With technological advances and globalization, many corporate libraries and information centers find themselves under increasing pressure to justify their expenses and express their value to the companies that employ them. To meet these challenges, library leaders need to know whether or not creating a strategy would have any profitable impact on staffing, structure and improve resources efficacy. Best Practices, LLC conducted this research to help library and information center leaders compare scope, volume, cost, and delivery of library services at their companies with those at other organizations within the bio-pharmaceutical industry. The key topics include: Use of library staff, vendors and others in providing services Financial resources Cost recovery practices Distribution of FTE hours by service category Penetration of potential user base Forces of change - See more at: http://www.best-in-class.com/bestp/domrep.nsf/products/04F6DA94F3004F6565257B570047410A!OpenDocument#sthash.fK9P3EwG.dpuf

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Pharmaceutical Library Services:
Staffing, Resources and Activities
Critical to Corporate Libraries
Strategic Benchmarking Research

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Table of Contents
 Study Overview
 Key Findings
 Library Profile
 Library Services
 Financial Resources
 Human Resources
 Forces of Change

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Study Overview
Best Practices, LLC conducted this research to develop current benchmark metrics for
selected services and resources provided by biopharmaceutical libraries and information
centers.
Key Topic AreasStudy Objective
This study was designed to help
library and information center
leaders compare scope, volume,
cost, and delivery of library
services at their companies with
those at other organizations within
the biopharmaceutical industry.
 Use of library staff, vendors
and others in providing
services
 Financial resources
 Cost recovery practices
 Distribution of FTE hours by
service category
 Penetration of potential user
base
 Forces of change

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Pharma/Biotech Segment Device/Diagnostic Segment
Participating Companies
Twenty-one companies participated in this study, with 16 representing the pharmaceutical/
biotech industries and five representing the medical device/ diagnostic industries.
Responses are segmented by industry throughout this deck.

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Key Findings: Financial & Human Resources
The following key findings and insights emerged from this study.
Key Topic Areas
 Average Budget: Budgets averaged nearly $3.9 million in the Pharma Segment, compared
with just over $1 million in the Device Segment for the last completed fiscal year.
 Cost per Potential User: In the Pharma Segment, library budgets averaged $1,300 per
potential user (eligible employee in the company), compared with $186 in the Device Segment.
 Cost per Actual User: Libraries in the Pharma Segment spent just over $4,000 for every actual
user of services and resources, while Device libraries spent just $484.
 MORE KEY FINDINGS IN THE ACTUAL REPORT

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Participant Industry Profile
Three-quarters of the participants represented libraries and information centers within
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, while others are in the medical device
and diagnostics segment.
(n=21)
14%
5%
Q. What is your company’s primary industry?

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Provision of Reference & Research Services - Device
Research & Reference Services
Library
Staff
Outsourced
to vendor
Library staff
& vendor
Provided
outside
Library
Not
Offered
Basic reference (< 1 hour) 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Research (> 1 hour) 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Analysis of research results 60% 0% 0% 20% 20%
Chat/IM service(intranet reference) 40% 0% 0% 20% 40%
Resource assistance(ad hoc user training) 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Scheduled end-user training (e.g., class, vendor
event) 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Current awareness alerts/bulletins 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Competitive Intelligence services 40% 0% 0% 60% 0%
Co-locating/ embedding librarians within user
groups 40% 0% 0% 0% 60%
Handling copyright permissions 80% 0% 20% 0% 0%
(n=5)
In the Device Segment, library staff uses vendors to assist with providing only one out
of ten benchmarked reference and research services—handling copyright permissions.
Library staff also provide CI, chat, and analysis more frequently than organizations in the
Pharma Segment.
Q. Who provides the following services for your library or information center? (Choose one for each.)

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Print & Physical Collection Services - Pharma
Print & Physical Collection
Services
Library
Staff
Outsourced
to vendor
Library
staff
& vendor
Provided
outside
Library
Not
Offered
Evaluation, selection & acquisition of physical
resources(e.g., books, serials, videos) 40% 0% 0% 0% 60%
Organization, cataloging, indexing & tagging of
physical collection
40% 0% 0% 0% 60%
Circulation of physical collection 47% 0% 0% 0% 53%
Interlibrary loan 27% 0% 0% 0% 73%
Serials management 20% 0% 0% 7% 73%
(n=16)
Up to 73% of libraries in the Pharma Segment do not offer print and physical collection
services. The least often provided service is serials management at 20%; the most
frequently provided is circulation at 47%.
Q. Who provides the following services for your library or information center? (Choose one for each.)

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FTE Hours Allocated by Process- Pharma
Q. What percentage of total FTE (Full Time Equivalent employee) hours did each of the following labor
categories require?
% Total FTE Hours
(n=16)
On average, 40% of all library staff hours were allocated to reference and research
services among participating libraries and information centers in the Pharma
Segment. Electronic resource management took 22% of staff time.

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Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that conducts work based on
the simple yet profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior
economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics
and winning strategies of world-class companies.
Best Practices, LLC
6350 Quadrangle Drive, Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919-403-0251
best@best-in-class.com
www3.best-in-class.com
About Best Practices, LLC