This is the first volume of the final report of the Information and Referral Center Study, which was funded by the Administration on Aging, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The overall project objective, as stated in the initial grant application, was "to facilitate the development of a more useful, effective, and comprehensive system of information and referral centers." The purposes of this first volume are threefold: (1) to explicate the evaluation technology developed for this program; (2) to illustrate the use of this technology in the formal consideration of the research questions originally posed; and (3) to offer recommendations concerning the location of I and R services to maximize access by the elderly, the service components necessary to facilitate the connection of the elderly individual in need of human services with the appropriate provider, minimum educational requirements for staff of I and R centers, and the advisability of networks of I and R Centers. (Author)