Information services for local government

The information needs of local government are extremely diverse, encompassing both data collected and analysed locally or extracted from regional and national sources, and information gleaned from other local authorities and the research activities of academia, independent research institutes, departments of central government, the devolved administrations and major charities.As UK authorities strive to become more evidence-based, current attention is focused on their ability to identify and analyse data (eg Atkins, 2008; Audit Commission, 2008;Johnstone et al, 2008), and to benefit from best practice in other authorities (Warwick Business School, 2008).Although it is acknowledged that an evidence-based authority needs to draw on a wide range of sources of information, less attention seems to be paid to wider sources of research and practice evidence.This was not always the case.Local government's development of libraries and information services for its officers and councillors has had a chequered history over the last 40 years.The substantial growth in such services in industry during the 1960s and 1970s was matched by an increase in the numbers of often small units in the larger local authorities, usually separate from local public libraries, but occasionally linked to local technical information services such as Hatrics (Hampshire) or Letis (Leicestershire).These services collected information produced by their own authorities as well research and practice evidence from external sources in the form of journal papers, government reports, statistics and a wealth of grey literature.The last major survey of information services in UK local government (Grayson, 1978) identified over 40 services ranging from 'one-man bands' to the major facilities provided by the Greater London Council through its Research Library, with a staff of over 30 including 12 professional librarians.There has been a lack of detailed sources and resources

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