Book details
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Doing research without online tools
Summary posted by Gloria
Garza on December 19, 2000
My original question was, "Does anyone feel they could
do just as good a job doing research without access to one of the 3 main
services? (Dow Jones, Lexis-Nexis, Dialog). Does anyone rely solely on
the free business information available on the Web?"
All responses confirmed what I thought: All information
professionals who responded use at least one of the "big three" services
and believe they could not be as effective without them. No one responded
that they rely solely on the free business information available on the
Web. Most responses were favorable of the Northern Light Special Collection
as an extra and great for end-users but not as a substitution for any
of the "big three" for an information professional.
Other comments --
1) Background of Library and
Semi-Final Outcome: We were an amazing staff of 7 people each with different
areas of specialty. Three people were located on the west coast, two in
Texas and two on the east coast. The Corporate Library had an intranet
site with market research reports in PDF, an audio-conference calendar,
a link to Fatbrain.com to purchase discounted business books, a library
catalog, the ability to submit a request or request a book from our homepage,
and a hotline number to call for immediate help and ready reference. The
corporate library negotiated vendor contracts enterprise wide with the
likes of IDC, Jupiter, Forrester, etc. and in 2000 we served over 3,000
reference requests/ research projects. My boss prepared a fabulous "justify
your existence" presentation when we got wind of the reorganization. She
included information from the Mary Ellen Bates paper, an in-depth presentation
of our services and explained the cost savings of keeping the library.
Unfortunately budget concerns and company politics were huge factors in
deciding the final outcome
Myself and one California librarian were kept on and are now in the competitive
intelligence department. An east coast librarian found out 3 days before
she was to leave the company that there was a position for her in Competitive
Intelligence; my boss found another position within the company as did
my Texas colleague; one librarian left with retirement benefits and the
other is working as a contractor at another company and is on the look-out
for positions.
2) One of the most interesting responses came from a market research vendor
describing how closing corporate information centers impacts them: "Clients
now expect us to be their virtual library, telling them who at what division
has purchased what information and when. We are providing this information
on the fly as a customer service, but I know other research companies
probably cannot provide this level of service."
3) A list-member suggested the following for justification: "One idea
to consider in grappling with your challenge might be doing a side by
side comparison by using one project as an example. Conduct all the research
for your project on fee based services, then compare that output with
the results from the free services. Metrics could include amount of time
taken, accuracy, reliability and relevancy of the results, etc. Choose
a real topic that the decision makers can actually relate to. Let the
results speak for themselves! Rather than hearing about how important
the fee services are, they'll be able to more easily see where the real
value is."
I did do this with an actual request for company information. The client
requested information about 5 companies. I went to OneSource and obtained
information about all 5 in about 8 minutes. OneSource generated 5-19 page
reports for each of the 5 companies. I then went to the Northern Light
Business Search and MarketGuide, spent 15 minutes and obtained only blurbs
of information about 3 of the companies. OneSource was cancelled so I
will now campaign hard for Hoovers.
4) All responses regarding Northern Light were variations of the response
below: "I've been using Northern Light for about 2 years now. I honestly
don't think for an Information Professional that it would replace any
of the "Big Three", but for me, in the Financial Services industry, it's
a nice compliment. They have a number of the smaller magazines and newsletters
that aren't well covered by some of the larger services. It's also a service
that I'm comfortable giving to end users, they seem to like the interface.
5) Several asked why I would continue to stay in this position: "I faced
a similar situation. I quit my job (working for a brain-dead, information-averse
company), but they asked me to stay on to do competitive intelligence
work one day a week. I came in one day and found that my modem was gone.
I asked how I was to access Dialog/Lexis-Nexis/Dow Jones. I was told,
"via the Web." (This was in 1997...) To use Dialog I needed a newer edition
of Netscape--which I couldn't have since "this is a Microsoft shop." To
use the others I had to use FTP (1997, remember...)--which I was told
I couldn't do because of the firewall. I then took my employee badge,
set it on the secretary's desk, and left--never to return."
"You can't do the work if they don't give you the tools. Period. Polish
up your resume."
I want to be careful in my justification to upper-management. Granted,
I won't be able to conduct research in an effective manner without access
to Dow Jones, but I don't want to say I can't do my job without them.
They could think, "well, then, why do we even need you?" I will stay in
my position and make the best out of the opportunities presented to me.
I live in a city with a small information professional community and library/
research jobs are scarce. Jobs that are available would require a large
pay cut and right now I am not willing to re-locate to another city. The
following response summarizes my feelings best:
"Through many years of butting my head against management walls insisting
on my way because I know best, I've learned to do without and make them
think I love saving them money. (I do, if it means my salary!)... It's
sort of an attitude. Rather than think of all the information you might
be missing, concentrate on what you can get."
6) One of my favorite responses pointed me to "Snappy
Librarian Comebacks"
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