Note: Descriptions relate to the date of ”Manuscript received” of each chapter/section.

Inge Berg Hansen (Denmark) is Chief Advisor at the Danish Research Agency to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Development of Den­mark, which employed her from 1991 on. She holds a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Danish University of Technology. She worked as an Information Specialist 1969-1978 and as Acting Director 1990-1991 at the National Technological Library of Denmark. She was Library Director at the Danish Veterinary and Agricul­tural Library 1978-1986. She has participated in the work of NORDFORSK and in NORDINFO as board member, IANI-evaluator, etc. from 1983 to 1997. She has been an evaluator/reviewer of EU-research and innovation pro­grammes like IMPACT I Libraries and Innovation, INFO2000 and IST since 1988.

(Inge Berg Hansen, 2001)

Malin Edström (Sweden) is information analyst at InfoData AB, Stockholm. She graduated with a BSc (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry) at Stockholm University in 1968 and in addition attended a postgraduate course in Information Sciences. Between 1978 and 1981 she was head of IDC-KTHB (Information and Documentation Centre at the Royal Institute of Technology Library). 1983-1985, employed by NORDINFO, she was the co-ordinator of SCANNET . After that she joined QZ (Stockholm University Computing Centre) where she served universities in Sweden with electronic information retrieval utilities. When QZ was privatized in 1988 and acquired by DAFA Data AB, Stockholm, which subsequently became InfoData AB, Malin joined this new organization and worked there until her retirement in 2007. All those years Malin worked with information systems and databases within Sweden as well as in European co-operation, compiling the EUSIDIC Database Guide, standardizing command languages and exchange formats as well as giving courses in how to prepare and build databases.

(Malin Edström, 2007)

Inga Elding (Sweden) is Information Scientist at AstraZeneca in Lund. She took a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Lund University in 1977. Before moving to industry she worked as Information Specialist at UB2 the division of Science, Technology and Medicine of Lund University Library 1978-1999 and there introduced the use of online information systems. She was a member of CAS European User Council 1992-1994. Inga is a very active member of TLS/SFIS (Swedish Association for Information Specialists) especially within the educational committee.

(Inga Elding, 2005)

Carl-Eric Elwin (Sweden) is retired Head of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit at the Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. He graduated as M.D. from Karolinska Institutet in 1958 and received his Ph.D. after experimental research in gastric secretion on drugs. He was the Director of the BMDC (Biomedical Documentation Center of the Karolinska Institute) 1969-1973. As a visiting scientist at NLM (National Library of Medicine) at NIH (National Institutes of Health), USA, 1965-1967 Carl-Eric helped to improve pharmacology terminology in MEDLARS (Drug Literature Program – DLP) and continued this work for three years under a grant. He is one of two founders of the Drug Information Center, which was established at the Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden in 1974.

(Carl-Eric Elwin, 2007)

Nancy Fjällbrant (Sweden) is retired Head of the Department for Education in Information Retrieval at the library of the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg. She has a B.Sc. from Edinburgh University. She gained her Ph.D. in Educational Technology from the University of Surrey and has published widely in the fields of user education in libraries, document supply and delivery and aspects of information technology and its application in libraries. She was Project Manager for two EU projects in the 1990s: EDUCATE and DEDICATE. Recent publications include Digital libraries in the Nordic countries 2002, and 2002-2003.

(Nancy Fjällbrant, 2002)

Björn Grönlund (Sweden) is engaged at the Swedish PTT with Quality Management, which led to a ISO 9000 quality certificate. He graduated as M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Åbo Akademi University, Finland. This was supplemented with studies in Business Economics at Yrkeshögskolan (Higher Vocational Education) in Sweden and at the PTT Management School. Björn joined NORDFORSK as Research Secretary in 1972 where the Committee for Information and Documentation became his responsibility. The US ARPANET inspired the creation of SCANNET that became one of NORDFORSK´s biggest efforts under his management.

(Björn Grönlund, 2003)

Even Hartmann Flood (Norway) is Senior Academic Librarian at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology- NTNU. He has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Oslo (1971).  Even was employed as reference librarian 1987-2003 by the Norwegian National Office for Research Documentation, Academic and Special Libraries – RBT, working at Infosøk (Department for Information Retrieval at the NTNU Library in Trondheim) as leader of the Norwegian DIANE Centre, a co-operation between RBT and the NTNU Library.

