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September 23, 2009
[VIP] Economic Impact Research Published
 How are information centres worldwide coping with reduced staff and budget? Find out in VIP's Report on User Feedback: Economic Impact Research
Nearly 450 information professionals shared their challenges on staffing and budgets, in the wake of 2009's dire economic environment. FreePint's survey put some quantitative context around the anecdotal information about redundancies and reductions. Among the highlighted findings: - 36 percent of respondents report some or significant staff decreases; 55 pecent report that staffing has remained stable
- Automation or technological solutions are the most important mechanism for coping with reduced staffing
- 55 percent of respondents report some or significant budget cuts; 17 percent report budget increases
- Respondents whose organisations spend more than US$500,000 per year on content were least likely to report budget cuts
- Free resources and a-la-carte content are among the top strategies for coping with reduced budgets for content purchases.
As challenged a situation as respondents report, they also focus on new opportunities created through crisis. Many responents mention an increased focus on measuring the value of both their content resources and their professional services. They also report closer alignment between information services and revenue-drivers, client needs and bottom-line results. On the staff side, respondents indicate that they are pursuing cross-training opportunities to make up for knoweldge gaps. Additional training and repositioning of skills makes for a more resilient career. Finally, respondents report that they are investing in the end user -- supplying resources that enable self-service and self-training to preserve the information professional staff for higher-value offerings. The full report is provided to all VIP subscribers and can be purchased by non-subscribers from the VIP website. Review copies are available on request to members of the press. Other Research Opportunities FreePint has additional studies planned and ongoing, including the following: - News Content: Needs and Preferences: a user study on the entire food chain for news content; results to be published by VIP in November 2009 as part of our annual comparative review of news products from major vendors; participate now>>
- Copyight policies and compliance: a review of behaviours against policies and training (contact us for information about sponsorship of this project)
- Demand for information on, about and from Asian emerging markets; participate now>>
Learn about upcoming and ongoing studies. Subscribe to FreePint and the FreePint Digest for the latest updates on projects. Information for Editors VIP Report: Economic Impact Research is a VIP Report on User Feedback published by Free Pint Ltd. September 2009 ISBN 978-1-904769-77-4 Price: GBP 39 for a single site; GBP 110 for up to 5 sites; GBP 215 for unlimited sites INCLUDED at no cost in VIP subscriptions. Review copies can be made available to verified members of the industry press; please enquire to
Further Information: Robin Neidorf, General Manager, Free Pint Limited Tel: +1-612-392-2312 (direct; US) Main office: +44 (0)870 141 7474 (UK) E-mail: robin.neidorf@freepint.com
About Free Pint Limited Free Pint Limited is a UK-based publisher of web sites and publications serving different niches within the global information industry. Its online imprints include:
FreePint: an online community of 79,000 practitioners around the world who find, use, manage and share work-related information.
FUMSI: practical tips, articles, reports and tool kits to help everyone in an organisation better Find, Use, Manage and Share Information.
VIP: a monthly PDF magazine and regular reports for senior-level managers who make purchasing decisions for information content products and services.
ResourceShelf: a daily update website with high-quality free web-based resources, including databases, multimedia and special collections.
DocuTicker: a daily update of full-text PDF reports published free on the web by government agencies, NGOs and other public interest groups.
Jinfo: an online database of information-related job vacancies and events.
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