Environmental education among the population of various age groups. Local history document flow as an information resource of the region. Types of environmental education

local history document flow bibliometric

Each individual primary document records only small fragments of knowledge concerning new scientific, technical or management decisions. A more complete picture of the state of the market, areas of research and development, introduction of innovations, etc. can be obtained by examining the document flow.

To improve information and bibliographic services to users, it is necessary to have information about the document flow.

By definition N.N. Kushnarenko, a document flow is “an organized set of documents (primary and/or secondary) functioning (created, distributed and used) in a social environment.”

The concept of “document flow” began to be used in bibliographic practice in the 60s of the 20th century. It denoted a set of documents entering the input of any communication system (automated information retrieval system, library, bookstore). In the 70-80s, researchers realized that the document flow is not a set, but a thematically related set of documents functioning in society.

Its development is determined by the processes of social cognition of the surrounding world. In this regard, the document flow began to be defined as the selective reflection in documentary form of the results of social activities. In the process of social activity, subjects (members of society) receive new information about the world around them (facts, hypotheses about its individual objects, properties, connections, etc.). The most significant of them are recorded in the form of separate documents.

G.F. Gordukalova notes that “each document is discrete and remains unchanged in its content over time, therefore it is only capable of performing the functions of storing and distributing a certain “portion” of information in society. The document flow is constantly updated with new documents, therefore it is a unique way of accumulating information about the world around us. The interconnection of elements allows us to characterize the documentary flow as an integral, functionally significant phenomenon for society."

The document flow is formed from books and articles in periodicals and ongoing publications and other documents. Depending on the nature of processing of the data they contain, documents are usually divided into primary and secondary.

Primary documents contain direct results of scientific research and development, new scientific information, facts, ideas, etc. Primary documents are books, brochures, monographs, collections of articles and works of art, periodicals and ongoing publications, advertising publications.

Secondary documents contain the results of analytical and synthetic processing of one or more primary documents or information about them. Secondary documents include various types of reference books and encyclopedic publications, catalogues, bibliographic publications, reviews, digests.

All documents, once created, begin to move and move in the direction from the document producer to the document user and thus form a document flow (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1.

Note that quite often in the specialized literature there is an incompletely correct use of the corresponding terminology.

Firstly, a flow of documents is often identified with an array of documents. In fact, the word “flow” reflects only the process of movement of an array of documents, and, speaking of document flow, it is necessary to examine what is associated specifically with the state of movement, and not with the state of rest.

Firstly, this flow is precisely documentary, and not documentary - based on the definitions of these terms.

Even more objectionable is the phrase “documentary and information flow.” Since information is an integral part of the document, this expression is akin to equally incorrect concepts as, say, “river-water flow” or “jacket-sleeve fabric,” since water is an integral part of the river, and the sleeve is an integral part of the jacket.

Documentary systems that ensure the transit of documents are adjusted to the physical characteristics of the document. But according to the law of document support, they need their own documents and sometimes give rise to new types, which, in turn, serve as the basis for more and more new types of documents. For example, the standard for the size of postcards was determined by the format of diamicrocards; The postage stamp served as an impetus for the emergence of stamps for other purposes.

Like any documentary system, transit systems are partly generalization: they produce a large number of documents that support the management process that regulates relationships with consumers of their services (receipts, delivery cards, etc.), and act as trading institutions that have intended for sale assortment of specific document products: stamps, envelopes, forms.

The document stream can be so short and low-power that it is barely noticeable. This happens if a document is produced for internal use, when it does not go beyond the boundaries of the system that generated it. Thus, the diary kept by the author does not leave its place at all; in the old days, diaries had a strong binding, were locked with a padlock, and often only their owner knew about their location. The same applied to some documents of public importance: for example, chronicles were filled out and used almost without leaving their location.

Currently, the main part of the institution’s document resource is circulated in the Intranet system, but still, these documents move from the manager to the executor and back. Their movement is characterized by either progressiveness, or pendulum, or progressive-reflexivity.

