Best Practices: Forces of change likely to impact library and information services

Corporate libraries are constantly being faced with a variety of challenges, including understanding new advancements in technology and how to cope with flat or shrinking budgets. On top of this, libraries in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries are increasingly finding it challenging to prove the value of the information and services they provide.

According to recent research by benchmarking firm, Best Practices, LLC there are many forces of change that leading corporate libraries are being faced with. Benchmarked companies cited flat or declining budgets, market conditions, and corporate business issues as the forces of change most likely to shape library and information center business models, services, and product offerings over the next one to three years.

The related report, "Benchmarks for Corporate Library Services in the Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Industries," will allow library and information leaders to compare the scope and delivery of library services at their companies with those at other leading organizations.

Key study topics include:

• Use of vendors in services delivery
• Financial resources
• Cost recovery practices
• Distribution of FTE hours by service category
• Penetration of potential user base
• Forces of change likely to impact libraries in the near future

This benchmarking research drew participation from twenty companies, twelve of which represent the pharmaceutical/ biotech industries, four representing the medical device industry, and four representing other healthcare businesses.