(Even Hartmann Flood, 2003)

Roland Hjerppe (Sweden) is retired Director of Libraries at Mid-Sweden University. He is M.Sc. in Technical Physics from KTH and has been Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the Office of Research, OCLC, USA, for one year. He worked as Information Officer/Systems Analyst at IDC-KTHB (Information and Documentation Centre at the Royal Institute of Technology Library) since its creation and was Acting Head of the centre 1975-1978. After two years as consultant at Tanzania National Scientific Research Council in Dar es Salaam he became the Head of the Section for Research and Development at DFI (Swedish Delegation for Scientific and Technical Information). Roland has also directed LIBLAB (Library and Information Science Laboratory) at IDA (Department of Computer and Information Science) at Linköping University. He has published some 40 papers on Library and Information Science. He is a co-founder of Paralog, Stockholm.

(Roland Hjerppe, 2006)

Liv Aasa Holm (Norway) is Associate Professor at Oslo University College where she teaches database theory and network communication in the master programme for Library and Information Studies. She worked many years with research and development in library and information science at the Norwegian BRODD Institute, mainly with projects in the fields of knowledge organization, system analysis and network communication between information systems. Liv took active part in the development of standards for libraries such as ISO 8777 (CCL) and ISO 23950 (Z39.50). She has also been project manager for several Nordic and European co-operation projects, for instance the projects Nordic SR-Net (1991-1994) and ONE.

(Liv Aasa Holm, 2002)

Lars Klasén (Sweden) holds a M.Sc. from the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University. He began his career as Information Specialist within online and IR at IDC-KTHB (Information and Documentation Centre at the Royal Institute of Technology Library) 1976-1983. In 1982 he was involved in the launch of Interfact/SVP, one of the first information brokers in Sweden. In 1983 he joined the major computer centre DAFA in Stockholm. Initially Lars worked with the development of its online legal information service as responsible for database structuring and IR. In 1987 he initiated and co-ordinated the development of InfoTorg, Sweden’s largest Online Service, launched by DAFA in 1988, the origin of InfoTorg AB, now part of Bisnode, a leading provider of business intelligence. He has since worked with its further development as Project Leader and Business Developer. Lars has published a number of reports, articles and newsletters on the Swedish online market. He was the Writing Editor for the newsletter of TLS/SFIS (Swedish Association for Information Specialists) 1999-2006.

(Lars Klasén, 2007)

Sauli Laitinen (Finland) was the director of the VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) Information Service until his retirement in 2002. He has a M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Oulu. He participated in the Chemical Abstracts Service internship programme 1969-1970 and at his return founded and managed information service units in several industrial companies and at VTT. Sauli has been involved in Nordic co-operation within several projects supported by NORDFORSK and NORDINFO as well as in European co-operation within projects supported by the European Commission.

(Sauli Laitinen, 2007)

Aud Lamvik (Norway) is Head of Infosøk, the Department for Information Retrieval of the Library of NTNU in Trondheim. She has a M.Sc. in Chemistry from the same university and worked as Research Assistant at the universities of Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim before becoming Academic and Research Librarian at the NTNU library in 1972. Aud took a postgraduate course (1971-1972) in Library Science at the NTNU Library. She also has a degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Minnesota, USA where she studied 1975-1976. As lecturer in the library’s Information Training courses she published numerous training manuals and conference papers on electronic information  retrieval. Aud served as member of NORDINFO´s board 1980-1988 and participated in numerous projects in EU-research and innovation programmes like INFO 2000, MIDAS-NET etc.

(Aud Lamvik, 2003)

Merja Lehti (Finland) is Information Specialist at the VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) Information Service. She gained a B.Sc. in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and a diploma in Information Services from the postgraduate course at Helsinki University of Technology. She was the first Manager of the DIANE Centre in Finland . She collected data for the Nordic Database Directory NORDGUIDE from 1985 and was the Nordic co-ordinator for it from 1998. Merja participated in other NORDINFO and EU projects and authored in 1993 the first comprehensive guidebook in Finnish about online searching.