The main properties of a document flow are:

- power, i.e. number of documents broadcast (transported) per unit of time;
- direction of flow (flow can be direct, forward, shuttle, forward-return, return, counter, transverse, etc.);
- the number of transshipment points along its route (they complicate the flow structure and delay the transfer of documents, so there should be as few of them as possible);
- rhythm (the degree of saturation of the flow per unit of time; unjustified failures, a sharp increase in the volume of documents are equally undesirable);
- noise (semantic - distraction of the document manager to other matters, interference in his work; physical - sound over 40-80 decibels);
- superposition of streams in space and time (when heterogeneous documents are transmitted simultaneously over one channel in violation of technology - this is also interference or noise; there are, however, benefits from superimposing streams of different quality: combining work on a document with listening to functional music, perception of color design and so on.).

An important factor in optimizing document flows is the area of document resource generation technology.

“In the case of territorial “dispersion” of the document and the user, the length of the flow lengthens, intermediate points are possible along its path, and at each stage specialized services with their own staff of specialists can arise for the optimal organization of the document flow. At the same time, such services - they can rightfully be considered transit documentary - are both unbranched and very complex, equipped with powerful technology and having their own network throughout the world.

In the simplest case, the function of transporting documents is performed by a courier - a person responsible for directly delivering the document to the addressee. In the institution, this is done by a special messenger who delivers documents from the office to structural units. In a small institution, this function is entrusted to the secretary. It is a widespread practice when, on the contrary, employees of structural units regularly visit the office to receive correspondence. In large government and military institutions, especially important documents are delivered by a courier.

In a significant part of cases, the document producer delivers newly created documents to customers on its own. In this case, it represents not only a generalization system, but also a transit system. At the moment, the last function of generalization documentary systems has become stronger: direct deliveries of literature to subscribers from publishing houses and editorial offices are being developed by their own transport. Messages received by telephone or computer also fall into this category.

The main flow of documents passes through the two most common channels - mail and bookselling.

Mail is the main transit channel through which document resources created in generalization systems and also stored in terminal systems are moved.

The largest share in postal items is correspondence - private and official. The United States of America is the most active in this regard, where annually over 160 billion letters and parcels are sent to internal and external subscribers. Each resident receives an average of 160 letters per year. Through the mail, people in the US and UK resolve most business issues, such as registering companies, paying taxes, and paying utility bills.

In second place in the world in the early 1990s. there was the Soviet Union, whose postal service sold over 60 billion postal items. We deliver letters, telegrams, newspapers, and money transfers via mail. The postal department has its own powerful transport system: vans, railway cars and entire postal trains, postal aviation, etc. .

Currently, correspondence and telegraph contacts of Russians have decreased by 6 times compared to the 80s. XX century, but the transit documentary and communication transport system retained the main functions, adding some new ones: the post office enters into contracts with advertising agencies and distributes their products. Email is growing rapidly.

The second powerful channel through which document resources flow from document producers to document recipients is the book trade. In book studies, its activities are studied by a special subfield - bibliopolitics.

By the end of the USSR, the book trade system included 17 thousand bookstores, 43 thousand kiosks, and 171 library collections. The system employed 364 thousand people.

Now in Russia there are 350 wholesale enterprises selling book products, 6 thousand bookstores, 20 thousand permanent street trading points. In addition, there are book sections in some department stores and supermarkets. Books are sold by peddlers who do not have a permanent trading place: in trains, on platforms, etc. Previously, such mobile booksellers-hawkers were called ofeni.

The most important part of the book trade is bookstores. They offer a wide range of mostly new books and have their own warehouses. They are associated with wholesale firms that supply them with products from various publishing organizations.

Based on the composition of the book resource, stores are divided into universal or specialized (Academic Book, Pedagogical Book, etc.). Used bookstores or departments specialize in purchasing used books from the public that are not available for sale in other stores. They are an indispensable source for the sale of books of various content related to the retro resource, which is especially important for newly created companies that are starting to collect documents on their profile. The generalization system in this case is the book deliverer to the used bookstore.

Finally, antique book stores are focused on buying and selling rare publications. They are of greatest interest to bibliophiles.

The “Book-by-mail” system continues to operate, when the delivery of books ordered using advertising forms, book prospectuses and publishing catalogs is ensured. Now this system is increasingly automated (information can be found on the Internet on the websites of electronic bookstores).

New formations - book clubs - have licenses to print books, accompanying them with their own branded cover. They sell them to their members at a discount.

In some regions, library collections have been preserved, and the Central Collection of Scientific Libraries continues to operate.

Books are also sold at book fairs (they are mainly held in Moscow and St. Petersburg). Fair (German Jhar - year, mark - bazaar, means an annual event for the sale of goods) - a place where authors, editors, publishers, sellers and buyers meet and where, thanks to this, it is possible to study reader demand for newly published literature and determine changing trends reader's tastes.

A document flow is also defined as a time-varying set of documents that are in motion and dynamic. The document flow is characterized by intensity, which is expressed by the quality of units of publications, publications, storage units per unit of time. For example, books published by a publishing house over a number of years, library receipts for a specific period.

Researchers of patterns in the functioning of the document flow identify various groups of functions. Based on our topic, we choose the following to characterize the document flow as a channel:

џ communication;

џ informational;

џ cognitive;

џ function of “external memory” of a person and humanity as a whole;

џ educational;

џ hedonistic.

The last function is inherent specifically in literature on art.

All functions as a whole are inherent in all documents and are performed in any of them simultaneously. This means that they are inherent in the document flow in general.

But the significance of the document flow in social communications is determined primarily by the property of transmitting a message, the ability to trace the path of a document according to the formula “Who, what, through what channel, to whom with what effect communicates.” In addition, the fact that a document is always formed as a result of human activity and performs those functions that are determined by its specific purpose determines the formation of types and types of document.

The document flow includes documents of various content and purpose, united according to various principles.

A document stream contributes its contents to document stores, and thus the stream becomes a static array. As it moves, the flow branches, documents are sent to different addresses, even within the same institution. Basically, documents accumulate at the places where they are used, and terminal systems simultaneously become utilitarian.

The local history collection of libraries is a document base for a comprehensive study of the uniqueness of the economic, social and cultural development of districts, territories, regions and is intended for public use.

In modern domestic library science there is still no single generally accepted general concept to designate documents related to the region. Terminological inconsistency to a certain extent introduces confusion and interferes with an accurate perception of the meaning of the concept in question. Any inaccurate essential definition of a “local history document” inevitably entails a violation of the logical consistency of all the processes of forming a local history collection built on it, and has a decisive impact on the content of local history activities of libraries. Based on the ambiguous interpretation of the term “local history document,” the concept of “local history document” is also unclearly defined.

The movement of information in time and space presupposes the presence of a source and a receiver, between which information tension arises. As a result, an information (documentary) flow appears as a set of documented information moving in space and time.

Document flows have a rather complex branched structure, since they include separate groups of documents that differ in type, method of documentation, material carrier, industry, language, etc.

In the structure of the flow, micro-flows can be distinguished, consisting, for example, of published and unpublished, primary and secondary documents, open and restricted access documents, etc. However, the main, system-forming basis of the document flow is the semantic (substantive) component, which gives it integrity and purpose.

Studying document flows allows you to optimize the process of working with documented information and contributes to making more effective management decisions. In particular, studying the structure of the document flow makes it possible to determine the quantitative prevalence, the ratio of individual types of documents in a given flow, and their functional significance. In science, the analysis of document flows makes it possible to judge the state and prospects for the development of individual scientific branches and areas, since it has been established that the predominance of certain types and varieties of documents in a particular branch of science depends on the intensity of its development.

In particular, the emergence and development of any new scientific direction is usually accompanied by the intensive publication of articles in periodicals and ongoing publications. The largest share of this kind of publications in the flow of documents is associated with the need to promptly inform interested readers about a scientific problem, as well as with the intensive process of accumulating empirical material and understanding its various aspects. Periodicals and ongoing publications are traditionally the most important component of the scientific communication system; up to 90% of the total flow of scientific information passes through them.

Another stream of documents is associated with a deeper and more comprehensive study of this problem against the backdrop of a partial decline in public interest in it. As a result, the number of operational publications in the document flow is decreasing and the number of monographs and other publications, distinguished by analytical depth, versatility and fundamental content, is increasing.

The further development of the scientific direction is characterized by the appearance of textbooks and reference books that accumulate established, tested knowledge. At the same time, this indicates a gradual loss of this scientific direction of its relevance and a decrease in interest in it

In scientific studies, research into the structure of industry document flows is necessary to assess the state, identify trends and prospects for the development of certain scientific fields.

