IFLA General Conference, 1986. Pre-Session Seminar, Kanasawa. Papers.

The two papers in this document were presented at a pre-session held before the IFLA general conference in 1986. In "Problems of Document Delivery in the Science and Technology Information Environment--An African View," Lucilda Hunter (Sierra Leone) discusses typical difficulties encountered in the process of information retrieval in sub-Saharan Africa and other Third World regions, including inadequate periodical collections, lack of photocopying facilities, difficulties of communication both within and between countries, unreliable postal services, lack of interlibrary lending machinery, and unreliable electricity, all due to severe financial constraints. A combination of regional cooperative arrangements and increased resource sharing with libraries from developed countries is proposed as a solution to these inadequacies. In "The Importance of Secondary Bibliographic Services in the Information Transfer Chain--Utilization of Bibliographic Databases," Makiko Miwa (Japan) examines the emergence, distribution process, number, and kinds of bibliographic databases, and discusses the status and skills of database searchers. It is concluded that information professionals should exert skills in creating information products and bibliographic databases as commodities in order to facilitate bibliographic information utilization, improve the quality of databases, promote the information transfer chain, and enhance the recognition of the library profession. (KM)