In 1985, the NCI established the International Cancer Information Center (ICIC) to consolidate the development and management of its information services for health professionals within a single organization. Now, in an effort to improve the effectiveness of information dissemination, ICIC plans to use a contract mechanism to unify, where possible, the production and dissemination of its information products/services and make them available through a user membership program called the NCI Information Associates Program, accessible by 800 number or by mail. By doing so, ICIC will: l) Create a mechanism through which ICIC can directly serve and communicate with users of its information products/services, identify and respond to specific needs of that user community, and determine the effectiveness of its dissemination efforts; 2) Consolidate marketing efforts--which currently must promote all services separately because of fragmentation in production and distribution--to realize improvements in both cost effectiveness and program effectiveness; 3) Increase awareness of the National Cancer Institute as the source and provider of information essential to the health professional and cancer research community.
