Fragmentation of international documentation

Major inter-agency information exchanges, particularly at the computer level, have been largely abandoned or focused on narrowly specialized domains. Creators and users are resigned to the fragmentation of international documentation. Relations between potential collaborators in any such exchanges have been eroded by priority attention to basic programme concerns within each agency. In many cases where there has been a real cross-system need this has been met by external services possibly established by a commercial enterprise at the national level.