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This is a description of the first stage of an attempt to improve a thesaurus by providing it with new terms derived by computer analysis of semantic proximity between concepts from a large file of 20,000 documents. At the first stage the semantic proximity between concept and core words was established on the level of a set of higher complexity. This set is defined when making the qualitative and quantitative choice of the concepts capable of being grouped into classes. The second stage will be the classification of terms belonging to that coherent set by clustering.

On the basis of an international inquiry concerning databases, producers and royalties, a comparative study of the answers coming from Europe and from North America shows great differences between database characteristics, conditions of use and amounts of royalties. One of these differences concerns the actions of government and for‐profit organisations. The number of these organisations, their activity in subject, type and volume of information, their policies as to conditions of use and amount of royalties, explains the different levels and evolutions of the information industry in these different countries.

The launch of both Euronet and the British Post Office two‐way data service to the US has been delayed. Due to become operational in December 1978, Euronet is now unlikely to be open until June 1979. As reported in the March 1978 issue of Online Review, Euronet — the European data transmission network was due to interconnect customers through packet switching exchanges in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Rome and remote access points in Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin and Luxembourg. The network is based on technology developed for the French Transpac domestic network and it seems that delays in starting up Transpac are the major cause for postponing Euronet until next year. However, arrangements with host computers are progressing ‘very satisfactorily’ according to Dr. Georges Anderla, Director for Information Management, in Luxembourg. Five hosts — Blaise (London), Corte di Cassazione (Rome), CTI (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Brussels), FIZ4 (Karlsruhe) and Infoline (London) — have signed statements regarding their connections to the network . Another 15 are still due to sign and Dr. Anderla seemed to welcome the delay by stating that “…the extended pre‐launch planning period gives us the opportunity to introduce the facility with a broader range of host and databases and a greater number of users than would otherwise have been the case.” Meanwhile both Switzerland and Spain — two non‐European Community countries — have made formal application to join Euronet.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the current state of financial support of African university libraries, and explore non‐traditional methods of providing funding for them.

The paper takes a comparative look at the funding pattern of library and information services in Africa, particularly academic libraries, over the past two decades.

The paper finds that the national governments, the main financial providers, are usually held liable for the continuing inadequacy of the financial support and are, therefore, seen as having ignored their financial responsibility toward libraries. This financial neglect negatively impacts the quality of services provided by the university libraries and, consequently, the quality of teaching and research programs at the universities served by them.

As a possible way of breaking away from the complete and absolute reliance on government funding which has proved to be unreliable, alternative ways of funding are suggested. These include information consultancy and brokerage services and other income‐generating activities.

CANADA, until the last generation or two, has been basically a pioneer country but two world wars have changed all this and the economy has moved from an agricultural to a manufacturing community able to provide a standard of living second to that of the United States. (At the present time only 10.8 per cent of Canadians live on farms according to the 1961 census.) Natural resources, such as timber, wheat and mining, continue to play, however, an important role in the life of the nation. As in most developing and pioneer countries, learning has had to assume a secondary role compared with other enterprises and activities. This is gradually beginning to change as more people continue in school and the percentage of individuals attending university increases. Established organizations, like the National Film Board and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, catering to mass culture, have been strengthened and enlarged and new establishments, like the Canada Council and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, of narrower function and appeal, have been set up. The Library movement, not the least of learning agencies, is gaining strength every day. In this paper some of the interesting new developments of the last ten years in the latter field will be discussed. Of necessity, much is abbreviated; a lot is ignored. Data selected has been based on the most recent sources; hence the variety in dates.

Purpose — This chapter describes how incoherent government policies implemented in the first two decades (1970–1990) following the official recognition of Information science (IS) as an academic discipline within the broader interdiscipline of Information and Communication Sciences (ICS), shaped the current landscape of IS in France. This led to a narrow conception of IS often reduced to a technical specialty solving the problem of information explosion by setting up bibliographic databases, document indexing and delivery services.

Design/methodology/approach — The approach is historical and comparative. The author relies on earlier accounts by previous French authors and performs a comparison with the situation of IS in Anglophone countries (United States mostly).

Findings — The historical narrow conception of IS is now outdated. IS neither plays the role of gatekeeper anymore to scientific and technical information nor to information access since the generalisation of Internet search engines. Its scientific community in France lacks identity and is fast dwindling. Also, its problematics are not properly identified.

Research limitations/implications — Field work involving interviews of French figures and archival research could not be carried out in the limited time and means available. This needs to be done in the future.

Practical implications — This chapter should stimulate more comparative approach on the way Library & Information Science (LIS) is structured in other countries. Although the French situation appears unique in that IS is embedded within an interdiscipline (ICS) and does not exist autonomously, other similarities could be found in other countries where IS has had a similar trajectory and lessons could be learned.

Social implications — This chapter may serve as a stepping stone for future research on the historical foundations and epistemology of IS in France and elsewhere. It should also help disseminate to the LIS community at large how the French IS landscape has been evolving, since most French scholars publish in French, language has indeed been a barrier to disseminating their research worldwide.

Originality/value — There has not been a recent and comprehensive study which has looked at the peculiarities of the French IS landscape but also at the commonalities it shares with the situation of IS in other countries with respect to how the field originated and how it has evolved.