America's Information Boom

Archive Report

Data Influx and Management

Rising Demand for Information Services

How many electric toothbrushes were sold in the United States last year? What is the current and projected U.S. pet population? How many missiles do the Russians have in Eastern Europe? These questions are typical of the inquiries fueling America's latest high-growth enterprise — the information industry.

Demand for information in the United States is increasing at the rate of 30 percent per year, according to one estimate.1 That upsurge has been met in part by the publishing trade, which produced over 42,000 books in 1977. Also meeting the challenge are the proliferating number of “information-on-demand” companies that provide their clients with essential, often difficult to obtain, facts and figures. “Without the complex system of indexes, data bases, ...

locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles