Consolidation of Information
The restructuring of existing public knowledge into the form of a text or other form of message so as to make it available to those whose circumstances would otherwise effectively deny them access to this knowledge .
Purpose of this case
Weak local publishing industries, poor availability of imported books and journals, and unsatisfactory access to online iformation all lead to a call for alternatives. Repackaging, or more correctly, provision of consolidated information all lead to a call for alternatives. The consolidation process as described by saracevic and wood, begins with the study of potential users, selection of primary information sources and the evalution of their information content. Analysis of this content to permit restructuring and packaging or repackaging of the restructured information can then follow. He diffusion or dissemination of the packages should be accompanied by feedback from users to enable evalution and adjustment of the process to take place
Acquired
This content can be derived from published material, from raw data collected by research institutes and government statistical services, fromgrey literature, from information acquired electronically via online services and networks, and indeed from the people’s own corpusof indigenous knowledge. There are three main requirements
1. That information materials such as books and journals, or grey literature, should be collected or accessed and thir content organized efficiently
2. That thereshould be the capacityto research the content and creat new information packages from it
3. That these new products should be disseminated effectively
However, the point is made very strongly by saracevic and wood that the information consolidation unit proper needs a host organization which contains subject expert. The work need to be done by people who have a fuil understanding of both the message the must repackage and the audience for which it is in fended. Specialized research institutions in particular subject areas provide the necessary technical expertise in interpreting the source materials, rewriting and re-presenting the information for different media of communication.
The Result
The ultimate product of the consolidaton process may be a printed leaflet, such as the technical Bulletins on Better Care for Your Car Battery, An Easier way to make tomato crates or protecting your home against lightning from the Botswana Technology Centre. It can be a verbal message passed on by the cenral management of an Agricultural extension service to the extension workers at their reular training sessions, so that they candisseminate it to farmers who they will visit in their homes or meet in groups for practical demonstration of farming improvements. It can be the content of a radio broadcast andcan be a CD-ROM product, a file available via the internet or whatever product the community it will embody the original knowledge, from whatever, source, transformed by expert hands itno something more
reference :
Saracevic, T, and Wood, J.B (1981) Consolidation of information: A Handbook on Education, Restructuring o scientific and technical information, Unesco
Sturges, P. (1994) 'Using grey literature in informal information service in Africa: Journal of Documentation, Vol.50, pp 273-90
see also: Dissemination of Information
PAUL STURGES
DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION
Activities which involve passing information or references to professional people about current material which may be of interest to them in their work. Dissemination involves finding out about clients interests and keeping these interest profiles up to date. The value of actively disseminating information to clients is that the client saves time finding and scanning current published material or databases. The information service may even be doing something for clients that they may never do for themselves. For the most effectives service, where timeliness or coverage is important, information staff scan through selected ‘core’ primary publications as well as searching relevant databases. Notifications should contain enough information on each item for the recipient to decide if the item is relevant and to locate it in a library. Information bulletins should be small and attractive. Clients tend to scan the whole bulletin, whether printed or online.
Further reading
Dossert, P. (ed.) (1992) Handbook of special librarianship and information work, 6th ed. chapter 13
Rowley, J. (1992)'Current awareness service or competitive intelligence: areview of the options, Aslib Proceedings, vol 44, pp 367-72
TOM WHITEHALL
