When planning or assessing formal scientific and technical information (STI) systems for research and development (R&D) laboratories, it is distorting and unhelpful to think in terms of "users" and "non-users." It is accurate and helpful to think in terms of services to informal groups--groups composed of both direct and indirect users. These informal groups have been shown to be extremely effective information pools that gain access to formal information systems by way of a very few group members who serve as gatekeepers. Therefore, instead of the number of direct information system users, other features of the R&D laboratory must be used as indicators of information needs that formal systems and services can meet. Some of these are: the functional arrangement of the laboratory's departments, the location of the laboratory within its parent organization, the stability of the organization's R&D goals, and the rate of scientific and technological change within the industry. In the short run, fine-tuning the formal STI systems and services in terms of these information need indicators may require the assistance of interpreters who are knowledgeable about the R&D process. (Author/PF)