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According to
Lerner (1998), special libraries for business, commerce, and industry have been
around for several hundred years. He
identifies the Hamburg Commercial Library (Kommerzbibliothek),
established in 1735 in
The Kommerzbibliothek, Lerner writes, “was seen by librarians
in other countries as a model to be emulated” (176). He goes on to relate how small technical
libraries began to spring up around the world, arising from a gradually
recognized need for information about improving production. Business libraries also grew out of the need
to keep abreast of current legal and financial issues. Lerner writes that “as industry became ever
more dependent upon a rapidly changing technology, and as the impact of
industry standards and government regulations upon all aspects of corporate
operations increased, the need for timely access to information grew
stronger”(177). Thus, business libraries
have created and maintained a collection policy that stresses collecting
accurate and current information, while discarding materials that are outdated
or inaccurate.
Business and
technical libraries were not solely created by private corporations; they were
also created for use by governments around the world. Lerner writes that in the late 19th century,
libraries of technological publications were created to assist patent offices
in different countries to keep track of the specialized periodicals published
by different industries (178). Technical
and industrial libraries also serve the information needs of military
organizations. Lerner credits federal
technical and industrial libraries with partial responsibility for the
successful development of the atomic bomb, leading to victory in World War II. He writes that “the availability of German
scientific papers on nuclear fission experiments helped to make the American
atom bomb a reality in 1945” (179).
Today, business,
commercial, technical, and industrial special libraries are an important part
of the research and development of all large corporations, including military
organizations. Lerner tells us that “a
leading purpose of the [modern] industrial library is to avoid the inadvertent
duplication of research,” and that “companies in those industries concerned
with rapidly evolving technologies are most likely to maintain extensive
libraries” (177). He writes that modern
business, commercial, and industrial libraries are
“expected to pay for themselves” and they are an integral part of the research
and development process in many corporations (177). Most special libraries are a part of a parent
organization, and exist to serve the information needs of that
organization. In a pamphlet published by
the Library Association Industrial Group, this is stated clearly: “The primary responsibility of the commercial
or industrial library is to meed the information
needs of its parent body. These needs
are met by providing services to which contribute to the efficiency and
effectiveness of the organization” (3).
Today, in
addition to the private business libraries that are part of corporations, there
also exist business libraries that are part of public and academic
libraries. These public and academic
libraries serve a wider spectrum of patrons who have more diverse information
needs than the patrons of private business libraries. In the 3rd edition of The Basic Business
Library: Core Resources,
Hryciw-Wing (1995) writes that the
public business library must serve everyone:
the constituency is diverse, and includes such groups as large
corporations, universities, and small business owners (284). Private business libraries exist to help
organizations be more profitable, while public and academic business libraries
exist for the intellectual benefit of professionals, students, and the general
public.
The users of
business, commercial, technical, and industrial libraries are many and
diverse. There are, according to Myers
and Fredrick (1974), there are three different types of business libraries: the
business libraries of private organizations, business libraries that are
branches of public libraries, and university business libraries.
For business and
industrial libraries that are a part of a private organization, it is safe to
say that the majority of the patrons of these special libraries are specialists
in their line of work, and use the libraries for conducting research and
maintaining a current awareness of professional developments in their
respective fields. Examples of patrons
of private commercial and technical libraries that are: businessmen,
scientists, engineers, patent office clerks, inventors, and researchers.
It is important
that library users know about all the resources and capabilities of the
library, in order to maximize the usefulness of the library to the parent organization. An introduction to the library should be an
essential part of the orientation program for any new employees, and librarians
should continue to promote the resources of the library to existing employees
as well. New resources and technology acquired
by the library can be disseminated to employees through seminars and
demonstrations.
In addition to
private business libraries, there are also public and university business
libraries that serve a more diverse population.
In addition to being accessible to researchers and business specialists
from large corporations, they also need to be accessible to the general public,
including students and small business owners.
The Library
Association Industrial Group published a pamphlet in 1986, wherein they discuss
the staffing of industrial and commercial libraries. The following six paragraphs are a summary of
that discussion, which pertains mainly to private business libraries affiliated
with corporate bodies.
