Efficient access to business information: it’s not their fault!
by Malcolm Brantz, Director, Arapahoe Community College Library
It’s not their fault!
America has become a country where, if something is wrong, it’s always someone’s fault. For example, government didn’t plan enough for the latest catastrophe or terrorist attack; auditors didn’t do their job and a private company goes bankrupt because of inadequate monitoring of its financial policies; parents of criminals either gave them too little or too much when they were growing up.
Our society seems to always be ready to point fingers, make accusations and, especially in politics, try to snuff out the “other side’s view.”
The fact that the largest economy in the world does not have efficient access to the existing “body of business knowledge” is not anyone’s fault. Let’s see why.
Twenty-five years ago, few felt that “business” was a truly academic field. Yes, knowing about balance sheets, income projections, etc., were important for business students. But business studies was nothing like the study of medicine. Medicine has a body of knowledge that is rich in organized information (witness the National Library of Medicine), helps with research progress and has become part of the daily services offered from physicians, nurses, etc.
Since business is a new academic field, organizing the body of knowledge has been left to private companies that need to be sensitive to the short-term needs of their customers. This, coupled with the natural resistance to change, means access to the body of business knowledge in this manner could very well continue for some time.
The lack of change is reflected in the largest library of the world’s view of business. The 2004 Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress (LC) states, “Business in particular is a practical field; entrepreneurs and business people are much less interested in historical themes or theoretical works, and much more driven by current trends and future opportunities. In addition, financial elements are part and parcel of most subject fields. In this environment, then, there are difficulties in clearly separating or distinguishing business sources from other subject areas.”
Clearly, the body of business knowledge is difficult for a general national library to define. We could research the details behind the causes of this attitude, but in reality, LC is not funded for a focus on business. It is unlikely that Congress would change the direction of LC to offer special programs for the multitude of business needs. The Library of Congress does recognize that the business field is a major area, but has been forced to integrate the field within the Science, Technology and Business Division services within the organization of LC.
How big is the potential audience for using this “body of knowledge”? The United States college business major continues to be the most popular major. The obvious reason is that a business degree helps the person enter business and obtain productive work. In fact, the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A) is the second most popular master’s, behind education, in this country. A chronic shortage of business Ph.D.’s has existed for years.
Many business schools have good business libraries that are able to satisfy most of their faculty needs. Business school library directors have never seen any benefits from having a national library for the field of business. Very few individuals in academia would be expected to see a need for a National Library of Business. Why should they?
The areas of medicine, education and agriculture are unlike business: people teaching, doing research and working in the business field do not have a true national library that can undertake programs with a national and international scope.
Again, let’s use the National Library of Medicine (NLM) as an example of what can be done for a field. The mapping of the human genome was called “big science.” Similar to other big science efforts, such as the atomic bomb development in World War II, thousands of scientists were employed to sequence the human genome. The NLM was tasked to organize the results of this 10,000-plus scientist research effort. Medical research has a organization charged with national programs. Business doesn’t.
If you would ask the faculty, students and their university business library director to coordinate an effort of big science such as the greening of the United States businesses, most would say, it’s not our problem. And they would be right.
Businesses in the United States have changed dramatically in the past 25 years from a multitude of complex pressures. Tremendous changes have occurred in the increased ability of businesses to access information from the Web and other sources. However, if you were to ask the business community about using society’s “body of knowledge” in decision-making, many would not understand or think the benefits would be useful.
We in the library world are very interested in “information literacy,” our business students being part of our charge. Remember, it’s nobody’s fault that our nation’s current situation in all spheres could be much better. However, our current situation can be changed. I, for one, hope to see major improvements in our nation’s business library services and information literacy.
