Managerial paranoia and obstruction are some of the main reasons preventing hospital libraries from obtaining information from the internet, according to an informal survey conducted by OMNI (the Organisation for Medical Networked Information), a medical internet access service, based at Nottingham University.

The service's research began because of the large number of written and telephonecontacts that it was receiving, when email would have been quicker and more convenient.

The survey's author, John Kirriemuir, an information scientist and the service manager of OMNI, circulated questionnaires electronically and in the post …