Streams of documents are in constant motion, which, in turn, determines the continuous change in volumes, types, types, genres, and material carriers of documented information in the stream. Based on what was done in the 1960s. An experimental study of the growth trends in the flow of scientific documents established a certain pattern in its dynamics. As a result, the period of doubling of the annual volume of document flow was calculated, which characterizes the rate of development of a particular scientific field. This made it possible, in particular, to highlight:

- industries of accelerated development (radio electronics, automation, telemechanics, communications);
- industries with average rates of development (industrial sectors);
- industries developing at a slow pace (with a doubling period of over 20 years - history, literary criticism, pedagogy and others);
- declining industries (characterized by a decrease in the volume of documents produced - classical philology, the study of Latin and ancient Greek languages).

However, in general, despite the rapid development of science, the average time for doubling the size of an array of documented scientific information is 35 years.

The study of scientific documentation flows is also carried out using the citation analysis method. This makes it possible to measure the aging process of documents, and also allows for a more objective assessment of scientific research. A decrease in citation frequency usually indicates the aging of documents in the stream. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that in almost any industry there are secret studies, access to information about which is limited. In such cases, the citation index loses its effectiveness.

There are types of information, including scientific and technical information, for which it is difficult to indicate when it will lose its significance. Moreover, in some cases the value of information may even increase over time. For example, hydrometeorological information allows us to objectively analyze changes in the environment and natural resources that have been occurring over tens and hundreds of years, as well as assess the degree of influence of human activity on its habitat. The same applies to medical information, the analysis of which over long periods of time makes it possible to identify trends in the development of certain groups of people, the manifestations of various diseases, their dynamics, etc.

In various countries, specialized institutions have been created and are successfully operating to analyze the flow of documented scientific information, including using the citation analysis method. In particular, the American Institute for Scientific Information produces databases on the citation of scientific works in the fields of art history, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. It also contains a reference index reflecting connections between previous and subsequent publications, which makes it possible to identify current areas of scientific research in world science.

Among the most important databases of this institute is the Social Science Citation Index. It contains information on cited scientific publications in the following areas: anthropology, geography, demography, ethnography, education, politics, economics, business and finance, management, sociology, psychology and psychiatry. The source for the formation of this database are scientific publications (monographs, articles, collections) published in developed countries of the world.

Another database - “Citation Index in Art History and Humanities” - contains data on the citation rate of scientific publications in such areas as history, archeology, architecture, art history, linguistics, literature, folklore, music, theater, philosophy, theology and religion, ancient civilization.

To create these databases, a total of over 8 thousand of the most popular scientific journals (out of more than 30 thousand published in the world as a whole) are used as sources.

In the management sphere, in the process of communication, documented information also ages, and, as a rule, at a faster rate, which also depends on the specific branch of management - administrative, economic, etc. All this must be taken into account in practical work with documents.

Management documentation flows have their own characteristics. In organizations, institutions, and enterprises, all documentation is usually divided into three document flows:

1. incoming (incoming) documents;
2. outgoing (sent) documents;
3. internal documents.

Together, all these flows make up the document flow. The definition of the concept of document flow in the office work sphere is standardized and is considered as “the movement of documents in an organization from the moment of their creation or receipt until completion of execution or preparation.” Accordingly, “the volume of document flow is the number of documents received by an organization and created by it over a certain period.” Typically, the volume of document flow is calculated by the number of documents of all document flows of an institution, organization, or enterprise per year.

The study of the processes of movement of management documentation is carried out by drawing up graphical operograms and tabular route-technological maps, which reflect all stages of working with documents, the sequence and order of operations, and their performers. The study of document flow and its volume serves as the basis for determining the staffing level of the management documentation support service, for equipping it with office equipment, allows optimizing document flows in the organization and thereby contributes to increasing management efficiency.

When designing document flows of management information, it is also necessary to take into account that to develop control actions, not the entire set of available documentation is used, but mainly filtered (only necessary) and generalized (aggregated) information.

Summarizing the information presented, it should be noted that today the definitions of the main terms of the issue under study, such as “document flow”, “document array”, “document flow”, have been formulated.

Document flows are a reflection of socio-political, cultural, production, technical, and management processes in society and are intended to implement relevant specific tasks. This determines the main characteristics and properties of document flows.

Document flows have a rather complex branched structure. The document flow has basic properties: power, direction, rhythm, noise. There is a continuous change in the volumes, types, types, genres, and material media of documented information in the flow.

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Level of environmental education

What do we have at the moment? Many scientists recognize the fact that environmental education, whether it is considered at the level of a politician or an ordinary citizen, is still quite low. At the same time, humanity is not yet aware of the whole tragedy, which finds its expression in the rapid destruction of natural resources.

