- Email: [email protected]
Information and the small manufacturing firm
190
Book reviews
ing of simplistic moralistic gestures which are really quite unhelpful and would be seen as extremely irritating by anyone with experience of severely subnormal adults or children. The title is punchy and alludes, of course, to The libraries’ choice. But the connection is not made nor are the choices indicated of which her copious readings should have made her aware. There is a continuous need to educate teachers, social workers, parents and of course librarians of the potential contribution libraries can make to the optimization of mentally subnormal individuals. This book does not help, alas. Perhaps the one-day school planned for the King’s Fund Centre on 25 May next will be more productive. D. Matthews Principal Lecturer College of Librarianship Llanbadarn Fawr Aberystwyth Dyfed SY23 3AS
Capital Planning Information
Information,
and
Wales
Information. the small
manufacturing
1982. 133 pp. ISBN
Edinburgh: Capital 17 5. 29.75 plus postage.
firm.
0 906011
Planning
This two-year study funded by the British Library Research and Development Department aimed to assess the extent and coverage of information services available to small firms; to investigate firms awareness and use of these services and to find gaps and deficiencies in the provision of information and to suggest possible methods of filling such gaps. In summary it could be stated as ‘a search for gaps in the communication of information insofar as they affect the small firm’. The authors define small businesses as independent manufacturing firms with between one and 100 employees. In fact 44 per cent of the firms they surveyed had live or fewer employees. It is suggested that the smaller number of firms of a larger size is partly due to a decline in independent manufacturing firms in this range and partly a greater reluctance of such firms to be interviewed. A sample of 200 firms was evenly selected from four localities: Oxfordshire, West Glamorgan, Lothian, and Tyne and Wear. The nature of the locality, urban, rural or new town did not seem to affect a firm’s use of information but distance from specific agencies did affect usage. The sample represented a wide range of manufacturing types. The study included a useful though short section on a review of the literature and related studies; details of the latter can be found in the appendices. The brevity of this section is significant in highlighting the lack of research in the area of business information needs. A large section was devoted to small-firm agencies and included a comprehensive list of national and local sources of information services, the availability of these services through the UK and a brief guide to relevant local services. Appendix 3 provides a very useful listing of these agencies. The types of agencies covered were trade associations and clubs, banks and other financial services, government departments, local authorities and educational and training bodies. One important point made was that there are many more
Book reviews
191
small firm agencies than might appear and the number is increasing rapidly. Over 100 agencies were identified: they offered a wide range of services with marked emphasis towards helping people starting up a business and for those in the manufacturing and service sectors of industry rather than retailing, professional or construction sectors. Questions were asked about the use made of these agencies and the role of agencies in the provision of services. The possibility of better co-ordination among agencies was suggested and as an example of this a case study in the North East is included. It was mooted that any difficulty in communication may not lie with the agencies but with the small firm or manager, and that use of agencies is dependent on the ability to recognize a need for information. Related to this, one of the most interesting findings of the survey and an experience not restricted to the field of business was that, if a firm was not in the midst of a crisis or some specific event (for example a move to new premises or finance to weather a cash flow crisis), the manager tended not to admit to any information need. Few firms mentioned any need for general or long-term planning data. In many instances it appeared that a manager did not have the experience to identify a problem and be able to analyse it in order to seek the appropriate information. This was aggravated by a lack of knowledge of information services available. Even when a specific service was recognized there was sometimes confusion about the actual service on offer, which led to misunderstandings about what help the firm thought it would receive. For example, few firms had any specific knowledge of services offered by Chambers of Commerce. The background and educational characteristics of the owners/managers were identified to see if they had any bearing on information use. More than half the managers had a technical or production background; 3 per cent had financial or accounting experience and 23 per cent admitted to having no relevant skills. This experience and lack of experience is borne out in relation to problems they experienced with information, in that a proportionately large number of difficulties were experienced in marketing, sales and finance. More difficulties occurred relating to the whole area of marketing than in any other single area. The main need was for specific information on firms, products, agents and addresses. More than a quarter of the firms interviewed had difficulty identifying and finding sources of finance and many more had general financial difficulties. The conclusion was that there was an inability of agencies and organizations to define their services, relate them to real needs and publicize them adequately, and, conversely, an inability of small firms to analyse their own problems and define information need in terms likely to be understood and acted on by an outside agency. On the subject of the use of publications and libraries many business managers confirmed the opinion that they had no time to read and that answers to business problems were not contained in publications and therefore not found in libraries. Trade journals were found to be the most important single source of published information and the library service was used mainly for basic directory information, especially company information. Many managers and small firm agencies also were not aware of the material covered by a public library and certainly did not think of a library in terms of an information service.
