ABSTRACT
The information activity in the industrial companies very often has arisen from existing library activities changing to libraries with information distribution activity or to real information centers which, using traditional and on-line systems, manage and distribute the information to users.
In the beginning, this activity was especially developed from pharmaceutical and medical/chemical companies, in almost all cases under the “Research & Development” or “Patent” Departments. During recent years, from 1980 onward, we have seen an increasing interest in these activities in companies from different sectors, and users have extended their interests to managerial, economic, and market subjects.
What can we expect in the 1990s? Of course, the establishment of information management structures within “strategic” or in any case “decision” areas; widespread information use as a “daily” resource; and the appearance of a new professional highly specialized in identifying needs, satisfying users by added-value information services, and keeping always in mind the necessary cost/profit ratio.
