If there has been a paradigm shift in the publishing world in the last five years in India, it is because of the hook-up between computer technology and the editorial and production processes ? the transmission of words and images on-line, the reading and editing of them on-screen, the constant exchanges on revisions and re-revisions with the author on e-mail, and so on.

But much more important, information storage and retrieval. In fact, if you want a communication prognosis for the next few decades it would be: information, information, and more information, coming at us faster and faster. But it is this surfeit of information that is causing problems.

Many of the older generation of editors have simply not been able to adapt and the newer lot doesn?t know enough about how to handle the different software for information retrieval. Above all, how do you frame the question to elicit the right answers?

Earlier, editors used three sources of information. One, their own bookshelves which consisted of textbooks, inherited tomes and bargain books. They served their purpose but wouldn?t do now when information has to be precise and accurate. Two, friends and ?experts? who could be reached over the phone. Three, the organization?s reference library, and if it didn?t have the right books, the nearest college or public library.

Perhaps these approaches got the job done in a gentler age when deadlines were not as pressing as now. We need better information and we need it faster than ever. Hence the need to upgrade the approach to reference and research.

Finding out what information sources are available, learning how to use them and making the effort to do so are easier said than done in India where even the simplest piece of information is often hard to come by. And when it does, you aren?t sure you can count on it. Besides, how does one find the experts or choose among the thousands of research sources on any issue?

There are two ways: the reference section of a modern library and computer-aided search engines like Google and Alta Vista. Both approaches have to be combined because the print edition of a book may not be up-to-date but there will always be an electronic edition on the net. But which reference book does one go by? The Encyclopedia Britannica or the New Columbia Encyclopaedia? The World Almanac and Book of Facts or The Economist surveys? Editors must choose based on their specific needs but the rule of thumb is to check the publication date and supplement with a review of other reference books.

Having said this, the old editorial discipline of asking the right questions still holds. It is the question that will get the right answer, not the expertise in handling the computer and software.