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Since 1983. CITI (Centro de Informação Técnica para a Indústria/Centre for Technical Information for Industry) at LNETI (Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial) has been providing online information searching to researchers, academia, industry and business in Portugal, to support R&D activities, innovation and transfer of technology and to contribute to the competitiveness of Portuguese industry in world markets. This paper presents an analysis of the use of this service from 1986 to 1990 and highlights the most often searched databases, as well as the subjects most searched, by type of user. Information is also presented on the online costs and trends in costs over the period. Despite the increased use of this service throughout the period analysed, there is considerable scope for improvement in the way it is marketed as an effective and efficient way to retrieve relevant information and, consequently, in how it can enhance the productivity of scientists, engineers and business personnel.

This paper puts into perspective the importance of the European project Train‐ISS, taking into account the experience gained by one of the contractors INETI/CITI (Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Tecnologia Industrial/Centro de Informação Técnica para a Indústria) in developing the information market in Portugal. The most important landmarks of the development of the information market in Portugal are outlined. One of the factors restricting this development has been the shortage of trained information professionals. Two projects developed by INETI/CITI, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, Department of Information Studies, to counteract this shortage are outlined. These are the Postgraduate Course for Information Intermediaries, an intensive six‐month training course which ran for three consecutive years, 1987–1990, and the MSc in Information Management from the University of Sheffield delivered at INETI. The paper concludes by addressing the skills of the professional information Specialists trained by INETI and potentially by the Train‐ISS advanced training programme in Information Management. It indicates the main parts of the contents of the programme leading to a Diploma in Electronic Information Management. Those who wish to continue and submit a dissertation within one year of obtaining the diploma would be awarded the MSc in Electronic Information Management.

This paper aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent developments in concepts and practices associated with information literacy worldwide, revealing the paradox that, while information literacy is a key discipline of the information society and knowledge economy and is well‐understood in its broader sense, it has made little progress educationally, save for a few exceptions in countries such as Australia, the USA, Canada and the UK. Deriving from the authors' background as university professors, the paper concentrates on approaches to promote information literacy in higher education. The paper concludes by pointing to the need to expand the debate on information literacy and how to raise ethical and moral concerns in the use of the Internet and the new technologies. It also explores the potential role that the European Commission eSafe (2003‐2004) programme can play to encourage research and practice on information literacy in its widest sense, as an intrinsic competency in the fight against the effects of disseminating illegal and harmful content through online and other new technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the continuous evolution of scholarly publishing and knowledge communication as a result of the internet revolution.

Information was obtained from a literature review of the main contributions on “self‐archiving” – the broad term often applied to electronic publishing of author‐supplied documents on the web without commercial publisher mediation. The paper analyses the impact of the open access movement, which came to fruition after the OAI Metadata Harvesting Protocol was established, as it creates the potential for interoperability between e‐print repositories. It concludes by outlining the challenges for information managers in developing the full potential of open access.

With regard to the future of self‐archiving, particularly in relation to peer‐reviewed journals, information managers have a very important role to perform within their organization.

The paper highlights the benefits of publishing in e‐print repositories for authors and their institutions. It points to the roles and responsibilities of information managers, primarily within academic and research institutions, in devising clear institutional policies and assisting users to self archive their papers for the benefit of their own organizations and the global scientific community.

To introduce a review of the most recent literature concerning electronic information. Also to look at the problem of permanency of electronic work regarding ever‐changing internet links.

Based on a range of comments, articles and book reviews.

Advises that libraries should initiate the recording of changes in internet addresses and disseminate those of significance to their clientele.

This review is a useful source of information for librarians and others interested in electronic information.