A look at state and local information system efforts

Abstract

The need for State and Local Information Systems stems from intuitive feelings that decision-makers, researchers, and planners require more accessible and timely information. Yet, there is little general agreement as to the general nature of information systems. There exist many areas of emphasis—document retrieval systems, financial reporting systems, land use data systems, data relating to economic or social areas, and many others. State and Local Information Systems efforts have met with only partial success. Planners and public administrators tend to collect data in systems or data banks, which bear little relationship to the problems or decisions at hand. They have no models in mind for use of these data. Conversely, researchers and analysts collect data for a specific “once-only” problem or study; the data may have other potential uses, but because of the way they are collected and organized cannot serve other needs.