Corporate Library Benchmarks, 2007 Edition

About 35% of corporate libraries participate in a knowledge management program, according
to Corporate Library Benchmarks, 2007 Edition (ISBN 1-57440-084-3), just released by
Primary Research Group Inc. The benchmarking report is based on data from 48 major
corporate and other business libraries of organizations with mean revenues of approximately
$3.6 billion. Just a few of its findings are that:

•#The median number of daily patron visitors to the physical location of the library was only 13.5
•#The ratio of librarians to other service personnel was almost 2:1.
•#Only one library in the sample outsourced research functions to researchers or
librarians based in developing countries such as India, Russia or China.
•#Overall, more libraries lost FTE positions over the past two years than gained FTE
positions. More than 30% of the libraries in the sample lost full time equivalent
positions over the past three years, while 11.63% gained positions.
•#In 2006, the libraries in the sample estimated that their budgets had increased a mean of 7.38%, and a median of 5%.
•#Close to 40% of the libraries in the sample believed that the library accounted for 80%
or more of company spending on electronic information typically associated with the
library, such as spending on journals, databases, newsletters, e-books and directories.
•#62.16% of the libraries in the sample keep a written log of the reference questions received from library patrons.
•#Competitor profiling was of dramatic importance to the librarians in the sample. It
was a primary theme more in more than 15% of research assignments for about 53% of
organizations in the sample, and it was a primary theme in more than 30% of
•#assignments for more than 29% of survey participants. Competitor profiling was
particularly important in heavy industry and finance.
•#The librarians in the sample spent a mean of 3.47 hours per week reading blogs or
listservs.
•#The librarians in the sample traveled more than 35 miles away on library business a mean of 5.52
times in the past year, and a median of three times.
•#In 2005, the libraries in the sample maintained a mean of 6.00 workstations
primarily for librarian use, with companies in the information services/informatics sector maintaining the
greatest number of workstations for librarians.
This figure rose slightly to 6.1 in 2006.
•#More than 71% of the libraries that use subscription agents pay their agents in one
lump sum, while 28.6% paid them in increments throughout the year. Incremental pay
was somewhat more common among the smaller organizations, as it was among
companies in industry and information services/informatics.

The study presents a broad range of data, broken out by size of parent organization, type of
industry, and also between organizations that have decreased the physical size of their library
in recent years vs those that have maintained or increased it. The report includes data on
salaries, budgets, spending for books, directories, magazines and newspapers, journals, online
databases, CD-ROM and other information vehicles.

The report is available for $189.00 in either a PDF or print format, and institutional
site licenses are available for an additional fee. For more information contact James
Moses at 212-736-2316 or view our website at www.primaryresearch.com.

Corporate Library Benchmarks, 2007 Edition