192
Book reviews
The study team produced test guides to local services which they made available to firms. This section was not very informative but the team stated that the guides were difficult to compile and difficult to test and their views are brought out in the recommendations below. Six recommendations resulted which are described briefly: 1. That a similar study be carried out in the service and retailing sectors of industry. 2. That a better service be provided from agencies to small firms with welldefined roles and functions and that greater co-ordination of agencies be achieved, ideally with a loose-knit network of specialist and general agencies with an informal focal point such as a public library or academic unit. 3. The nature of any published guides needs to be researched and tested. Various forms of publicity should be explored. 4. Librarians need to promote their services more-possibly appointing business information officers in libraries with no business section to assess requirements and publicize services, and produce packaged guidelines, etc. 5. To overcome the communications gap between providers and users, an ‘intermediary’ could be introduced-a knowledgeable trusted person who could review the affairs of the business as a whole and provide the manager with appropriate sources of information. The parameters of an intermediary service would need to be established. 6. Better data are needed at local level. The suggestion is that local databases could be integrated regionally and then nationally, thus creating the basis of the information system required, which would be machine based. This was a well carried out study, effectively presented and it offers useful guidance to those seeking to help small firms or those requiring more information on the services that are available. C. Mullings Department of Information Studies Sheffield University
Simon Slavin (Editor). Applying computers in social service and mental health agencies: A guide to selecting equipment, procedures and strategies. New York: Haworth Press, 1982. (Volume 5, Numbers 3/4 of Administration in Social Work) 184 pp. ISBN 0 86656 102 1.
$30.00.
This double issue of Administration in Social Work, apparently published simultaneously in book form, comes at an opportune time since the advent of the microcomputer in particular has renewed interest world-wide in the application of computers in social work. The papers are a mixed bunch: some are quite general, such as the first by George Hoshino which simply serves to set this development in the context chiefly of US legislation and other social welfare developments, and those by Dick Schoech and others on strategies for system development, and by
Book reviews
ing of simplistic moralistic gestures which are really quite unhelpful and would be seen as extremely irritating by anyone with experience of severely subnormal adults or children. The title is punchy and alludes, of course, to The libraries’ choice. But the connection is not made nor are the choices indicated of which her copious readings should have made her aware. There is a continuous need to educate teachers, social workers, parents and of course librarians of the potential contribution libraries can make to the optimization of mentally subnormal individuals. This book does not help, alas. Perhaps the one-day school planned for the King’s Fund Centre on 25 May next will be more productive. D. Matthews Principal Lecturer College of Librarianship Llanbadarn Fawr Aberystwyth Dyfed SY23 3AS
Capital Planning Information
Information,
and
Wales
Information. the small
manufacturing
1982. 133 pp. ISBN
Edinburgh: Capital 17 5. 29.75 plus postage.
firm.
