As an aid for administrators in state and local education agencies, community colleges, and noneducational service agencies, this handbook tells how to gather community information needed for educational planning and decision-making. Information sources, terminology, and definitions are included, as well as guidelines for the use of such data. The first two chapters present an introduction to community information. Six further chapters examine the classification of community data on population, land use, and social structure and discuss available published resources, information gathering from local sources, community survey methods, techniques of data use, and definitions of the data items used. Tables and charts provide examples of community information. In eleven appendices, the authors include a glossary of terms, sample community profile charts, an explanation of the Standard Industrial Classification system, hints on using federal census data, and a guide to the literature. (RW)