European Documentation Centres: Their role in EC information provision, with particular reference to the United Kingdom

Abstract

European Documentation Centres (EDCs) were set up by the European Communities (EC) to facilitate the study of the EC and the European integration process in institutions of higher education. The use made of these large and rapidly expanding collections has been variable, but many EDC librarians have built up an expertise in EC documentation and have made considerable efforts to facilitate the use of these valuable centres of information by users. In the United Kingdom (U.K.) EDC librarians came together to form the Association of EDC Librarians in 1981. The Association has been active in promoting knowledge about EC documentation to its members and others interested in EC information. The association has also been instrumental in some of the improvements in the organisation of the EDC network and in EC documentation generally that has taken place in the 1980s. There has recently been considerable uncertainty amongst EDC librarians in the United Kingdom and other countries about their role in overall EC information provision. The European Commission has attempted to rationalise the EDC network by introducing a new selective distribution system in order to cut costs. This will seriously undermine efforts by EDC librarians to fully exploit their collections and to promote EC information services to a wider community than those in the academic institutions in which they are based. Can, or should, EDCs be seen as an integral part of EC information policy working in close cooperation with the institutions and the Press and Information Offices to promote Europe? If all, or some, EDCs are to carry out this function, there are implications in terms of finance (staffing, additional resources in equipment, and material) and attitudes (the Commission has to clarify its position towards EDCs, and librarians/documentalists have to move beyond being custodians of EC documentation to becoming experts in the information contained within the documentation). The involvement of EDCs in the Euro Info Centre (EIC) initiative provides one way forward.