An explosion of information has created a crisis for today's information age. How to use the best information resources, tools, and technology must be determined. To do this, leadership must exist at the interagency level to promote a coherent information policy. It is also important to find ways to educate users of information regarding the tools available to them. Advances in technology have resulted in efforts to shift from disciplinary and mission-oriented systems to decision support systems and personalized information systems. One such effort is being made by the Interagency Working Group on Data Management for Global Change (IAWGDMGC). Five federal agencies--the Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Library of Medicine (NLM), and Department of Defense (DOD)--have an on-going cooperative information management group, CENDI (Commerce, Energy, NASA, NLM, and Defense Information), which is meeting the challenge of coordinating and integrating their information management systems. Although it is beginning to be technically feasible to have a system with text, bibliographic, and numeric data online for the user to manipulate at the user's own workstation, it will require national recognition that the resource investment in such a system is worthwhile to promote its full development. It also requires close cooperation between the producers and users of the information--that is, the research and policy community, and the information community. National resources need to be mobilized in a coordinated manner to move the nation into the next generation of information support systems. (9 references) (Author/DB)