Summary:
The phenomenon of “Information explosion” emerged in the professional and later also in the unprofessional
community in the middle of the twentieth century. It expresses feeling of an unexpected general congestion with
increasing number of published articles and books, which are not possible to go through, process and use in the real
time. Unexpected development of the science after the Second World War resulted in unusually high production of
new data and information. Their fast release was enabled by modernization of the publication process together with
an increase of the number of scientific journals. Despite the relative information isolationism during the totalitarian
regiment, this worldwide process soon emerged also in our region. However, the overload in information was not
balanced by modernization of methods in the bibliographic and librarian systems, which could bring the new
information to the scientific community. The turning point in the transfer of information was the development of
worldwide interconnection – the word wide web or the Internet. For the processing of new information it was possible
to introduce gradually still more powerful information technologies based on computers with on-line connection to
the Internet. To solve the information explosion it was necessary to possess such technology and necessary programs
and to master the elements of information and computer know-how. Contemporary modern technology with various
user-friendly search engines, catalogues, repositories, and with voluminous bibliographic databases enable the use
of full-text sources and give a better view on the formerly catastrophically looking information explosion. Along
with that it is necessary to find financial sources to cover the access to the system. Information support of the scientific
work based on such possibilities represents in the brimof modern information society the only possibility of effective
activity in any field. It is also a good way how to precede the possible next information overload.
Key words:
information explosion, information society, bibliographic database, virtual library, electronic
journals.
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