Business Information: five key findings of a survey

Edwards, Sylvia L. and Ewers, Barbara R. (1998) Business Information: five key findings of a survey. Australian Library Journal, 47(1). pp. 61-73.

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Abstract

This paper reports five key findings from a survey comparing the use of internal and external information services by business persons in the City of Brisbane. The Business Information: an investigation of its sources and use survey was undertaken on behalf of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library’s Expert Information Service. The Survey aimed to determine where and how business information is currently sourced; how often and why information is sought from any particular source; and problems people have in finding business information. The main findings of this survey are that (1) Medium Small Businesses are highly interested in commercial information services; (2) Internal Information Services are heavily used to source business information needs and they rate higher than external information services for Computer Training, Competitor Analysis and Consultancy Services; (3) External Information Service units rate much higher than internal information services for their ability to provide information searching and Patents & Standards access; (4) the majority of respondents have never used a library based Fee-Based Information Service (FBIS); and (5) the Internet is currently the most relied upon electronic form of information resource. Overall FBIS units should aim to understand the commercial paradigm, providing accurate, timely and up-to-date information for their clients in the most convenient and specific manner possible.

ID Code:	1002
Item Type:	Journal Article
Additional URLs :	http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/alj/
ISSN:	0004-9670
Subjects:	Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES (080000) > LIBRARY AND INFORMATION STUDIES (080700) > Librarianship (080706)
Divisions:	QUT Faculties and Divisions > Division of Technology, Information and Learning Support QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Information Technology
Copyright Owner :	Copyright 1998 ALIA
Copyright Statement :	Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
Deposited On:	11 Oct 2005
Last Modified:	03 Dec 2008 12:18

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