Industrial and
commercial organizations come in a great variety of sizes and forms, and thus
it is difficult to recommend how many staff should be employed by their special
libraries. The average number of staff
employed by private industrial or commercial library is four, but many smaller
libraries have only one or two librarians.
In cases such as the latter, it is imperative that clerical support be
provided.
The industrial
and commercial librarian is responsible for the acquisition and indexing of new
materials, as well as weeding materials that are outdated, duplicated, or
inaccurate. The librarian is also
responsible for retrieving materials and preparing them for use and retention
by the patron. Librarians should
anticipate user needs by attending staff meetings and reviewing the minutes of
meetings they cannot attend. They should
also solicit user input about what materials in the library are useful, as well
as what is outdated or missing from the collection. In addition, librarians should be
knowledgeable about resources that exist outside the library, yet could be
useful to patrons. Librarians should
endeavor to join interlibrary loan programs with other libraries, know how to
use external resources like the British Library Document Supply Center (BLDSC),
and establish good relationships with book and periodical suppliers.
Industrial and
commercial librarians provide three services to their users, two of them basic
and one of them extended. The three
services are an enquiry service, an alerting service, and an adjunct service. The enquiry service is essentially the
service that all librarians are responsible for providing, which is conducting
reference interviews and helping users find the information they are looking
for in the library. The alerting service
is similar to a user advisory; the librarian creates profiles of individual
users’ needs and interests, then collects and supplies those users with
information that fits their individual profiles. The third service, adjunct service, describes
any extended reference services that the librarian provides to library
users. Examples of adjunct services
include editing, archiving, and translating materials. Adjunct services are usually costly and
time-consuming, and normally only performed by librarians working in large, corporate
libraries.
Private business
librarians are usually hired and evaluated by the administrators of the parent
corporation. There qualities that
employers find valuable in business librarians are the ability to meet
deadlines for information, flexibility and good time management, good written
and oral communication skills, and a friendly manner. Knowledge of the subject(s) of the materials
that the library collects is desired, but usually breadth of knowledge is more
important than depth. Librarians are
also responsible for creating the budget for the library, and should be able to
prepare cost estimates for the maintenance and development of library
services. Most private industrial and
commercial librarians are responsible for negotiating their budget with the
management of the parent organization.
Industrial and
commercial librarians of private libraries should have either a bachelors or a masters degree in library science from an accredited
university, and their salaries should be equal to those of other professional
staff in the organization. (end of summary)
Many of the
responsibilities of librarians in public or academic business libraries are
similar to the responsibilities of librarians in private business
libraries. Some differences are
obviously a need to collect materials that are more general and simple in scope
and language, as well as not being nearly as responsible for providing alerting
and adjunct services to patrons.
Librarians of public and academic business libraries are also
responsible for implementing a cataloging system that can be used effectively
by a wide variety of library patron, while librarians in private business
libraries need only use the cataloging system that works best for their
professional constituency.
The Special
Library Association (SLA) reports that, in a 2003 survey, the average annual
salary for a special librarian in the
The employment
opportunities for industrial and commercial librarians are good, if they are
experienced and willing to relocate. On
The U.S.
Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook predicts that “employment of
librarians is expected go grow more slowly than average for all occupations
over the 2000-2010 period.” However,
they also say that “opportunities will be best for librarians outside
traditional settings...many companies are turning to librarians because of
their research and organizational skills, and knowledge of computer databases
and library automation systems” (2003).
Clearly, specialized knowledge of subject matter and the use of
electronic information systems is strongly desired by
many companies in need of commercial and industrial librarians.
Two major organizations that commercial and industrial librarians
typically belong to are the American Library Association (ALA) and the Special
Libraries Association (SLA).
Within the
Within
Business
librarians might also consider joining commercial organizations such as the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has a monthly publication called Nation’s Business. There are also International, State, and
Urban Chambers of Commerce. There are
also various other industrial, technical, and trade organizations that could
benefit business librarians. Some
examples are the National Association of Manufacturers, the Amercian
Economic Association, the American Marketing Association, and the American
Institute of Accountants.
