The information services provided by public libraries to industry and commerce

Abstract

This is very much a personal view of public library service to commerce and industry and does not attempt to give a considered survey of the position in the country as a whole. It is almost impossible to generalize for there seem to be almost as many policies as there are public library systems and the priority given to this service compared with all the other diverse services to the community which a public library is expected to give, varies from authority to authority. At one extreme there are those who appear to take the view that ratepayers' money should not be spent in contributing further profits to rich companies and, in any case, if such a service is required it is not the responsibility of local government. Other public libraries claim to give a service to commerce and industry but, in fact, make very little positive provision in the way of staffing and stock. Probably a minority of authorities are far‐sighted enough to appreciate that business enterprises pay a large share of the local rates and employ the majority of domestic ratepayers, and that money spent in providing this kind of service is a sound investment in the economic vitality of an area. The proportion of libraries appropriate to each of these three categories is difficult to assess but Dr Clements found that 4 public libraries out of 33 surveyed dealt with 56 per cent of the commercial and technical enquiries. Quality of service is not necessarily related to size of system and there are a few comparatively small libraries which maintain excellent co‐operation with local industry. Next year there will be a revolution in local government outside London and the number of library authorities will be reduced from 381 to 117. The elected representatives and most of the chief officers of these new authorities have now been chosen and will take office on 1st April 1974. New policies are already being discussed and if you feel dissatisfied with your present service, now is the time to act.

Citation

Smyth, A.L. (1973), "The information services provided by public libraries to industry and commerce", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 25 No. 12, pp. 468-476. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb050437