Only those researchers who are directly involved in this problem fully understand the full scale of the impending crisis, as well as its possible consequences. This is why environmental education is so relevant at all levels of social strata of society.

A little history

Environmental issues have interested people since ancient times. However, only in the 20th century. propaganda of environmental measures has acquired its practical significance.

Environmental education has historically gone through several stages. The first of them began at the end of the Second World War. It was then, in 1948, that a new organization emerged - IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). One of its main tasks was to disseminate knowledge about nature, restoration and preservation of its wealth, that is, environmental education of the population. The IUCN statute on this issue states that the Union encourages and recommends all international and national activities that promote the conservation of nature in all parts of the world and in all environments (water, soil and forests). In doing so, IUCN aims to disseminate the latest technical and scientific advances in the field of environmental protection, as well as to use and widely disseminate extensive public awareness and environmental education programs so that public opinion is deeply aware of the need to protect nature. Already by the 70s of the last century, such activities began to cover not only developed but also other countries.

The second stage in environmental education and public awareness began after organizations such as UNEP and UNESCO approved an international program providing for the development of a system for obtaining knowledge in the field of the environment. This happened in the mid-1970s.

The third stage of introducing environmental culture and education to the masses began in the 80s. At this time, the idea of continuous universal environmental education increasingly began to penetrate the consciousness of various segments of the population. At the same time, it began to spread in developing countries, where until recently they were quite skeptical about education in this area, believing that environmental problems exist only in countries with a high level of economy.

Environmental education strategy

What features are characteristic of gaining knowledge in this area? Environmental education and awareness should be carried out throughout human life. Moreover, today they are an integral part of the general education program.

The main objectives of environmental education are to focus the population on practical problems. In addition, they are designed to help realize the value of the environment, promote collective well-being, focusing on the problem of human survival.

Education in this area should not be formal. At the same time, it should be combined with other educational programs.

Types of environmental education

In the 70s-80s. the formation of an environmental education structure took place. This is how formal environmental education appeared, which was limited to the framework of educational institutions’ programs, and informal, covering the entire society as a whole.

The second of these two systems provides for the dissemination of knowledge on the protection of the natural environment of the planet, its promotion and dissemination outside schools and universities. The main goal of non-formal education in the environmental sphere is to reach all layers of society to change the population’s attitude towards the environment. This will increase the responsibility of people in their interaction with nature, and will also give everyone the knowledge that will help minimize the damage caused by humanity to the planet.

Levels of non-formal education

This type of education in the field of people’s attitude to the environment is delimited by certain stages. These are levels of non-formal education that have a close relationship with each other. Thus, the dissemination of knowledge in the environmental field for children of different ages and instilling in them a reverent attitude towards animals and plants is combined with the opening of appropriate educational centers, with the publication of literature on environmental topics, etc.

Levels of formal education

How does environmental education occur in educational institutions? There are 4 levels in formal education. The first of them involves the promotion of knowledge, the subject of which is the relationship that arises between people and nature. All this happens within the boundaries of preschool education. During this period, children receive the necessary knowledge in the form of play, while acquiring the necessary skills of caring for living things.

The second level of environmental education is designed for schoolchildren. Students gain knowledge about nature through special lessons, as well as through programs in related disciplines. During this period, attention is concentrated on practical research that consolidates the material studied.

Environmental education at the third level is implemented in secondary and higher educational institutions. In them:

— students attend special courses;

— specialized faculties are created;

— the environmental theme of traditional courses is being strengthened;

— specialization occurs in the field of studying various aspects of the problem concerning the relationship of man with his natural habitat (scientific, technical, political, socio-economic, etc.).

At the third level, students begin to recognize the need to eliminate the environmental illiteracy of those people who make political decisions.

The fourth level of formal education is completed by all persons who improve their qualifications in the relevant courses of special faculties.

Main goals

Environmental education in general, regardless of its type, is designed to:

— to educate members of society who well understand the relationship between nature and man, and also recognize the need to maintain ecological balance both at the regional and global levels, and constantly contribute to this;

— ensure the flow of accurate data on the state of the natural environment, which will allow society to make the most optimal decisions on its use;

— to promote the dissemination of the skills, abilities and knowledge that a person needs to eliminate existing environmental problems, as well as to prevent them in the future;

— to orient people to the fact that when making any decision in the field of the environment, it is especially important not to forget about the need for a balance between meeting the needs of society today and the possible consequences of such actions in the future;

— to give every member of society an awareness of his involvement in the conservation of nature.

