This study describes various information processing techniques, including those which do not appear in conventional textbooks on database systems. It focuses on the input, storage, retrieval and presentation of primarily textual information, together with auxiliary material about graphic and video data. There are chapters on text analysis as a basis for lexicography, full-text databases and information retrieval, the use of optical storage for both ASCII text and scanned document images, hypertext and multi-media systems, abstract document definition and document formatting and imaging. The material is treated in an informal way with an emphasis on real applications and software. There are, among others, case studies from Reuters, British Airways, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Sony and HMSO. Relevant industry standards are also discussed, including ISO 9660 for CD-ROM file storage, CCITT Group 4 data compression, the Standard Generalised Markup Language and Office Document Architecture, and the Postscript language.