Understanding Information Policy: : Proceedings of a Workshop Held at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park, 22‐24 July 1996

Citation

Nurcombe, V. (1999), "Understanding Information Policy: : Proceedings of a Workshop Held at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park, 22‐24 July 1996", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 53-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.1.53.11

<p>Ian Rowlands has brought together these papers from an intensive two‐day workshop initiated by the Information Policy Unit within the Department of Information Science of City University. The aim of the workshop was not to justify why information policy should be studied, but how, as there is little prior literature to study.

<p>In bringing these contributions together, Ian has contributed a clear introduction to the whole and co‐ordinated those to the other sections. The introduction indicates that publication has reversed the logic of the workshop sessions: problem identification, policy formulation and planning; policy adoption and implementation; post‐implementation evaluation of policy. The basis was to study the design, implementation and evaluation of information policies. All papers take account of these three questions delegates were asked to consider in advance in relation to information policies. The concept of the information life‐cycle [data &#62; information &#62; knowledge &#62; wisdom] is seen as providing substance to information policy studies.

<p>The overview is followed by Information policy concepts′′. Paul Turner provides an overview before Ian Rowlands′ presentation on understanding information policy. Paul and Ian discuss models and frameworks for information policy research. Information for policy‐making follows by Janet Strachan and Ian with David Bawden rounding off the concept stage: information policy or knowledge policy? The second section looks at national and international perspectives with contributions from Nick Moore, Barry Mahon, Francis Aldhouse, Tamara Eisenschitz and David Warlock. They include studies of the information society, European information policy, data protection, legal and regulatory frameworks and tradeable information. Margaret Haines, David Allen and Tom Wilson, David Pye, Elspeth Scott and Harry East round‐off the third section studying the organisations: NHS, higher education, a small commercial organisation and a multi‐national research pharmaceutical company. The practical examples are well used to illustrate information value and policies. Information audit has become a vital study. Factors influencing policy are studied in these contexts before concluding with a study of the use of commercial databases in academia.

<p>The presentation is to be commended as being clear and comprehensive despite the difficult content of parts of the contributions. Useful nuggets for every information worker include the recognition for information policy that time pressures on policy‐makers influence their information seeking and use. Reasons can usually be found for limited use of information: too great a degree of complexity in the information; too much; communication or presentation barriers. The background required to understand the information sometimes mitigates against its use unless summarised. Certain policy makers are inclined to prefer different types of information, for example social science versus science backgrounds. The various types of information policy and the factors which drive them are examined. There is a long bibliography at the end and some references. This is a valuable text vital to all decision makers whether in information or not. All organisations should consider these points although some will find the earlier papers harder to digest.