Ecological culture

What can you achieve by understanding the scale and severity of environmental problems, as well as identifying their global nature? Together with a system of appropriate education, it creates excellent preconditions for the formation of an ecological culture among people. It allows us to present the relationship that a person has with nature in the form of a moral problem.

Ecological culture is a set of spiritual and material values, as well as methods of human activity that determine the compliance of socio-cultural processes for preserving the environment.

The role of political aspects

The establishment of an ecological structure invariably causes a transition from acquired knowledge to awareness. This will become the main motivating factor that determines the activities of any person.

A special role in the conditions of the impending environmental crisis is assigned to the executive structures of human society, especially political institutions. In this case, the political aspects that are directly related to the global dynamics of natural changes are primarily subject to study. A special education is being formed. It is called ecological-political science. The main goal of such education is to regulate decisions made by government authorities that influence the growing global environmental problems.

The role of the library in enhancing environmental knowledge

Unfortunately, a large number of people are still not fully aware of the problems that exist on our planet in relation to the environment. This is clearly evidenced by the events taking place in recent years. Among them are deforestation, air pollution, etc. All this led to the decision to conduct environmental education of the population in the library. Its role in this case is difficult to overestimate.

Why the library? Yes, because it represents a whole collection of information base, which is not available in any cultural institution. In addition, the library employs literate people who have received higher education and are ready to promote environmental ideas. All these components together make this institution an indispensable element of the environmental education system.

Main activities

The library's environmental education plan includes:

— partnership with those organizations that are interested in the development of environmental education, considering such a direction to be prestigious and allowing to create a positive image of the company;

— work on complex programs and targeted projects;

— carrying out continuous environmental education with the formation of a civic position when using individual and mass forms of work;

— implementation of scientific and methodological activities, during which the information needs of the population are studied.

Ongoing events

Despite the existing problems, the work of libraries in the field of environmental education of the population is targeted and varied. This becomes possible thanks to program activities, which include educational excursions, as well as intellectual games on the topic of the relationship between man and nature, special classes on this topic, participation in folk celebrations, and meetings with interesting people.

Environmental education activities in libraries are made most effective through close collaboration and relationships with environmental organizations, individuals and businesses. That is why all work is coordinated with various specialists. These include environmental engineers, specialists from the cultural department, and employees of organizations involved in natural resources and environmental protection, etc.

The list of activities for environmental education of the population includes:

— video presentations;

— photo exhibitions;

— educational correspondence trips;

Documentary stream- this is a set of primary documents functioning in society. It becomes available for use only in the process of its identification and analysis.

If the flow of primary documents is revealed through its reflection in bibliographic aids, we are talking about realstream .

If we study documents reflected in book and article lists of references, lists of publications for dissertations and research reports, we identify flow of cited literature . Hit counters allow you to study intensity of access to electronic documents , access to which is possible through computer networks.

When monitoring reader demand, it is necessary to analyze flow of used literature . Book publishers and book distributors study the flow of literature purchased by various groups of citizens.

In the practice of information services and support, they most often turn to the real documentary flow. At the same time, in complex search cases, bibliographers have long practiced identifying the necessary information through reference lists of publications known to the reader, that is, through a flow of cited literature. However, due to the extreme labor intensity, this path was chosen extremely rarely. The emergence of indexes (databases) “Science Citation Index”, “Social Science Citation Index” and “Arts and Humanities Citation Index” changed the situation and made this procedure much more accessible.

In total, the flow of real, cited and used literature is considered when conducting bibliographic, sociological, scientific, historical, prognostic and other studies.

Mastery of document flow analysis methods allows you to identify:

Exactly the social information that is preferred by readers;

Level of information security of the industry or problem;

Directions and rates of development of various areas of scientific and practical activity;

Integrative connections across industries and issues. In the course of information and library activities, the thematic, type-specific, geographical, linguistic, publishing, organizational, corporate and author structure of the flow is most often considered. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the subject or industry of the documents is chosen as the leading, basic feature, which is explained by the specifics of reader requests related to a certain field of knowledge. On this basis, an industry stream or a flow of documents on cross-cutting, intersectoral topics is identified. Further, within the boundaries of the industry or thematic area, all other structures are analyzed, and, first of all, the type-specific, geographical, and authorial structures.

