FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONSPage 1

Volume 15, Number 3 Association of Independent Information Professionals Fall 2001

President’s Message Lynn Ecklund, Seek Information Service, Inc. [email protected] By the time you get this issue, most of you will have enable automated update capabilities of membership returned from your relaxing summer vacations (hah!). information in the online membership update form in the As you get back into the business groove once more, Members Only section. Thanks to Susan Weiler’s efforts, give some thought to next year’s AIIP conference in Long the list of AIIP vendor partnerships and vendor discount Beach, California, April 18 - 21. This conference will be company relationships keeps growing. Please take a look at different from previous ones, as, for the first time, we will the details listed in the link to Vendor Benefits in the Members have a joint program with another organization - the Only section. Connections is now available in electronic Southern California Online Users Group (SCOUG). format and can be viewed on the Members Only portion of the website. Dialog, A Thomson Company, has graciously For those not familiar with SCOUG, it is a non-profit provided us with support to fund the processing and organization, which is dedicated to helping people take distribution of all four issues of Connections, for the 2001- advantage of information available through online 2002 year, which allows us to produce Connections in both databases, the Internet, and other electronic formats. print and electronic formats. SCOUG’s 1600+ members come from various information organizations and include managers and information The next AIIP Board meeting will be held on Monday, professionals from corporate, public, academic and special November 5, 2001, in the Aspen Room of the Pasadena libraries, as well as database producers and vendors Ð and Sheraton, in conjunction with the Internet Librarian yes, even information brokers. SCOUG was founded about Conference. All AIIP members are welcome to attend the 24 years ago by the illustrious Barbara Quint, now Editor open portion of the meeting between 1:30pm and 3:30pm. of Searcher. A long-time member of AIIP, BQ is also still AIIP is the official Association Sponsor for the conference, an active member of the SCOUG Steering Committee. and as an AIIP member, you can receive a 20% discount on SCOUG does not charge dues, but relies heavily on all Internet Librarian events if you register by October 19 by volunteers and the Steering Committee to produce an annual using the special AIIP registration form available at: http:// full-day spring workshop, an annual retreat and various other www.infotoday.com/il2001/AIIPRegistration.pdf. Several events. For more information on SCOUG, check out http:/ AIIP members will be speaking during the conference, /www.scougweb.org/. including Mary Ellen Bates, Terry Brainerd Chadwick, Gail Dykstra, Debbie Hunt, Amelia Kassel, Sheri Lanza, Gary We are very excited to offer you this opportunity to Price, Barbara Quint, Risa Sacks, Seymour Satin, and Chris meet and network with members of SCOUG. The joint Sherman. AIIP will have a tabletop exhibit in the Exhibit Hall conference will have many benefits for both AIIP and and will also be hosting a reception on Monday evening, SCOUG members: varied programming, more exhibits and November 5, at the Pasadena Sheraton, which will be sponsors and enhanced networking opportunities. sponsored by The Dialog Corporation. Conference Chair Debbie Bardon and her conference committees are working hard on the agenda and logistics to AIIP will also be exhibiting at the Online Information enable all attendees get as much out of this experience as 2001 conference in London, England, December 4-8. This is possible. As you can imagine, there is a tremendous amount a wonderful opportunity in the international information of work involved, so volunteers will be welcomed with open community. We’re looking for AIIP volunteers to help staff arms. Please don’t be shy - offer your services by contacting the booth. Please let me know if you will be attending this Debbie Bardon at mailto:[email protected] or 510-531- conference and whether you can give some of your time to 1050. this effort. Contact me at [email protected]. AIIP members can get a 10% discount off the full conference price. Some of you may have noticed several new features on the AIIP web site. The membership directory has been Now, it’s time for me to take my own brief vacation to enhanced to allow for searching by multiple fields thanks Palm Springs…where I believe the weather is around 108 to Larry Mrazek. Risa Sacks has been working with TEI to degrees this time of year….. Page 2 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

Inside this Issue

AIIP would like to thank the PRESIDENT’S COLUMN ...... 1 FOOTNOTES ...... 3 OUR MOST CHALLENGING PROJECT ...... 4 Q&A WITH ALLAN RYPKA ...... 6 COVER TO COVER PART III ...... 7 BOOK REVIEW FREE AGENT NATION ...... 9 Q&A WITH DAN PINK ...... 10 SCI-TECH WATCH...... 11 CONFERENCE NEWS CALIFORNIA TEAMING...... 12 for its consistent support of AIIP DONT MISS THE BOAT ...... 12 and for sponsoring the printing MEMORIES OF THE QUEEN MARY ...... 12 and mailing of Connections. VENDOR NEWS ...... 13 MEMBER KUDOS NEW BOOKS, ARTICLES, PRESENTATIONS, INTERVIEWS, APPOINTMENTS ...... 14 AIIP SERVICE CORP NEWS AIIP ONVIA RELATIONSHIP TERMINATED...... 14 CONNECTIONS THE BUSINESS OF INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS AIIP CASE STUDY: AN INDEPENDENT Association of Independent 7044 So. 13th Street Information Professionals Oak Creek, Wisconsin 53154 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS ...... 15 DUE DILIGENCE RESEARCH: A PUBLIC Publisher ...... AIIP Service Corp. RECORDS PERSPECTIVE ...... 17 President ...... Jane Malcolm 918-492-3983, jbmalcolm.net SURVIVORS: LAW LIBRARY SERVICE Director, Publications...... Risa Sacks PROVIDERS ...... 18 828-452-9444, [email protected] Editor-in-Chief ...... Crystal Sharp BUILDING OUR BUSINESS 519-495-2889, [email protected] Senior Editor ...... Jim Cowan HOW YOU DO WHAT YOU DO: 415-674-1321, [email protected] LIVING YOUR BRAND ...... 19 Associate Editor ...... Allan Rypka 301-475-3898, [email protected] AN ANNUAL FINANCIAL CHECK-UP ...... 21 Advertising Director ...... Eiko Shaul NEGOTIATING: FIRST CONTACT 416-544-0208, [email protected] TO FINAL CONTRACT ...... 22 SciTech Watch Column ...... Jane John 207-373-1755, [email protected] CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS AIIP Connections (ISSN 1524-9468) is published quarterly and is copyrighted ©2001 by the Association of Independent Information HOW TO SAY NO WITHOUT SOUNDING LIKE A Professionals, 7044 So. 13th Street, Oak Creek, Wisconsin 53154. TWO-YEAR OLD THROWING A TANTRUM...... 24 Subscriptions: Free to AIIP members. Material contained in Connections FIRING A CLIENT ...... 26 is copyrighted. For permission to reprint, contact AIIP at 414-766-0421, or at [email protected]

Submissions: Article submissions should be sent to Crystal Sharp and ad copy to Eiko Shaul (see contact information above). FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 3