Commercial and
industrial libraries collect information in many formats, including books,
charts, journals, microform, reports, and audio and visual files, and
electronic data. They collect
specialized and current information for use by the parent organization, as well
as the special libraries of any other organizations that they have an
established interlibrary loan program with.
Private and academic business libraries collect both internal and
external resources for the parent organization.
Internal resources are any materials that originate within the parent organization,
and include such things as research notes, internal reports, the minutes of
meetings, and the publications of employees.
External resources are materials that originate outside the parent
organization, and are collected for their importance in fulfilling the
professional information needs of the employees of the organization. External resources include such things as
books, pamphlets, periodicals, trade literature, and patent information. Public business libraries usually only
collect external resources.
The Library
Association Industrial Group notes that many industrial libraries contain far
more periodicals and newspapers than books.
The reason for this, they explain, is that industrial libraries need to
collect the most current information in the field, which is usually published
in periodical or newspaper form.
Commercial and
industrial libraries should collect materials that are current and
professional. There are many lists
available to help librarians choose the resources that would be of most
interest to their users. An annotated
listing of resources for commercial and industrial libraries can be found on
the web site of SIBL, the Science, Industry, and Business Library, which is a
branch of the New York Public Library.
In November, 2003, this site was located at: <http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/>.
Two other
excellent resources that can be used to choose materials for business libraries
is the fifth edition of How to Use the
Business Library,
by H. Johnson (1999), and the third edition of The Basic Business Library: Core Resources,
edited by B. Schlessinger (1995). Both books contain many annotated listings
for reference sources and serials commonly collected by business
libraries. The Basic Business Library: Core Resources is perhaps the more
comprehensive of the two, although it is not the most current. In addition to consulting professionally
compiled lists, another great way for a commercial or industrial librarian to
learn what materials they should be collecting is to consult with special
librarians working for parent organizations similar to their own.
Commercial and
Industrial libraries use several different subject headings and cataloging
systems, depending on the size of the library, the kinds of materials
collected, the needs of library users, and the breadth and depth of the
collection. The librarians of private
business libraries often spend most of their time and resources on retrieving
data for users, rather than developing a collection. Hryciw-Wing (1995)
writes that frequently, especially in private business libraries, the focus of
the librarian on “the retrieval of information for users and the ‘servicing of
users,’ rather than on collections” (283).
Hryciw-Wing (1995) analyzed a 1992 survey of 11 business
libraries, and she determined that “the majority of libraries employ the
Library of Congress (LC) or the Dewey Decimal classification system, the former
being more common in the public and academic libraries and the latter in the
special libraries.” She then
further discusses how the surveyed business libraries made use of the different
classification systems: “While those
libraries using the LC system modify the numbers only slightly, if at all,
rigid use of the Dewey system is rare” (300-301). In other words: corporate business libraries usually use the
Dewey system and modify it to suit their needs, while public and academic
business libraries usually use the unmodified LC system.
Hryciw-Wing (1995) also determined that “[all] business
libraries favor Library of Congress [subject] headings over Sears Headings,
although specialized headings from other sources...are often included as well”
(301). She explains further that
“corporate and association libraries tend to make greater use of non-LC subject
headings...[they] want more specific headings to access their files,” while
“public and academic business libraries, bound more by centralized cataloging
procedures and cost considerations, use, with few additions or changes, those
headings appearing on MARC records” (302).
In other words: most business
libraries use LC subject headings, but corporate libraries modify them much
more often than public or academic libraries in order to create a more
specialized catalog. The modified
headings that corporate business libraries use often come from sources like
journal literature, corporate reports, and periodicals indexes.
The reason that
business libraries normally use standardized cataloging systems and subject
headings is twofold: standardization
makes interlibrary loans much easier, as well as saving librarians the time
they would have to spend revising the cataloging system if the library acquired
materials that did not fit into the existing catalog. With a standardized cataloging system and LC
subject headings, it is much easier to share materials and catalog unusual
materials. Public and academic business
libraries do not modify the system much, if at all, because they have a much larger
and diverse constituency. Hryciw-Wing writes that, in public libraries, the “logical
organization of materials in a manner comprehensible to both the business
professional and the lay person is a firm requirement” (284-285).