However, there are cases when the activities of any organizations, authors or groups of authors are of interest (for example, when compiling biobibliographic indexes or indexes of the works of groups), or the state of book publishing. Then, the main ones are considered, respectively, the organizational-company, author and publishing structures, and within their limits the subject of documents. This allows us to characterize the profile and range of activities of organizations (including publishing houses and journals) and specialists.

In the process of information services, analysis of the structure of the document flow makes it possible to clarify the search task and criteria for selecting publications, showing the works of which authors and teams of authors, organizations, firms, countries should pay special attention. When conducting information research, the characteristics of the structure are used to judge the state and directions of development of the scientific and practical activity itself.

Studying the patterns of development of the document flow is essential for many industries. Forecasting the volume of documentary collections and computer memory, the need for personnel in libraries and information and analytical centers, the prospects for the printing industry, book publishing and book distribution, education in higher and secondary schools - this and much more is determined by the peculiarities of recording and transmitting social information to society, and therefore the development documentary stream. Active research into the documentary flow dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. and continues today.

One of the most clearly manifested patterns is increase in flow volume , expressed in a continuous increase in the number of newly created documents.

In 1956, D. Price proposed exponential model (accelerated) growth of the flow with the number of publications doubling every 10-15 years. The concepts of “information crisis” and “information explosion” appeared, expressing fears that humanity will not be able to cope with the avalanche of knowledge it has generated. However, by the beginning of the 60s. the same D. Price wrote that the exponential growth of the flow does not continue indefinitely, it gradually approaches some limit, after which the process slows down and stops, without reaching absurd values. Factors limiting flow growth were identified. This is the completion of any areas of research; termination of appropriations; staffing limitations leading to a reduction in the number of potential authors; changes in public interests, etc.

It has been established that the exponential growth of the documentary flow on any particular topical area or problem is typical for a relatively short period of time, after which it stabilizes and sometimes fades. The growth rate of the flow is not the same both for individual industries and for different areas within the industry. In economics and linguistics, energy and transport, there are problems that are developing extremely actively, there are problems that are stable and those that are fading. Therefore, average data characterizing the growth of the documentary flow, even within just one industry, do not reflect the real state of affairs. We had to realize that it is impossible to create a universal model for the growth of the documentary flow today.

The experience gained during the study of the dynamics of the document flow made it possible to identify a number of points that are significant for information and library activities. So, firstly, the growth rate of the flow of documents on a certain topic, certain countries, organizations, authors indicates the relevance, social significance of the problem and the real contribution of various specialists to its development. Secondly, there are mechanisms for self-regulation of flow volume that do not allow studying it to be based only on statistical indicators. Such mechanisms are: aging of information and the ability of information to be compressed.

Discreteness (discontinuity) of recording and transmission of social information, leading to fragmentation the content of documents is explained by the fact that messages, as a rule, are created during, and not at the end of, research, development, and the introduction of innovations. The reason for this behavior is the desire of the authors to declare their right to an invention or significant improvement of an object, and the need to promptly notify the professional community, the entire population about any events or phenomena, and the difficulty of preparing general publications, and uncertainty about the possibility of continuing work in this direction or team.

As a result, individual documents appear to be embedded within each other, and without knowledge of previous documents, the reader does not understand the meaning of subsequent ones. But this is only one consequence of fragmentation. The other is duplication, the presence in documents of repeated information of a theoretical and factual nature, obtained at previous stages of activity or gleaned from publications of other authors.

The task of an information specialist is to bring together fragments of knowledge and provide users with information about a set of documents that reflect the real picture of social practice. At the same time, it is desirable to eliminate or at least reduce duplication of information. The complexity of solving this problem is due to the fact that there are often no direct indications of the relationship between related documents, and it has to be established independently.

As already noted, aging - this is an objective process of loss of value properties by social information and documents that record this information as new, more complete and reliable information appears. The aging of social information and the aging of documents are closely interrelated phenomena, but not identical. Aging of information consists in refuting certain views, theories, replacing outdated methods with new ones, refusing to use any processes or equipment due to the emergence of new ones. In other words, information that no longer adequately reflects reality becomes outdated. Determining the rate of aging of information is an extremely complex process, but a method for determining the rate of aging of documents exists and is quite widely used.