AIIP: How to Reach Us FOOTNOTES

President Crystal Sharp, Editor-in-Chief, InformAction, CD Sharp Information Lynn Ecklund, Seek Information Service. Systems. [email protected] 818-242-2793, [email protected]

Vice-President/President Elect/Planning As I sit at my computer well past the midnight hour, I think - Pamela A. Wegmann, INFORMATION MATTERS, LLC with some amusement - of the quote attributed to Micah Jackson 504-738-0070, [email protected] (Chicago, Illinois), that I saw in Free Agent Nation, by Dan Pink - “The worst part about going out on your own is that you have to Immediate Past President/ByLaws/Elections work twenty-four hours a day. The best part is that you get to pick Peggy Carr, Carr Research Group which twenty-four.” 410-710-8630, [email protected] The theme of this issue is “The Business of Information Professionals” and focuses on us. Thought-provoking articles, case Treasurer/Budget & Finance/Membership studies and project descriptions presented here help us look at how Maryanne Nasiatka, Sabat & Jablonska & Co. we define ourselves, how we practice what we do and how can we 734-454-0926, [email protected] do what we do, better. Secretary With permission from the Business and Finance Division of Sheri Lanza, Global InfoResources, Inc. SLA, we have reprinted Hal Kirkwood’s interview with Amelia 703-242-7512, [email protected] Kassel, who shares her experiences on the start and growth of her successful independent information business. Lynn Peterson gives Director/Awards/Mentoring us an insight into the procedures used in conducting due diligence. Federico Turnbull, AEID, SC Susannah Crego discusses a potential source of new business for 525-687-7355, [email protected] independent information professionals, namely, law library outsourcing. Aspiring writers can read Reva Basch’s last article in Director/Conference her three-part series on publishing, which discusses the editorial Debbie Bardon, Bardon-On-Call process. 510-531-1050, [email protected] As independent businesses, we cannot survive if we do not take Director/Electronic Communications the time to oversee and undertake, or at the very least, understand, Debbie Hunt, Information Edge the management of our businesses. Robin Neidorf discusses, within 510-521-3036, [email protected] the context of building your business, the importance of creating and nurturing a brand that consistently and clearly communicates Director/Vendor Relations what your business is about. Maryanne Nasiatka, our AIIP treasurer, Susan Weiler, Weiler Information Services focusses on the importance of annual “check-ups” of the fiscal health 508-668-0371, [email protected] of our businesses. Her article provides a checklist for doing that, and discusses how we can use that information to plan for the future. Director/Public Relations Take heed of Seymour Satin’s tips on negotiating - it could make Cindy Shamel, Shamel Information Services your next deal a lot sweeter if you take the time to be prepared. 858-673-4673, [email protected] This article is part of a larger one Seymour wrote for Searcher Magazine. Director/Publications Risa Sacks, Risa Sacks Information Services Clients are our mainstay. Occasionally, due to any number of 828-452-9444, [email protected] constraints, we may not be able to undertake a project or do what is asked. How do we say no without losing a client? Read what Director/Connections Editor-in-Chief Marydee Ojala has to say; it might help. There are times, however, Crystal Sharp, InformAction, CD Sharp Information Systems, Ltd. when a client relationship does not work outÐread Jan Tudor’s article 519-495-2889, [email protected] on what to do about that. AIIP Administrator In addition to the theme section, there are two new columns Tracy Burr, TEI that were debut in this issue. Allan Rypka’s description of his most 414-766-0421, [email protected] amazing project is fascinating reading. We hope it will set a precedent for future articles from those of you who have similarly interesting stories to tell. If there is one trait that binds us all in this AIIP community, it is the dogged search we must undertake to get to the heart of a matter... we’re all detectives at heart! Jane John, a AIIP Home Page: http://www.aiip.org new member, has undertaken to provide us a sci-tech current topics column called “Sci-Tech Watch,” which she compiled through (Continued on page 8) Page 4 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

Our Most Challenging Project: ”Rescue by the SS James D. Doty” Allan Rypka, Focused Research International Inc. [email protected]

