wood (1981) “Packaging of information is physical recording, arrangement and presentation of information on a given medium and in a given form. Repackaging of information is arrangement of physical media and/or form in which information has been presented, which is tailored to the requirement of a specific clientele. The aim of repackaging is to enhance the acceptance and use of information products and the assimilation and recall of their contents.” Packaging and repackaging ought to be supported the necessity for enhancing the potential use, comprehension, assimilation, and recall and need to work out the medium and format within which an information consolidation product are going to be conferred thereto users. It is noteworthy Restructuring deals with contents or substance of information while packaging deals with the shape of its presentation. Information packaging is done with the assistance of various sort of media i.e., print media, audiovisual media, electronic media and social contact. In packaging formats the necessity of effective information ought to be followed in terms of:

  • readability (comprehension wherever reading is involved)
  • view ability (comprehension wherever viewing is involved)
  • audibility (comprehension wherever listening is involved)
  • identifiability (cognition and perception of key information elements)
  • ðmnemonics (visual or audio association, significantly for recall)

  Bunch (1984) describes information repackaging (IR) as a figure of information service that emphasizes on the following steps: selecting the appropriate materials, re-processing the information in a very kind that can be without delay understood by the user, packaging information, and so arrangement of these materials in a way that is applicable to the user. The processes considered to form this service work adheres to the constant objective of serving library users by identify sources of information in response to a particular question, interest, assignment or issues (Cassell and Hiremath, 2006).

 

Step 5. Dissemination is a method of distribution and delivery of information products and services through certain channels to its users. It needs the determination of the channels by which information products would to be delivered into the hands of users. The doable channels for information consolidation are: social delivery, group personal delivery, in-house dissemination, mail, native depository, newspapers, broadcasting, radio and TV, telephone, Computer networks. Diffusion or dissemination of information ways in which can encourage and promote its use: this might additionally involve education of users within the use of information and promoting/marketing of information. Some of the more important channels for dissemination of information consolidation products include:

  • Interpersonal delivery: through which the information consolidated products are provided personally to users either at their request or in anticipation of need
  • Group personal delivery: provide information consolidated products to a whole group of users e.g., in a meeting, demonstration
  • Strategic placement: positioned the information consolidated products in locations frequented by users to select on their own
  • In-house  delivery:  institution  of  distinct  dissemination  functions  in  an  organization  e.g.,  circulation, reference
  • Local depositories: involve the cooperative arrangements with local information systems and libraries
  • Local depositories: involve the cooperative arrangements with local information systems and libraries

3.1.2. Step 6: Marketing of information is the method of viewing the entire information service or product from the purpose of view of ultimate results i.e. from the use and user points of view. It is an accumulative set of activities that aimed toward fulfilling the information needs.

  • Activities in marketing:-The central concept in marketing is in being client (user, customer) oriented rather than product oriented. The current approach to marketing is to:
  • Identify the intended group of clients i.e. the library users.
  • Find out the needs and wants of user demands by applying user studies
  • Provide user with the right products or services supported by the effective communication about the products, their benefits and usage, and makes them available at the right time and location.

Marketing of information products involves following activities:

 

Marketing research – it involves analysis of user groups, identification of their characteristics, needs, wants, similarities, constraints, and economics. Segmentation of users into groups with similar characteristics, values, needs, and information benefits would help in categorisation of the information.

 

Product Development- Development of the information consolidation products. The product or service in congruence with the findings of market research; targeting and testing of products led to the consideration of alternative products: adaptation if necessary and finally targeting the given user segments

Communication – Providing information to users about the benefits, usage, uses of the information product. It provides user education and promotion of user services.

Economics – Determination of cost factors by pricing decisions, analysis of economic factors, e.g., cost benefits.

 

Dissemination – Delivery of product or service in an effective way, and at the right time and place. It also involves the promotion of the information services.

 

Evaluation- To consider the competences of the product/service, dissemination procedure/ channel etc an unremitting evaluation procedure should be followed. The evaluation should be based on feedback from the users thus by calculating the satisfaction with services/ products etc

 

Feedback from users, analysis of the efforts, and changes.

 

Marketing concepts are vital for the process of information consolidation. Using these modern marketing concepts, an alert information manager designs the structure of his/her system to give the marketing components their deserved distinction. The marketing function should be fully integrated with other processes of the system.

  •  Examples of information consolidation products

The various information products in different media involved are: Reviews (critical reviews, state-of-the-art reports); Reports (assessment, market, and technical reports) ;alerting bulletins or newsletters; Data ( data compilations and tables; statistical abstracts, correlations, and composites; critical data);Databases(expert databases; subject knowledge bases);Technical writings(guides, manuals, instruction sheets, explanations on a complex subject provided in a style and language engaged toward a given audience level. popular articles about a scientific or technical topic); Handbooks(compilations of essential data and information on a subject); Critical Studies(comparison of various practices or policies with pro and-con listings; impact and future studies)and Requests(evaluative on-demand studies and compilations; briefings).some of the other information consolidation products are tabulated in on the basis of different media and diffusion by stage in self explanatory table and respectively. Table 2, provides a list of possible information consolidation products in different media.

 

Table 3 provides a list of possible information consolidation products as appropriate for: (i) different stages in information diffusion or transfer and (ii) different types of users-organizations and individuals

 

 

Gulati and Raina (2000) laid some pointers that an information professional should take under consideration when consolidating sources of information, in varied formats, from the global information environment. When developing an information product, the consolidator should: (a) perceive the organization of materials in libraries and use natively produced location guides; (b) perceive a way to use classification systems and principle for their existence; (c) use location information within the bibliographic record to retrieve domestically-owned resources; (d) use local resources to find information sources in the global information environment; (e) understand that libraries have developed methods for locating and sharing resources not owned locally and use the acceptable resource sharing system, like interlibrary loan or document delivery, to retrieve information; (f) understand that the web is a helpful resource for locating, retrieving and transferring information electronically.

 

The Bureau of Library and Information Services (INFORM), ILO is a knowledge base of key information

on work problems, sustainable livelihoods, and therefore the work associated to the aspects of economic /social development, technological amendment or human rights. It is the centre repository of ILO publications produced in Geneva and in the ILO’s offices around the world. It has made a Subject resource guide, a kind of webliography. Users of this specialized information product at the International Labour Organization have verified its worth to their work and functions within the workplace (Abrigo 2009). The development of this subject resource guide is predicated on Agada’s (1995) systematic IR methodology which involves the subsequent components: (1) information analysis; (2) synthesis; (3) editing; (4) translating and transforming its symbolic and media formats. An already processed relevant information the chosen topic found on in-house and subscription based databases and different secondary web sources are culled out, “reprocessed” or examined for accuracy and currency, packaged or tailored to suit consequently into the structure system, and so ultimate product comes get into a format that suits best the users of information.

 

3.2.  Benefits of information consolidation

 

The value of consolidated information is evident to information professionals. Unfortunately, the values and benefits are far from clear to several users or potential users. Even the users with a high level of education and responsibility fail to check the advantages of consolidated information for them and for the aims of their organizations. (Saracevic, Tefko, 1986) explained the benefits that may be derived from use of consolidated information. The explanatory Table 4 outline the various potential benefits of the these products

 

Table 4: Potential benefits that may be derived from use of consolidated information.

 

Consolidated information could contribute to information sophistication of a population that successively contributes to quality of life. The significance of consolidated information is argued in relevancyits role in creating higher cognitive process and downside determination as making decisions and determination issues, even those encountered in everyday work, requires information. For example, take into consideration the worth of consolidated information that helps to boost sanitation, which successively decreases disease,pain and suffering. With the increase in complexity of information decisions or issues, the necessity for information intensifies, the quantity of obtainable information proliferates, it becomes harder to get and use relevant information; and therefore the complexity, interdisciplinarity, and technical sophistication of obtainable information will increases, less is utilised by decision makers and problem solvers as conferred in its original form.

Figure 2.  Value of Information in Decision Making and Problem Solving

 

The value of consolidated information changes with the type and amount of information. To illustrate: a pile of documents on a given topic on a decision maker’s desk or in a very worker’s hand, has little value to the decisions they have to create on that topic or issues they have to unravel/ solve, even supposing the documents could have all the information that is required. Summaries could have a bit more value. Mergers of excerpts from an assortment of documents could have still more value. Evaluation of information will significantly increase its value. The paramount value of information is in a very set of alternative choices summarized from all the sources mentioned and proposals for decisions or resolution of the problems. These relations are expressed in Figure 2 and 3. In other words, at the same time as the quantity of information more and more consolidated, its value increases; as the information is progressively expressed in the plain language on the basis of the social/cultural framework of the user, its value will increases for that user and with the information packaged in a very suggests that which is able to build its use easier, and its value increases.

 

Figure 3. Relation between Public Knowledge, Consolidated Information and Users

 

Another way to look at the worth of information consolidation is in connexion loss of information or the information that never reaches a user or cluster of users even though such information is instantly on the market inside the noesis and through plentiful primary and secondary literature sources. As are often seen from Figure not all primary or secondary sources might reach the users or be acceptable for the users and their issues and associated selections they have to make. The role of information consolidation is to be as applicable to the users as attainable.

 

3.2. Information Consolidation Units/ Centres in India

 

Information analysis and consolidation activities are being distributed by several national level information centres moreover R&D establishments notably within the field of science and technology and that they are conveyance out various IAC products for the advantage of completely different user groups.