For this purpose, they introduce the concept proposed in 1960 by R. Bartan and R. Kebler indicator “half-life of documents” , measured by the time during which half of all editions used were published. Typically, the half-life of documents is calculated based on an analysis of the flow of cited literature on a particular industry or problem. It is also possible to establish it based on the use of the library collection by readers, although in this case the accuracy of the result is reduced (readers could use literature from previous years of publication not because it has not lost its relevance, but because of the lack of new publications in the library collection).

Comparison of the half-life of documents of different industry affiliations, and within the industry of different types and types of publications indicates that:

Different industries have different rates of document aging;

In many cases, the rate of aging of documents is directly dependent on the rate of development of the industry (which is why, for example, documents in computer science, radio electronics, aircraft and rocket engineering become outdated extremely quickly);

If industries are actively developing, but the newly created knowledge describes a natural phenomenon or is related to artistic creativity, documents age slowly or do not lose their significance at all (literature on architecture; describing natural phenomena, flora, fauna; mineral deposits; archaeological discoveries; folklore expeditions, etc.);

Within one industry, macro-documents (monographs, manuals, textbooks) become obsolete more slowly than micro-communications (articles, abstracts), and theoretical, generalizing ones - more slowly than documents containing mainly factual information, which explains the reasons for the rapid obsolescence of reference books and dictionaries.

The process of aging is counteracted by updating information . This is a return to the active use of publications of past years, occurring in connection with the revaluation by society of any concepts, ideas, methods, methods of production. Often the reason for such a revaluation is the awareness of the error of the paths chosen in social life or science; obtaining new knowledge that allows you to take a different look at the experience of predecessors; the desire to consider problems from a historical perspective. Updating is manifested first in an increase in demand for published literature of past years, and then in the reissue of these works with detailed introductory articles and comments by modern authors.

S. Bradford is considered the founder of the study of scattering phenomena. Having analyzed in the 20-30s. XX century distribution of articles on electrical engineering, geophysics, friction and lubrication, he described the identified pattern as follows: “If scientific journals are arranged in descending order of the number of articles they contain on any given subject, then in the resulting list one can identify the core of journals devoted to this subject, and several groups or zones, each containing the same number of articles as the core. Then the number of logs in the core and subsequent zones will be treated as 1 : p: p 2» .

Subsequent studies of the scattering phenomenon for different fields of science showed that although this phenomenon itself is observed in the flow of articles on any subject, the degree of concentration of publications in the nuclear zone and the ratio of the number of journals in the zones are different everywhere. In this regard, there is no universal mathematical model suitable for describing the distribution of publications and journals, regardless of their thematic affiliation. And only one universal pattern can be spoken of: the increasing complexity of searching for information while striving for completeness of its identification.

Further research showed that scattering intensity depends on the stage of development of the problem. At the stage of the emergence of a new scientific direction, the lack of specialized journals leads to a scattering of publications. At the stage of its formation, first thematic collections appear, and then specialized periodicals. This period is characterized by a concentration of publications. When an already established direction is faced with the task of large-scale implementation of results in other industries, innovative publications will be placed in non-core journals (that is, scattered), and materials for further research on the problem will be published in specialized ones. For specialists interested in this area, the scattering of the first publications is a loss of valuable information, and the scattering of innovative messages is unimportant, since they contain information already known from publications in specialized journals.

Studying the causes and mechanisms of scattering, D.Yu. Teplov came to the conclusion that it was advisable to consider it as a mechanism for information exchange between industries. He experimentally proved the possibility of dividing industries into information-active and information-passive. Active ones include those that “attract” achievements in related fields and which are characterized by a concentration of articles in specialized journals. These are aircraft and rocket engineering, mining engineering, and automobile manufacturing.

Information-passive industries are those that “give” their publications to periodicals in other areas. The most striking example of such industries, which are characterized by scattering of articles, are law, economics, history, computer science, automation, and radio electronics.

The results of the dispersion study turned out to be even more interesting when they began to comprehensively analyze real industry flows and the flow of cited literature. Moreover, the researchers quite rightly emphasize the practical significance and applicability of the results in terms of establishing:

Connections of this problem with other areas, which is important both for adjusting the collection of the fund and for determining the thematic boundaries of information search;