ABSTRACT
The size and growth of economic activity related to information services and the concomitant changes in viewpoint provide a basis for increased accountability for government-funded services and increase the public visibility of all information services. The conceptual changes associated with the economics of information services demand greater attention to accountability and cost management. If a business is based on information products and services, the management of that business faces decisions and problems that parallel the decisions in any business, for example, understanding the economics of production, the cash flow implications of developing and introducing a new product, and estimating the market for products. The notion of information "gatekeeper" seems to have captured the imagination of researchers and to have encouraged studies on information flow and use in scientific and technical organizations. The expanding range of products and economic activities associated with information has been facilitated, and often stimulated, by technological developments in information storage and transmission.