  • NISCAIR

National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR) came into existence  on 30 September 2002 with the merger of National Institute of Science Communication (NISCOM) and Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC). Both NISCOM and INSDOC, the two premier institutes of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), were devoted to dissemination and documentation of S&T information. One of the core activities of NISCAIR is to gather, organize and disseminate S&T information generated in India as well as in the world that has connection to Indian S&T community. Beneath this programme, the institute is building comprehensive collection of S&T publications in print and electronic form and spreading through traditional as well as modern means that benefiting the various segments of the society. The resources involved brings out following Information resources involve the electronic and in house database

 

Electronic Resources: Automated libraries are slowly shifting to Electronic Libraries which will eventually cause the establishment of Digital Libraries.

 

On-line Databases: It provides access to 1500 international databases. Searches are performed for research scientists and the corporate. The databases provide the latest information on commercial, R&D and market information.

 

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Abstracts (MAPA) a bimonthly abstracting journal cover global current literature on all aspects of medicinal, aromatic and allied plants. The papers from about 600 primary journals, research reports, conference proceedings, patents from 65 countries and in 25 languages are scanned, selected and abstracted. The abstracts in MAPA are provided under the following broad subject groups: Agronomy, Analytical & Processing Techniques, Antimicrobial Activity, Botany (General & Systematic), Breeding & Genetics, Chemotaxonomy, Clinical Studies, Diseases & Pests, Ethnomedicine , Insecticidal & Piscicidal Activity, Marketing & Trade, Miscellaneous,  New Publications, Patents , Physiology & Biochemistry, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology & Toxicology,Phytochemistry. The potential users are Researchers

Entrepreneurs, Pharamaceuticals, Traders, Medical Practitioners, Information scientist, R&D, Policy Planners, S&T Consultants, Cultivators, and Patents Attorneys.

  • ICAR

The Council supports study and research in agricultural sciences including agriculture, horticulture, animal sciences, agricultural engineering, fisheries and home sciences. ICAR has established various research centres and 38 state agricultural universities (SAUs) to meet the agricultural research and education needs of the country. Vocational training to the farmers, training to extension personnel to update their knowledge and skill, and single window delivery system of technology, products, services and information is provided through Agricultural Technology Information Centres. ICAR has a large network of ICAR-SAUs extension system which involves 415 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), 10 Trainers Training Institutes (TTCs), 70 Institute- Village- Linkage-Programme (IVLP) Cetntres and 44 Agricultural Technology Information Centres. ICAR brings out a variety of Information resources involving Research/Peer Reviewed Journals (Indian Journal of Animal Sciences (monthly), Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (monthly), and Indian Horticulture (quarterly). Other Journals includes Indian Farming (monthly in English), Phal Phool (quarterly in Hindi) and Kheti (monthly in Hindi). A quarterly digests in Hindi Krishi Chayanica. It also publish Newsletters like ICAR- News (monthly), ICAR- Reporter (quarterly) , Handbook of Agriculture, Handbook of Animal Husbandry, Handbook of Horticulture, Handbook of Plant Tissue Culture and Handbook of Rock Gardening on the Hills. The council has also produced 44 films in different areas like Crop Sciences, Fisheries, Animal Sciences, Natural Resources Management, Horticulture and Agricultural Engineering.

 

Regional Centre for Technology Transfer, United Nation Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and Pacific Technical digests of information on activities of developing countries in ESCAP region (for use in promotion, research and development, development of technological capabilities, and new technological developments) in the form of research round-ups, technical notes, etc. covering areas identified as important by countries of the region; answers to specific questions provided from information collected and repackaged by the Technical Information Enquiry Service; special publications (of materials presented at workshops, seminars , or consultation meetings). Periodicals, journals, reports, books, and other information materials; selects, adapts, repackages, and disseminates information to several types of end users (policy makers, planners, administrators, entrepreneurs, regulating agencies, R&D institutions, and industrial development agencies) in ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) region. The Asia Pacific Tech Monitor and VATIS is bi monthly periodicals, disseminate a range of technological information including technology transfer and innovation management that linked to issues such as environmentally sustainable growth, climate change, energy security, gender equality and inclusive development. These publications provide SMEs and national policy analyst with the latest information on technology trends in the region and provide direction for substantive work. www.techmonitor.net to access the contents and download the VATIS Updates free of cost.

 

3.2. Summary

 

Information consolidation is not a universal remedy to information desires and issues; however it is one in all the necessary approaches to be considered along with a bunch of alternative information products and services. Consolidated information products and services will play a vital role in satisfying a variety of vital information desires. In turn, correct education and training of information professionals within the art and science of information consolidation may be a key to success of any and all information consolidation efforts.  Information consolidation is an effective approach to fulfillment of specific informational needs for appraising and  synthesized information services for the however undeserved.

Information consolidation is applicable to extremely specialised users i.e. engineers, scientists, managers, policy makers and another category to users of lesser sophistication ie general public. The information consolidation provides an immense opportunity for using non-print dissemination channels and packaging media, notably in relevancy to information for a broad audience in the urban as well as rural areas. Information consolidation is advanced and demands an explicit commitment of resources. However, information consolidation has verified its importance and benefits in information transfer. Therefore, information consolidation ought to be a high consideration within the institution or refinement of information efforts serving developing countries.

 

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