Many would call the research we have been doing for nearly were made prisoners of war, a higher percentage of casualties than nine years boring: technical sifting of communications technologies the paratroops.1 for government agencies, or poring over ancient microfilms of Record Group 38 of the Federal Archives, College Park MD, muster rolls for lawyers to confirm exposure to asbestos-insulated holds much of the available WWII information on the Merchant shipboard pipingÐhard but necessary work. But this is the story of Marine. Because the ships were operated by private companies and our most challenging research project: a nine-month effort that deck logs were considered company property, the deck logs of most touched nearly every element of our company’s activities, from merchant ships, unlike those of naval vessels, no longer exist. technical knowledge to intelligence analysis. So we began our research with what was available: the name Our client contacted us with a story from World War II that his of our client’s father, and the records from RG 38 concerning the aged father had told him shortly before his demise. The father had S.S. James D. Doty, Asbrandtsen Steam Ship Company. Initial been the master of a merchant ship operating in the Pacific. In 1945, acceptance records of the ship and the Port Director’s Report of while returning to the United States from the South Pacific, the ship Arming Merchant Vessels confirmed that our client’s father had rescued several aviators, who were clinging to some wreckage. The indeed been the first master of the Doty in October 1943. Voyage client wanted to verify the story with as many details as possible, so records confirmed that the Doty had indeed operated in the South that he could create a display for a local museum documenting the Pacific, but had returned to the U.S. in September 1944, after which contribution of the local people to the World War II effort. But a the master transferred to another ship. Obviously there was no 1945 problem stopped the client’s research before he could get started: rescue by the Doty; when did the rescue happen? he was unable to locate a ship of the name given him by his father! If we could succeed in identifying the ship, we could then gather all Further information was to come from another set of records. possible relevant details about events leading to the rescue, the rescue Although merchant seamen were civilians, each merchant ship bound itself, and its aftermath. for the war area was assigned a small detachment of Navy personnel called Armed Guard Units, whose job was to operate the weapons on the ship and provide security and communications. Each Armed Guard unit in the Pacific reported to the Pacific Armed Guard Center at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. The officer in charge of every unit was required to file a “Report of Voyage” according to the “General Instructions for Commanding Officers of Naval Armed Guards on Merchant Ships.” We started to read all the available Armed Guard reports on voyages of the Doty. Typically, these reports were two- to three- page descriptions of where the ship operated, the training conducted by the unit, equipment status, enemy action encountered and ammunition expended, together with discussion of any problems with the civilian master of the vessel. The required elements of the report were simple, but each officer had considerable freedom to submit whatever he felt might be significant. Figure 1. Liberty Ship SS Jeremiah Brown, One of Two Remaining Operational Liberty Ships The Armed Guard report from the Doty’s last voyage with our client’s father as master provided major clues. The Doty left Milne Confirming the ship’s name was the easy part. The key was Bay, New Guinea, around noon on August 28, 1944, bound for San knowing that Liberty Ships were primarily named for prominent Francisco, where she arrived the morning of September 25, 1944. Americans and that all ship records were kept alphabetically by The report of the voyage states that it was routine “with the name in direct order: the records of the SS Jeremiah Brown were following exception. September 7, 1944 at 2125 [9:25 PM] the ship filed under “Jer,” not “Brown.” Our client had been searching for a received a radio message telling of a plane crash and requesting ship named the “Doty” or “Doughty,” so we began with an Internet that the ship conduct a search for possible survivors.”2 Ten minutes search for prominent Americans that quickly identified James D. later, the Doty reversed course and turned back to conduct a search Doty, a noteworthy pioneer, judge and congressman from Wisconsin. that culminated at 0520 the next morning with the sighting of seven Referring to the list of Liberty Ships, we confirmed that there was a survivors clinging to aircraft wreckage. The ship picked up the Liberty ship named the James D. Doty. survivors, sank the wreckage, reported the rescue and turned the The Merchant Marine was one of the least recognized and most survivors over to a Navy destroyer that had been dispatched to the heroic elements of the U.S. effort in World War II. Veterans of the area. The Armed Guard CO concluded his comments by noting that merchant service were only recently recognized as veterans because “the Master of the ship is to be greatly complimented for his they served as civilians, yet 5638 merchant seamen died and 581 judgment in determining the probability of where the survivors might FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 5 be and for his insistence of the possibility of finding them. Also the lookouts for their vigilant watch standing.” We had verified the incident, but major holes still existed. We didn’t know who the survivors were, what kind of aircraft they had flown, or even if they were Americans! The Armed Guard report commending the master of the Doty was, in fact, a tremendous understatement. Locating something as small as a single human or group in the mid-Pacific was extremely improbable. Even finding a ship as large as a carrier was often impossible; there are cases of WWII aviators lost while attempting to find their own carrier, whose movements they knew in advance. We later learned that the Navy had been conducting a search for the survivors with nearly 300 planes and ships, but to no avail. Furthermore, sailing was dangerous. Merchant ships in the Pacific steamed independently, blacked out, on prescribed courses was a major challenge. and without Navy escort. Deviating from one’s course could result Merchant ships normally travel by what is called a “great circle in a collision with another ship, while returning to the prescribed route,” the shortest point-to-point route to sail on the globe, but a course invited attack by a submarine. At one point during the search route of this nature from New Guinea to San Francisco would have for the survivors, the master ordered the lights of the Doty turned taken the Doty through Japanese-held waters. Obviously they went on, an action that could have resulted in the loss of the ship had a by another route, but which one? submarine been near. A U.S. Navy admiral who had ordered his task force lights turned on to aid returning airmen received a very We located a chart showing the perimeter of the Pacific combat high award for courage. The Doty’s lights were sighted by the area in July and August 1944. On the chart we plotted a course to survivors. the edge of the combat area, as close to due east as possible, then a great circle route to San Francisco. We then divided the course into These factors meant that the master of the Doty, our client’s equal segments for each day of the voyage, deducting half a day for father, was indeed a courageous, professional seaman. This the time lost in the search. We noted the point on the track that conclusion was further supported by the voyage records, which corresponded to the time of the message received by the Doty, and indicated that his ship was on time or early in all of its voyages, an plotted the distance steamed by the Doty from the message time infrequent happening for WWII merchant ships. until the sighting. We then gave this position to the NHC. The realization that we were dealing with a most unusual event Three seaplane losses had occurred within 24 hours of the motivated us, but we were at a standstill. The aircraft wreckage, a estimated time of the mishap; one of them was a PBM that crashed wing float, identified the aircraft as a seaplane, but was it Navy, only 150 miles from our estimated position, a bull’s-eye by WWII Coast Guard, Army Air Force, Pan-Am, some other company navigational standards! The summary of the crash provided the aircraft, or Allied? The only clue was that the survivors had a .38 names of the survivors, the squadron, the bureau number of the caliber survival revolver, something frequently carried by Navy aircraft, and circumstances of the crash, which most likely resulted airmen. from contaminated fuel causing both engines to fail. The forced The U.S. Navy Historical Center (NHC) http:// landing attempt was in heavy rain and seas more than triple the www.history.navy.mil Aviation Branch has extensive microfilm maximum safe landing wave height for the PBM. records of aviation mishaps, one- and two-page synopses of aircraft Several members of the crew were killed on impact or died crashes. To access the files, however, you need to know the type of shortly after the crash. Only a wing float, too small to hold all the aircraft, and the time and latitude and longitude of the crash. At survivors, remained afloat, so they took turns being on the float, the that time the Navy had over a dozen types of seaplane. We could rest of the time hanging on to the side. By the time they were picked narrow the possibilities a bit since the number of survivors ruled up, they were seasick, exhausted, dehydrated and suffering from out small aircraft. We could approximate the time, but the location sunburn. In this state when the ship approached them, they could Page 6 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

not tell at first whether it was U.S. or Japanese, but even in their reduced condition they prepared themselves to fight if the ship were not friendly! Q&A with Allan Rypka Most important, the summary provided us with the detail necessary to go back to the Federal Archives and get the formal accident report, a thick, comprehensive document The following queries, based on containing many additional details of the mishap. Although the NHC summary and the formal the story above, were put to Allan by accident report gave us a lot of detail, they did not give us the critical detail: the documents Jim Cowan, Alturas Research and mention that the crew was picked up by a “merchant” without mentioning its name. So while Information Services, jlcowan@ we were confident that we were on the right trail because so many details of the Doty’s mindspring.com Armed Guard report matched the Navy documents, we didn’t know for sure. JC: How did you discover the name In desperation, we returned of the shipping company? to the Internet for a series of AR: The company is listed on the searches, armed with keywords Armed Guard Reports and various gleaned from the documentation. other documents in the NARA files Although the aircraft squadron on the ship. had been decommissioned over JC: Could you point out specific 50 years ago, it had a web page! instances where your general http://vpnavy.com/vp200/html. knowledge, not your research, offered The web page identified the lost you important clues? This appears to PBM, but by now we had more be the case with respect to (1) knowing detail about the mishap than the that Liberty Ships were named after veterans maintaining the web prominent people and (2) knowing page! A bulletin board on the web that Liberty Ships carried Armed page, however, contained a note Guard units. If it was not the case, from the son of one of the could you explain where these insights survivors who stated that his came from? father was alive and well, living in Michigan. AR: In addition to the two points identified, knowing that Navy An Internet search produced aviation personnel carried .38 caliber three people in Michigan with the Figure 2. Logo of Patrol Bombing Squadron 200 pistols for survival was a major clue survivor’s name. The third phone that the aircraft survivors were from call asking for someone who had a Navy aircraft. That statement that survived the crash of a Navy patrol bomber in WWII got the answer, “Just a minute, he loves the survivors had a .38 was in the to tell that story!” We then talked to a razor-sharp octogenarian who confirmed many of the Armed Guard report of the incident. crash details. Carefully refraining from mentioning the merchant ship type or name, I asked Other items included knowing that the fateful question: “Sir do you remember the name of the merchant ship?” “Of course” merchant ships travel on great circle came the crisp reply, “how could I forget! It was the S.S. James D. Doty!” This was the first routes and that the combat area absolute confirmation, nine months after we began the project, that the ship our client was changed as the war progressed so that interested in was the same as the heroic vessel mentioned in the Navy records only as a it was possible to find a chart of the “merchant.” combat area on the date of the The survivor sent us his personal pictures, articles, memorabilia, and data, which we copied incident, then estimate a course based for our client and for the display in his local museum, along with all of the archive documents. on those two points. This project was by no means the largest we’ve had. In terms of billable hours, it was JC: Can you verify the number 300 below our average. It did, however, lead us to discover what is now common knowledge: as the number of planes and ships sent that an interaction exists between the various archives and the Internet. We now begin and to find the aviators? end each research project with Internet searches. AR: The number of ships and planes The project also had a profound effect on our client and the survivors. The survivors was based on totals obtained from were pleased that the family of the master of the SS James D. Doty had taken the time and multiple sources including the Armed expense to contact them. The client, a college professor, was pleased by our work and Guard Reports, formal accident report impressed by the sincerity and gratitude of the survivors. The final story borders on a maritime and materials provided by one of the version of the film, Saving Private Ryan, in that all seven of the survivors went on to lead survivors. The number is actually successful, honorable lives. Finally, bringing our client and the survivors of PBM together relatively low compared to the was a proud day for us. thousands of planes and hundreds of ships available in the Pacific at the 1War Shipping Administration, “The United States Merchant Marine at War: Report to the President,” January time. 15, 1946, p.5. http://marad.dot.gov/history/war.html 2 CO Armed Guard, SS James D. Doty, “Report of Voyage July 12 1944 to September 26, 1944,” p.2. RG 38, Naval Transportation Service, Armed Guard Files, 1940-45, Box 338. FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 7

This is the final article in a three part series on book publishing, by Reva Basch. Part one covered the development of a concept into a book idea, shopping for a publisher, discussions of working with an agent, and the ins and outs of constructing a book proposal. Part two discussed the ins and outs of negotiating a book contract. Cover to Cover Part III: What Aspiring Book Authors Need to Know Reva Basch, Aubergine Information Services, [email protected]

The Editorial Process Mr. Shawn sitting down with his New Yorker writers and lovingly Some publishers assign an in-house editor, or a trusted poring over their manuscripts, line by line. Some publishers may contractor, to work with you throughout the editorial and production still work with printed drafts and blue pencils, but my own experience process. That person’s job is to help you refine your ideas and in recent years has been entirely electronic. If you’re more organize them more effectively, and to suggest areas that you might comfortable reviewing changes on paper than on screen, of course beef up and others you should probably boil down. Your editor may you can print out a working copy of your manuscript. Otherwise, do fine-grain copyediting as well, or work in conjunction with a you may see nothing that resembles a book until the final stage copyeditor. before publication. Other publishers offer very little editorial support beyond Here’s one likely editorial scenario. The writer composes each copyediting. Try to find out in advance what level of editorial chapter in Microsoft Word and submits them to the editor as email attention your manuscript will receive. You may want to negotiate attachments. The editor turns on Word’s change-tracking function into your contract the services of a technical or content reviewer, and inserts comments, queries and suggestions in a different font or either an in-house person or an expert you find yourself. Another color. The writer addresses the editor’s queries, reviews the suggested option is to prevail upon a knowledgeable colleague informally to changes and responds to them or incorporates them in the manuscript. vet your manuscript for outdated facts, false assumptions, weak Chapters may go back and forth two or three times before arguments and faulty conclusions. Your book will be stronger for everything’s resolved to both parties’ satisfaction. Finally, whoever having been reviewed by a second pair of experienced eyes. is responsible for final review clicks through the “Accept all changes” dialogue in Word, and prepares the finished document for Early in the process, you should receive a set of Author’s delivery to the publisher. Guidelines that detail the mechanics of manuscript preparation, including formatting details and templates for headings, For an author, the most exciting moment in the book-publishing subheadings, sidebars, notes and illustrations. Be sure you’re clear process between contract signing and delivery of their bound author well in advance on format and other graphical requirements for copies is the day the page proofs arrive. Page proofs, or simply screenshots and other illustrations you’re responsible for providing. “pages,” are laid out and typeset as the finished book will be. These have largely replaced galleys, a term you may still hear, as the Some publishers have a distinct “house style.” This may range penultimate stage in the book-making process. from formally academic to friendly and conversational. Your editor will help you shape your writing accordingly, avoiding expressions, At this point, your work may have been proofread - one locutions, and syntax that the in-house style-meisters have deemed punctilious step beyond copyediting - but you are expected to read inappropriate. carefully for any errors the proofreader may not have picked up. Avoid the temptation to rewrite or to add or delete significant chunks Working with an editor can be an exercise in humility, patience, of text. Any substantial changes at this stage will affect the page and Zen-like detachment, as he or she proceeds to tear apart your count and mean more work for the editor, for the designer or layout careful construction, shuffling chapters around, rearranging sections person, and for the indexer, who may already have completed his or within chapters, deleting this, questioning that. As a writer who is her job, or may be doing it simultaneously with your review. You’re also an editor, I advise you to keep an open mind. Although you generally expected to turn the pages around in a relatively short may feel that they’re asking you to make changes for the sake of time - by this time, the publisher is usually anxious to get the book change or worse, to put their own mark on your manuscript, most out the door. editors simply want to help you deliver the best possible manuscript you can. As an editor who is also a writer, I feel your pain. If you Tooting Your Horn object to an editorial change, stand your ground, state your reasons, Writing a book involves more than just writing the book. Expect and be prepared to negotiate. Editors don’t always pick up on writers’ to participate in promoting it and otherwise ensuring its success. intentions on the first read-through. He or she may come back with Your publisher may ask you to supply a list of organizations, an alternative solution, or agree with you as soon as you point out publications and other media outlets for marketing, advertising and what you were trying to accomplish. The best books are the result direct mail campaigns. They may ask you to solicit blurbs from of teamwork; try to maintain a collaborative relationship, not an well-known colleagues to appear on the cover, in press releases or adversarial one, with your editor. in advertising campaigns. They may ask you to generate or approve How does the actual editing get done? Forget those visions of cover text, to come up with a list of unique features and selling Page 8 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

points to generate enthusiasm among the sales force or to help with the edges. brochures and ads. Don’t count on retiring on the royalties from your book. Unless Unless you’re Stephen King or someone of that ilk, your book you have several titles in print at once and selling at a decent clip, will not sell itself. Most publishers have limited resources to spend your revenue stream from book publishing is likely to be more of a on promoting any given title, let alone one by a first-time author on revenue trickle. Remember: a 7% royalty on a $20 book that a subject for which the market has not been proven. Forget the booksellers buy at 40% off amounts to... 84 cents a copy. And you celebrity treatment; publisher-paid book tours are the exception, may not get 7%, and your book may list for less, and the retailers, not the norm. It’s paradoxical, I know: After all the attention focused like Amazon, that really move the merchandise, get more than a on you and your work during contract negotiations and while 40% discount. At 5%, and $16.95 less 51%, your take dwindles to whipping the manuscript into shape, the likely lack of sustained 41-1/2 cents per book. You’ll have to sell a lot of copies to buy that support once your book is published may come as somewhat of a new Beemer, my friend. letdown. Assume from the outset that your compensation will not be Expect to act as your own PR agent. Be sure that everybody in strictly financial. Although it won’t put groceries on the table, the a position to read and praise your book is on the publisher’s list for sense of personal achievement is real. Beyond that, writing a book review copies. Book yourself onto TV and radio programs; your is a great marketing boost. Having written a book makes you an local NPR station would be great. Send out press releases (does expert on the subject which, in reality, you are. You can easily AIIP still have that vendor agreement?) to newspapers and leverage that concrete accomplishment to speaking engagements, magazines. Do some research first and target those mailings. If it’s consulting opportunities, and other writing projects including your a business book, find out the name of the business editor; if it’s next book. technology-related, who covers the techno-beat? For local Reva Basch, a past president of AIIP, is author of Researching Online publications, the hook is that you, the published author, live right For Dummies (2nd edition with Mary Ellen Bates) and executive here in the ‘hood. Don’t be afraid to approach the major national editor of the Super Searchers book series published by Information publications in your field. You may not want to shower review copies Today, Inc. ITI welcomes queries from AIIP members who are on every media person you contact, but offer them in your press prospective book authors. Contact John Bryans: release, and stress the fact that you’re available for interviews. Even [email protected] a brief mention in a feature article, especially where you’re positioned and quoted as an expert, can be worth more than a favorable book review. FOOTNOTES Realities (Continued from page 3) I can just about guarantee that you’ll reach a point, sometime monitoring various sci-tech electronic lists, and picking out topics during the writing/editorial cycle, where you absolutely hate your she felt would be of interest to our membership. We hope this will book. You’re convinced that you’ll never be done with it. You can’t serve as a prototype for similar columns in other subject areas. stand the sight of it, or the thought of going back to work on it The theme of the next issue is “means and methods,” referring again. When I was in the midst of a major and seemingly endless to how we work. What means do we use to obtain clients, to organize home remodeling, my mantra was “It’ll be so nice when it’s our work, to do our research, to communicate with each other and finished.” That implies, among other things, that it will, eventually, with our clients? What methods do we use in our research - primary be finished. A similar periodic reminder may help you get through and secondary? How do we organize our workspaces? What makes the book-building process as well. up our professional network of support? We welcome articles that But “finished” can be a problematic notion, especially when discuss the nitty-gritty of doing particular types of research, or that your topic is computer-, technology- or Internet-related. Your describe particular sources, resources or technology in depth. manuscript was complete and accurate when you delivered it. But Discussions of obstacles and frustrations associated with any or some of the above can be very useful, especially if accompanied by now you’re holding your advance copy of the final, bound book in suggestions to overcome them. Case studies are always welcome. your hands, and you discover, at first glance, three or four items Please contact Jim or me if you wish to discuss your idea for an article. that are already out of date. You realize, with a sinking sensation, that the book on which you’ve worked so hard is obsolete before Fall is my favourite time of year. It is a reflective time - nature’s publication. last hurrah before lapsing into the bleakness of winter (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). In Canada we will be celebrating Relax; that’s what new editions are for. Reviewers and readers Thanksgiving on October 9. Thank you to all in the AIIP community will grant slack; they’re as aware of the limitations of print as you for your help - both personal and professional. As a community we are. Some publishers provide web-based updates when appropriate are diverse in personalities, nationalities, expertise and religious to the content of the book. If yours doesn’t, suggest it and negotiate beliefs. However, we celebrate our differences and support each a fee for your updating efforts, of course. I wasn’t joking about the other in our research and our work through open sharing and next edition, either; in the computer trade press, especially — discussion. It certainly has been so in the light of the recent tragic assuming your book sells well in its first few months — the publisher happenings in New York City. I am proud to belong to this will probably contact you about updating it before it gets stale around community. FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 9

Book Review: Free Agent Nation by Daniel H. Pink Suzanne Sabroski [email protected] The other day a slogan on a sticky note caught my eye: Measure professionals across the United States, and brings in a conservative your commute in rooms, not miles. estimate of 30 million members of this revolutionary workforce. If you’ve been in business on your own for any length of time, Pink begins with an account of the exhaustion he experienced you’ve probably noticed that you are not alone. Working from home as former Vice-President Al Gore’s chief speechwriter, and describes or leasing an office for your solo enterprise is standard practice in the day when he nearly threw up on the vice-president as a turning today’s marketplace. The lines at the copy shops and mailbox centers point in his career. As he declared his own free agency, he noticed are getting longer. More products and services are being tailored to that many of his friends, colleagues and neighbors were making our needs, such as software, hardware, and endless publications. similar moves, yet no one seemed to be able to quantify these The coffee shops are growing not just because of their great “marketing consultants, mompreneurs, and footloose technology cappuccinos, but because they provide a place to meet with clients. contractors.” Determined to learn all he could about this powerful And it’s likely that you have worked as part of a virtual team, where trend, Pink spent more than a year on the road, conducting face-to- your client has hired a group of consultants for a specific project. face interviews with several hundred independent workers AIIP members are in fact part of a very exciting economic trend, throughout the United States. chronicled for the first time by former White House staff member What is described throughout Free Agent Nation is what AIIP Daniel H. Pink in his recent book Free Agent Nation: How America’s members have known all alongÐhow organizational dependence no New Independent Workers are Transforming the Way We Live longer brings economic security, and the strength that lies in serving (Warner Books, 356 p. $24.95). Affirming, entertaining, and multiple clients instead of one boss. You will read personal accounts informative, Free Agent Nation tells the stories of independent of the struggles and triumphs of working on your own, and pick up ideas for managing everything from office logistics, to health insurance, to finding clients. Pink has also identified the infrastructure that supports free agents, including not only the HOW TO KEEP UP WITH THE coffeehouses and business centers, but other organizations like AIIP, BEST BUSINESS SITES: which he calls “F.A.N.”(Free Agent Nation) clubs. Thoroughly researched and well organized, each chapter ends Subscribe to FIND/SVP’s Information Advisor with an executive summary, or “The Crux” of the matter, Special AIIP Rate--Just $139/year! acknowledging how time-starved we all are. Inspirational thoughts on the future cover real estate, financial ideas, the politics of free THE INFORMATION ADVISOR WORKS FOR YOU: agency, and the shrinking of large organizations. Not only was this book a lot of fun to read, but the message that we are not alone is * Filtering the most important new business sites very strong. This is exciting for our future as it can lead to so many * Comparing head-to-head source features and prices new marketing opportunitiesÐthe increased recognition of * Providing free knowledge management supplements independent professionals in the marketplace will mean more outsourcing, and the business model of cooperating with other CONFIDENCE: The Information Advisor is backed by a consultants on projects will continue to grow. Our skills in trio you can have confidence in: FIND/SVP; Editor Robert information gathering and synthesizing will be in more demand than Berkman; and Contributing Editor Mary Ellen Bates ever before as we move out and connect with other types of independent workers. DISCOUNT: The usual one year subscription rate is $159. Free Agent Nation is widely available. Walk, run, or type your AIIP members pay just $139 per year--OR save even more way to you favorite bookstore and pick up a copy, and in the and pay $129 per year for two years! meantime check out an excerpt from the book and Dan Pink’s upbeat GUARANTEE: There’s a 100% money back guarantee too! newsletter at www.freeagentnation.com. So what are you waiting for? Suzanne can be reached at [email protected]

SUBSCRIBE! Call (212) 633-4539; or e-mail Sonia Bedikian at [email protected]. Be sure to ask for your special AIIP discount. Page 10 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

Some questions put to Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation Crystal Sharp. Director, InformAction, CD Sharp Information Systems, Ltd. [email protected] CS: AIIP is the only association for independent information DP: Once again, it comes back to skills and connections. professionals. We negotiate vendor discounts on proprietary Successful free agents must do something extremely well — databases, and offer networking, subcontracting opportunities and that something must be something the marketplace and mentoring relationships for our members. What, in your demands. Then free agents need a broad, robust network to opinion, are additional functions and services that an association create pathways to new opportunities. These are the business like AIIP could offer to help its members thrive as free agents? attributes of successful free agents. At the same time, I’ve DP: Think skills and connections. Anything AIIP can do to help noticed that successful free agents often share certain personal members sharpen their skills, learn new ones, or deepen their attributes as well. They love what they do. They can tolerate learning will be extremely valuable. So will just about any venture ambiguity. And they can navigate their work and life without to connect people to their peers — whether that’s informal someone telling them what to do. networking, regular conferences, or the ability to fashion self- CS: Given the current obstacles to free agency that you mention organized small groups. Group discounts are a great idea — in your book — health insurance, taxes that penalize especially if you hook up with other professional associations independent businesses and lack of pension plans, it is still a for even greater volume. Also, depending on federal and state risky business being a free agent. Given the lack of security law, offering health insurance might be an attractive service. arising from uncertain future health conditions and lack of CS: AIIP gets a number of requests each year from aspiring free employer pensions - what do you expect to be the agents. Many of them don’t have a clue about the realities of macroeconomic impact of such a trend? Do you think there is business and what it takes to survive as an independent business. enough force of numbers to lobby for change in some of the What would you say are the attributes of a successful free agent? laws and policies as they exist? DP: Perhaps the biggest change will be that people will work longer. One reason, of course, is that many will need the income merely to survive. But an equally powerful reason is that many knowledge workers simply won’t want to retire when they reach age 65. A few years of playing canasta and shuffleboard may be fine. But a few decades? I don’t think the Baby Boom generation will go for that. Work can be fulfilling and self- actualizing and life-affirming. And I suspect that many people will be working longer — though probably as part-time free agents rather than full-time employees. And many will gravitate toward the nonprofit sector as they seek to do something meaningful in this new stage of their lives. The happy result might be that Social Security will remain solvent for longer than many people predict, because these working older Americans will continue to fill Social Security coffers with payroll taxes. Continued income into older age may also affect seniors’ spending patterns, but I’m not sure exactly how. As for free agents as a political movement, I suspect it will happen somewhat slowly and in a free agent fashion. Rather than assemble a permanent coalition a‘ la AARP or the Chamber of Commerce or the AFL-CIO I expect free agents to assemble just-in-time coalitions to meet the political demands of the moment. In other words, they’ll come together for political “projects” rather than political “organizations.” And if any issue pushes free agents on to the political front lines, it will be health insurance. FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 11

Jane John, a new AIIP member (and an experienced Sci-Tech librarian) bravely volunteered to undertake a “current topics” column for Sci-Tech. She has done a wonderful job in pioneering what we hope will be a regular column. Contributors to current topics covering other subject areas are welcome to discuss possibilities with Jim Cowan or with Crystal Sharp. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WATCH Jane John, On Point Research. [email protected] Science publishing continues in flux Summer 2001 brought interesting developments in the “fee, free, referee” issues surrounding science publishing. The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s E-Print Archive, also called ArXiv http://arxiv.org/, is moving to Cornell this fall along with its founder, Paul Ginsparg. Cornell hopes to expand the project to other disciplines. A comparison of content in the ArXiv, INSPEC and SPIN databases (Brian Quigley, “Physics Databases and the Los Alamos E-Print Archive,” EContent, October 2000) found that coverage was far more comprehensive in INSPEC and SPIN, but that the ArXiv project was growing fast and changing the landscape of physics communication. I find that science clients usually want to search e-print servers such as ArXiv on their own, but still appreciate mediated searches in traditional sources such as INSPEC and SPIN, or in some cases a combined search of all three. The ArXiv takes some trial and error to use but most preprints are available full text, many from recent conference presentations. While the E-Print Archive is moving from a government lab to academia, another government effort, PubSCIENCE, is under fire from private industry. Two-year old PubSCIENCE http:// pubsci.osti.gov/ was developed by the Department of Energy to provide free access to peer-reviewed energy literature. Similar in concept and format to PubMED, PubSCIENCE is made up of citations supplied from individual publisher agreements plus records from DoE’s Energy Science and Technology Database (Dialog file 103 or STN file Energy). In June, the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Energy and Water Development, in a report accompanying its energy appropriations bill (H.R. 2311), cautioned Congress to “carefully review its information services such as PubSCIENCE to be sure that such efforts remain focused on appropriate scientific journals and do not compete improperly with similar services available from the private sector.” The private-sector challenge was led by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), which has argued: “The Department of Energy’s PubSCIENCE presents an ongoing example of the inappropriate role of government in providing access to non-government information” http:// www.siia.net/govt/071101s803.html. An Information Professional DoE, on the other hand, states that PubSCIENCE “represents since 1971 a convergence of a long history of collecting and disseminating scientific and technical information” and compares it favorably with and Information Broker since 1982 the popular PubMED http://www.arl.org/info/frn/gov/ TEL: 707-829-9421 or 800-533-5924 pubscience.html. In July, the Senate version of the energy FAX: 707-823-2713 appropriations bill (S. 1171) seemed to favor the open access E-mail: [email protected] viewpoint and passed without the cautionary report note. Watch www.marketingbase.com (Continued on page 16) Page 12 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