(Merja Lehti, 2002)

Elisabet Mickos (Finland) retired Head of the information Retrieval Section at the VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) Information Service. She graduated as M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. At VTT she was responsible for several NORDINFO and EU projects in the sector of information retrieval. When on leave for Nordic co-operation she was the SCANNET co-ordinator 1985-1990 and 1998. As co-ordinator of SCANNET she promoted the use of and the standardization of Nordic databases and developed and edited the Nordic Database Directory NORDGUIDE and SCANNET Today.

(Elisabet Mickos, 2007)

Teodora Oker-Blom (Finland) is Service Director of Vikki Science Library, Helsinki University (HU). She got her M.Sc. in Genetics from HU and M.Phil. in Information Science from City University London, UK. She has a diploma in Information Services from the postgraduate course at Helsinki University of Technology. She was Information Specialist at Central Medical Library, HU, and Senior Lecturer in Information Science at Tampere University before working as Secretary General of NORDINFO 1980-1987. She has e.g. been Library Director at the Karolinska Institute Library and Information Centre (KIBIC), Sweden, 1991-1996 and of the Veterinary Medicine Library, HU, from 1997 until it merged into Viikki Science Library. She was a board member of e.g. the European Association of Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL).

(Teodora Oker-Blom, 2007)

Ulla Retlev (Denmark) is a Consultant in Information Services and Training with her own consulting agency Retlev Information founded 1998. She holds a M.Sc. in Biology from Copenhagen University. She has been working with information retrieval and training from the start (1970) at the University Library in Copenhagen, Medical and Scientific Dept-UB2. In 1984 Ulla was appointed Manager of the Danish DIANE Centre, where she had been responsible for all international/Nordic contacts since its creation 1981. Ulla has been marketing and training customers for several Information Services in Denmark, Norway and Iceland among others DIALOG Information Services and Data-Star.

(Ulla Retlev, 2003)

Lennart Scharff (Denmark) is Executive Director of DAG, the Danish Automotive Recyclers´Association. He holds a Master in Political Sciences from Copenhagen University. He worked some years for the Danish Ministry of Education with the evaluation of information requirements of end-users in the educational sector. He early worked for the European Commission (1975) on setting up the first European database on ongoing research AGREP. Lennart has been working with information services marketing and user training for several organizations mainly the European Commission and its international projects in information research and innovation 1977-1996.

(Lennart Scharff, 2003)

Maria Schröder (Finland) is Library Director at Hanken – Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland. She holds a M.Sc. in Chemistry from Helsinki University and a Licentiate of Social Sciences in Information Management from Åbo Akademi University. She has a diploma in Information Services from the postgraduate course at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). She was Information Specialist at HUT Library before working as Planning Officer at NORDINFO 1980-1992. On leave she pursued business studies at the University of Cincinnati, USA, 1985-86 and research at Åbo Akademi University. She has e.g. been a member of the Board of NORDINFO and the European Business School Librarians Group EBSL.

(Maria Schröder, 2002)

Elin Törnudd (Finland), is Professor and retired Library Director (1972-1991) of Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). She has a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from HUT and a M.S. in Library Science from Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA. Earlier appointments are as Information Specialist at the Central Chemical Association of Finland and Secretary General of NORDFORSK. She has been chairman or vice chairman of many Finnish, Nordic and international committees and organizations like the OECD Scientific and Technical Information Policy Group, UNESCO´s intergovernmental Council for the General Information Programme and NORDINFO to mention a few. Elin is Honorary Member of among others the Finnish Academy of Technology and the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL).

(Elin Törnudd, 2002)

Marie Wallin (Sweden) is retired International Projects Manager at KTHB, Stockholm. She was Head of IDC-KTHB (Information and Documentation Centre at the Royal Institute of Technology Library) 1984-1996 where she had been working as Information Specialist since 1974. She received her degree as Licenciée en Sciences Physiques from the University of Louvain, Belgium in 1961 and took a postgraduate course in Information Science at the University of Stockholm in 1976. She co-authored the book “Att söka i Databaser”, published by NORDINFO in 1982. She served as Chairman of the EUSIDIC Council 1987-1988 and served as ICSTI´s Secretary General 1998-2001. She is also a long time member of TLS/SFIS (Swedish Society for Technical Documentation).

(Marie Wallin, 2007)