The role of a documentation centre in development planning : a case study of the Development Documentation Centre in Sierra Leone

Development, considered as socio-economic growth and prosperity, represents today the paramount goal of all nations. Many countries regard national development plans as the main tool for programming and accelerating development planning. Information plays an important role in this. Development planning needs a specialized information and documentation service which, if adequately organized, could facilitate and improve the quality of development planning. The main goals of this research were to gain a comprehensive understanding of development planning information needs, to investigate the role of a documentation centre specialized in development planning, and to find the way for improving the necessary information and documentation base for more efficient development planning. The study was based on the Development Documentation Centre in Sierra Leone. The main characteristics of development planning process in this West African Country and its corresponding information needs were examined and elaborated. An emphasis was put on the role of Development Documentation Centre in meeting the specific information and documentation needs of development planners in the Ministry of National Development and Economic Planning in Sierra Leone. This is a case study based on the experience of one country. However, similarity of living and working conditions with other developing countries allows that conclusions drawn here could have some wider implications.