CONFERENCE NEWS The Queen Mary was the fastest steamship of its time and holder of the prestigious Blue Riband (award for fastest Atlantic crossing). The Queen Mary was finished to provide work for the poverty-stricken “California Teaming” in Long areas of the River Clyde in Scotland during the Great Depression years. Beach CA, April 18-21, 2002 The ship itself was accidentally named Queen Mary. The intent was to Debbie Bardon, Bardon On Call, Conference Chair name it after the greatest queen of England, Victoria, but when the [email protected]. ceremony was conducted, the Queen at the time misunderstood the Your 2002 Conference Committee is working hard to plan a announcement and thought they were naming it after her. So the plans great conference for next spring. In addition to an exciting day of were quickly changed, and the ship was named the Queen Mary. speakers and workshops presented by the Southern California Online RB: How did it compare to cruising today? Users Group (SCOUG), the AIIP Program Committee is planning JG: It doesn’t. The purpose of the travel was different then - they used some great sessions to help you with your business. There will be a it for trans-Atlantic transportation. The people were different. They were panel on telephone searching and another on conducting competitive much wealthier, especially on the cruises, which were all first class. intelligence. We’re lining up published authors to share their The cruises were usually two weeks. They had nothing compared to experiences about the process of getting published. There will also what they have now on the ships in the way of entertainment. No be a session on the latest copyright issues. We are very excited to midnight buffets, no ice carvings. They usually carried a small orchestra announce that James Chan, author of The Spare Room Tycoon, will for dancing. Sometimes they would have a comedian or a singer. be sharing his wisdom about “The 70 Lessons of Sane Self Occasionally the crew could be persuaded to form a “concert party.” Employment.” Soon we will be announcing the keynote speaker People wrote letters, played deck tennis, shuffleboard, cards, horse and the Roger Summit, or Past Presidents Award lecturer. racing. In the evening they danced. They had movie theaters. The ships The conference is a great opportunity to come together with usually had about a thousand passengers. There were three classes, first, other information professionals, in all their diversity, to learn, cabin and tourist. The old steerage class faded into obscurity. There network, and grow your business. We hope that you will do your was no air conditioning - fans and portholes sufficed. The Queen Mary part to help America recover from the tragic events of September 11 had tremendous ventilating shafts, as I remember. These [modern] ships and start planning now to attend what is shaping up to be an exciting are floating hotels....computer controlled, no seamanship involved. and informative conference. Hope to see you in Long Beach! RB: What was enjoyable about your job? JG: The money was good. The pay wasn’t good, but the tips were Don’t Miss The Boat! good in first class. £23 a month were the wages. We bought a lot of Debbie Wynot, Library Consultants, L.L.C, debbie@library stuff duty free. There was a lounge for the crew called the Pig and consultants.com, PR Chair, Conference Committee Whistle. It was like a pub. You could get a drink of beer, play darts. Join us in Long Beach, CA, for the 2002 AIIP annual conference The main thing was that in the late 40’s we were able to get into New and take advantage of a terrific opportunity to tour the Queen Mary. York and buy things that were still being rationed in England. Member Ruth Balkin interviewed her father, John Goldring, who RB: What was hard about it? describes life on Cunard’s luxury liners during his tour as a first class JG: Work. It was hard physical work with long hours. dining room steward in the 1940’s. Imagine the opulence of leisurely transatlantic travel from a bygone era as you tour the ship and visit with RB: Who were some of the interesting passengers you met? Mr. Goldring at the conference gala aboard the Queen Mary on April 20. JG: Chaim Weizmann, the Archbishop of York; Mrs. Dionne (mother of the quintuplets); Alan Ladd and his wife; Patricia Neal; Joan Memories of the Queen Caulfield and her mother; Billy DeWolf; Virginia Mayo; Michael Mary: A Conversation With O’Shea, president of Paramount Pictures; David Niven and his wife; Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester; Rita Hayworth; the Dolly My Father, John Goldring Sisters; one of the descendants of Fletcher Christian (Pitcairn Island Ruth Balkin, Balkin Library & Information Services, and Mutiny on the Bounty). [email protected] RB: What were your quarters like? RB: What is so special about the Queen Mary? JG: About eight to a room, double tiered bunk beds. You got a locker. JG: In the late 1800s and early 20th century, steamships became the They had a chest of drawers and each man had a drawer. means of not only carrying vast amounts of cargo between the Eastern RB: Did any women work on the ship? and Western hemispheres, but also a means to transport the millions of JG: They had stewardesses, but not in the dining room. They had a immigrants from Europe to the “land of opportunity.” Many of these beauty parlor for them and the women passengers. Stewardesses were immigrants were actually fleeing persecution and famine. After World usually nurses, like on the airlines. War II ocean liners became the preferred means of water transportation. Most of them were superb ships from England, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Ruth Balkin, CEO and Founder of Balkin Library & Information and France. From 1946 on quite a few of these ships were employed Services in Rochester NY, specializes in short research projects with during the winter months in cruising the Caribbean and the South a quick turn-around time for law firms, legal publishers and other American area. Today I think that the only ship on a transatlantic run legal vendors. Susan Rubinstein, Ruth’s sister and business partner is the Queen Elizabeth II. The Cunard line fleet, from being the premier helped write this article. steamship company, is now reduced to a fraction of its former glory. FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 13

VENDOR NEWS Susan Weiler, Weiler Information Services, wis@weilerinfoserv. com,Vendor Relations Chair. Member Benefit Programs With Vendors Just a reminder that included in the AIIP Member Benefit Programs is the Vendor Relations Program, which provides a wide range of special offers from a number of major vendors in the information industry. Among the vendor offers are: discounts on a variety of products, including print and electronic; discounts on a variety of services, including copyright compliance and information industry-related seminars; free attendance at vendor training sessions; and waiver of annual service fees or substantially reduced service fees. New vendor offerings are announced to the membership through three avenues of communication: Connections, aiip-l and the AIIP President’s regular broadcast email. For detailed information on specific vendor offerings, check the Vendor Benefits page in the Members Only Section of http://www.aiip.org.

