Documentation and information in the social sciences in Austria

I.THERESEARCHINFORMATIONSYSTEM.REALISATIONS AND PROJECTSIN AUSTRIA 1. I The demand for information The evolution of society depends on the appropriate structure of society and on the available resources meaning not only food and energy, but also implying the quickest possible access to needed information. The human society can be seen as a learning one. By making use of guaranteed and fixed knowledge, by utilization of the stored information of the past, new knowledge arises [ 11. Thus, the great importance of the role played by libraries and institutions of documentation and information in fulfilling their task of storing information and making it accessible in order to cope with the growing needs for information of our contemporary society is no longer a question to discuss. The aim is to achieve better access to all types of information from the different areas in science, so that existing knowledge and information can contribute to the solution of scientific, technical, economic, social and political problems. Furthermore, scientific information helps to avoid wasteful duplication and wrong investment.