An inventory of information products and services available on the European Information Services Market. Points out the differences/advantages of the online database compared to the printed version which is in front of you.

Information is not taken seriously. Much is said about the information age, the information economy, the information society, and particularly about information technology, but little about information itself. If these are important, then so is information. But information is not as other goods: it has some peculiar characteristics. It cannot be displayed for sale without giving it away in the process. Sold, it goes to the buyer but still remains with the seller. Buying entails expressing demand in ignorance for buyers who do not know just what it is that they do not know. Such characteristics have long been recognised by economists, but it is not generally economists who have most to say about the importance of information. This privilege is exercised by senior managers, who speak passionately about knowledge-based, learning organizations; by politicians and public servants, anxious to compensate with policy and programme for the information failure of organization and market; and by specialists in telecommunications and information technology, bent on adding value to what they treat as just a commodity. All are particularly enthusiastic about the innovation which springs from information. Information usually requires new information. Finding, acquiring, and mixing this new information with that already in use presents problems, not least because complex information transactions are required rather than simple information transfer. Solutions can be devised, but only by accommodating the characteristics of information. This book contrasts the way innovation is normally regarded in a variety of areas from eighteenth-century agriculture to high technology, from technology transfer to industrial espionage, from corporate strategy to patents and independent inventors with how it appears from what is termed an 'information perspective', that is one that puts information first. The results are intriguing, suggesting that radically different approaches to innovation (and organization) should be considered.

First published in 1981 as the Offshore Information Guide this guide to information sources has been hailed internationally as an indispensable handbook for the oil, gas and marine industries.

The aim of each volume of this series Guides to Information Sources is to reduce the time which needs to be spent on patient searching and to recommend the best starting point and sources most likely to yield the desired information. The criteria for selection provide a way into a subject to those new to the field and assists in identifying major new or possibly unexplored sources to those who already have some acquaintance with it. The series attempts to achieve evaluation through a careful selection of sources and through the comments provided on those sources.

Information Sources in Science and Technology: A Practical Guide to Traditional and Online Use presents a selection of traditional and online methods of using information sources in science and technology, including people, organizations, literature, hosts, and databases. This text serves as a reference book that helps the reader choose sources of information and their guides, includes a routine for finding and using information, and offers tips on searching and obtaining literature in a usable form. This book is comprised of nine chapters and begins by explaining how to choose type(s) of information source that is likely to be most helpful. The chapters that follow present guides on people, organizations, and literature as sources of information. A chapter on information services focuses on those organizations that supply information or references to information that could be helpful. These services range from answering telephone queries to supplying collections of relevant documents, and from broadcast television information to direct connection with computer databases. The next chapters discuss ways of searching the literature and computer databases, obtaining literature in a usable form, and organizing and presenting information. This book concludes by considering current awareness or keeping up-to-date with information about recent developments. This monograph is intended for librarians and information officers, especially for those working in scientific or industrial environments, practicing scientists and engineers, and students associated with these professions.

Originally published in 1988. Europeans want a better environment. Increasingly, too, they are demanding the products, services, legislation and policies that will provide it. Green Pages reveals what Europe’s environmentalists plan to do next and how environmental pressures will threaten major markets – and at the same time opens up new opportunities for business, investment and employment. Green Pages is a fantastic reference source for green enterprise, and will be of interest to students of environmental economics.