0 906011
Planning
This two-year study funded by the British Library Research and Development Department aimed to assess the extent and coverage of information services available to small firms; to investigate firms awareness and use of these services and to find gaps and deficiencies in the provision of information and to suggest possible methods of filling such gaps. In summary it could be stated as ‘a search for gaps in the communication of information insofar as they affect the small firm’. The authors define small businesses as independent manufacturing firms with between one and 100 employees. In fact 44 per cent of the firms they surveyed had live or fewer employees. It is suggested that the smaller number of firms of a larger size is partly due to a decline in independent manufacturing firms in this range and partly a greater reluctance of such firms to be interviewed. A sample of 200 firms was evenly selected from four localities: Oxfordshire, West Glamorgan, Lothian, and Tyne and Wear. The nature of the locality, urban, rural or new town did not seem to affect a firm’s use of information but distance from specific agencies did affect usage. The sample represented a wide range of manufacturing types. The study included a useful though short section on a review of the literature and related studies; details of the latter can be found in the appendices. The brevity of this section is significant in highlighting the lack of research in the area of business information needs. A large section was devoted to small-firm agencies and included a comprehensive list of national and local sources of information services, the availability of these services through the UK and a brief guide to relevant local services. Appendix 3 provides a very useful listing of these agencies. The types of agencies covered were trade associations and clubs, banks and other financial services, government departments, local authorities and educational and training bodies. One important point made was that there are many more
Book reviews
191
small firm agencies than might appear and the number is increasing rapidly. Over 100 agencies were identified: they offered a wide range of services with marked emphasis towards helping people starting up a business and for those in the manufacturing and service sectors of industry rather than retailing, professional or construction sectors. Questions were asked about the use made of these agencies and the role of agencies in the provision of services. The possibility of better co-ordination among agencies was suggested and as an example of this a case study in the North East is included. It was mooted that any difficulty in communication may not lie with the agencies but with the small firm or manager, and that use of agencies is dependent on the ability to recognize a need for information. Related to this, one of the most interesting findings of the survey and an experience not restricted to the field of business was that, if a firm was not in the midst of a crisis or some specific event (for example a move to new premises or finance to weather a cash flow crisis), the manager tended not to admit to any information need. Few firms mentioned any need for general or long-term planning data. In many instances it appeared that a manager did not have the experience to identify a problem and be able to analyse it in order to seek the appropriate information. This was aggravated by a lack of knowledge of information services available. Even when a specific service was recognized there was sometimes confusion about the actual service on offer, which led to misunderstandings about what help the firm thought it would receive. For example, few firms had any specific knowledge of services offered by Chambers of Commerce. The background and educational characteristics of the owners/managers were identified to see if they had any bearing on information use. More than half the managers had a technical or production background; 3 per cent had financial or accounting experience and 23 per cent admitted to having no relevant skills. This experience and lack of experience is borne out in relation to problems they experienced with information, in that a proportionately large number of difficulties were experienced in marketing, sales and finance. More difficulties occurred relating to the whole area of marketing than in any other single area. The main need was for specific information on firms, products, agents and addresses. More than a quarter of the firms interviewed had difficulty identifying and finding sources of finance and many more had general financial difficulties. The conclusion was that there was an inability of agencies and organizations to define their services, relate them to real needs and publicize them adequately, and, conversely, an inability of small firms to analyse their own problems and define information need in terms likely to be understood and acted on by an outside agency. On the subject of the use of publications and libraries many business managers confirmed the opinion that they had no time to read and that answers to business problems were not contained in publications and therefore not found in libraries. Trade journals were found to be the most important single source of published information and the library service was used mainly for basic directory information, especially company information. Many managers and small firm agencies also were not aware of the material covered by a public library and certainly did not think of a library in terms of an information service.
192
Book reviews
The study team produced test guides to local services which they made available to firms. This section was not very informative but the team stated that the guides were difficult to compile and difficult to test and their views are brought out in the recommendations below. Six recommendations resulted which are described briefly: 1. That a similar study be carried out in the service and retailing sectors of industry. 2. That a better service be provided from agencies to small firms with welldefined roles and functions and that greater co-ordination of agencies be achieved, ideally with a loose-knit network of specialist and general agencies with an informal focal point such as a public library or academic unit. 3. The nature of any published guides needs to be researched and tested. Various forms of publicity should be explored. 4. Librarians need to promote their services more-possibly appointing business information officers in libraries with no business section to assess requirements and publicize services, and produce packaged guidelines, etc. 5. To overcome the communications gap between providers and users, an ‘intermediary’ could be introduced-a knowledgeable trusted person who could review the affairs of the business as a whole and provide the manager with appropriate sources of information. The parameters of an intermediary service would need to be established. 6. Better data are needed at local level. The suggestion is that local databases could be integrated regionally and then nationally, thus creating the basis of the information system required, which would be machine based. This was a well carried out study, effectively presented and it offers useful guidance to those seeking to help small firms or those requiring more information on the services that are available. C. Mullings Department of Information Studies Sheffield University
Simon Slavin (Editor). Applying computers in social service and mental health agencies: A guide to selecting equipment, procedures and strategies. New York: Haworth Press, 1982. (Volume 5, Numbers 3/4 of Administration in Social Work) 184 pp. ISBN 0 86656 102 1.
$30.00.
This double issue of Administration in Social Work, apparently published simultaneously in book form, comes at an opportune time since the advent of the microcomputer in particular has renewed interest world-wide in the application of computers in social work. The papers are a mixed bunch: some are quite general, such as the first by George Hoshino which simply serves to set this development in the context chiefly of US legislation and other social welfare developments, and those by Dick Schoech and others on strategies for system development, and by