Final report on attachment at the Medical Sciences Library : University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

ABSTRACT

Information is the wellspring of knowledge. This source builds the great and creative edifices of human society. It is knowledge that empowers people to rise above their circumstances and take charge of their future. During the last three decades, accelaration in the development of information and communication technologies has offered a worldwide process of transition from the industrial to the information society. All aspects of life have been affected by electronic networks and multimedia technologies which are opening up new opportunites and challenges for the millennium. Individual groups and communities need to develop not only new tools of analysis, but different mentalities and attitudes based on information and knowledge. The free flow of ideas and universal access to information constitutes access to information and knowledge for the global good and is essential to the advancement of education, science, culture and communication, and the promotion of cultural diversity. It is also essential for setting in motion a worldwide process of transition from the industrial to the information society (AU)