Twenty-nine years of the BIR Annual Survey part 2: Changing information work

Abstract

This article is the second part of a review of the Business Information Review (BIR) Annual Survey, which has been published annually since 1991. The article explores changes to the professional context for information work revealed by the surveys over the course of its publication. It uses a combination of content and thematic analysis to develop key themes, which are discussed by reference to the original surveys: the decline of public library business services, changing budgets, globalization of business information, offshoring and outsourcing of information work, rising up the value chain, changing skills in information work, reliability and accuracy of information and rising up the value chain. The article aims to summarize and consolidate longitudinal trends revealed by the survey, acts as a guide to the rich data contained within the surveys themselves and provides a testament to the wealth of professional experience captured in the BIR Annual Surveys. Its findings relate to the changes in the nature of professional practice and the pressures on professional practice over the past 30 years.