LEXIS¨-NEXIS¨ Jill Konieczko will be taking a maternity leave through February 2002. Please make note of the following arrangements for contacting LEXIS¨-NEXIS¨ during that period: General Questions — [email protected] Contracts, new and established as well as pricing inquiries — [email protected] Search and technical assistance (800) 346-9759

ProQuest Information and Learning http://www.proquest.com Discount available to Regular Members: In lieu of ProQuest’s $100 monthly minimum subscription, each Regular AIIP Member will be entitled to the following transactional pricing plan: ¥ One time set up fee of $50 ¥Waiver of citation and abstract costs (generally costing $.50 per citation and $1.50 per abstract) ¥ ASCII full text format - $4 per article ¥ Full page image (.pdf format) - $9.75 per article ¥Text and graphics combination - $11.75 per article To sign up for a new account, see the instructions and forms in the Vendor Benefits Section of the Members Only area of http:// www.aiip.org.

New Vendor Discount Company Wall Street Transcript 67 Wall Street New York, NY 10005 http://www.twst.com Contact: Jason Flatt, Director of Sales (212) 952-3842; fax (212) 668-9842, [email protected] Discount available to Regular and Associate Members: Each AIIP member is entitled to complete access to TWST, either through the online service or in hard copy, at a substantially reduced subscription rate of $990 (normally priced at $2,290 per year) Page 14 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

MEMBER KUDOS annual conference for the Arizona Association for Economic Development http://www.aaed.com/ where Mark also moderated a New Books panel on the future of telecom. Interviews Sheri Lanza, Global InfoResources, Inc. Cynthia Shamel (Shamel Information Services) was interviewed International Business Information on the Web: Searcher Magazine’s by Hal Kirkwood in BF (Bulletin of the Business and Finance Guide to Sites and Strategies for Global Business Research. by Sheri Division, Special Libraries Association), which will appear in the Lanza, was published in June by Information Today, Inc. Edited 2001 Winter issue. The article focuses on the importance of and with a foreward by Barbara Quint. $29.95. mentoring the new information broker. Barbara Quint, Editor, Searcher Appointments The Quintessential Searcher: Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint. Published by Information Today Inc. $19.95, Editor, Marylaine Cecilia M. Preston, Preston & Lynch has just been elected treasurer Block (Barbara is sure we can get a discount just contact John of ASIS&T, beginning at the end of the annual meeting in November, Bryans and ask how [email protected]). for a three year term. Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services AIIP SERVICE CORP NEWS Mary Ellen’s book, Mining For Gold on the Internet, has been AIIP Service Corp Announces End of Partnership With Onvia translated into Chinese. The publisher sent her six copies, with a Onvia.com has recently made a move to redirect its business note saying they hoped she was happy with the translation. We efforts toward the business-to-government e-procurement market. haven’t heard if she was or not, however Mary Ellen now knows As part of this endeavor, Onvia’s activities in the business-to- how to write her name and “Grateful Dead” in what the publisher business sector have been discontinued. Therefore, Onvia has calls Chinese Short Form. terminated its affiliation with the AIIP Service Corp. Kim Burkhardt, Burkhardt Research Services The Service Corp will continue to review and evaluate affiliation The Competitive Intelligence Workbook, by Kim Burkhardt was opportunities which may benefit AIIP membership. Members who published in August. Published by Burkhardt Research Services, it know of income-generating opportunities or who would like to retails for $25.50 U.S. ($39.50 Canadian), and is available from volunteer to assist in this effort are encouraged to contact AIIP www.burkhardtresearch.com. Service Corp President Jane Malcolm ([email protected] or 918- Articles 492-3983). Larry Ross, President of Ross Financial Services Inc., authored an article that describes how to use the analysis of publicly available information to defend against business losses. The article was Are you doing more and published in the June issue (p. 35) of Mergers & Acquisitions Journal, a publication widely read by business dealmakers, including more business and competitive investment bankers, corporate CFOs, lawyers and accountants. intelligence research? Presentations Washington Researchers has a comprehensive Susan Detwiler, The Detwiler Group, is speaking at the October meeting of the Midwest Healthcare Marketers Association, in selection of books, our newsletter and our semi- Chicago. The presentation will be available on her website: http:// nars Ð all designed to help you do efficient and www.detwiler.com/ effective business and CI research. AIIP mem- Terry Brainerd Chadwick, InfoQuest! Information Services, has bers receive a 25% discount on all books and been active presenting talks about website accessibility. On August newsletter purchases. 22, 2001, Terry chaired a panel and spoke about “Website Accessibility” at the Computer Human Interaction Forum of Oregon Looking for more extensive training? (CHIFOO) meeting, in Portland, Oregon. On September 17, Terry spoke about how to make websites accessible at the “Making Take advantage of our tenured instructors, low Information Technology Accessible to Employees and the General student to teacher ratio, and our commitment Public with Disabilities” program, sponsored by the Northwest Disability Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC), also in to your success. Our special discount to AIIP Portland, Oregon. members makes our seminars affordable! Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services, was just invited to For complete product information, visit our give a couple of Super Searcher talks in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa in October. website at www.washingtonresearchers.com. To make a purchase or register call 703-312- Mark Goldstein, International Research Center, publicly launched the results of a year long project at the end of September. The Arizona 2863 and be sure to ask for your AIIP discount! Telecom Directory http://www.arizonatele.com/for the Arizona Telecom & Information Council http://www.researchedge.com/atic/ was publicly announced and demonstrated by ATIC’s Chair at the FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 15

THE BUSINESS OF INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS Case Study: An Independent Information Professional Business This article first appeared in BF Bulletin, Business and Finance Division, Special Libraries Association, Spring 2001, as Talking Business Information: Hal Kirkwood. A Conversation with Amelia Kassel

HK: What is your background/history prior to becoming an done almost every kind of marketing you can think of and each information broker? activity has made a contribution to the growth of my business. Since AK: I graduated from UCLA’s School of Library Science with a many information professionals do not necessarily love sales, Getting MLS in 1971 and was fortunate to be selected for a National Library Business to Come to You, a book by Paul and Sarah Edwards, is the of Medicine pre-doctoral internship in Biomedical Librarianship, first-stop on any reading list about marketing. Anyone entering located at UCLA. When I completed the program, I applied for a this field must accept the fact that no matter how you cut it you’re position at the UCLA Biomedical Library, Pacific Southwest going to have to do marketing and sell yourself and your business. Regional Medical Library Service, where I consulted and provided You have to be aggressive without hype, energetic and staunch; training for small hospital library staff in a four-state region during those qualities cannot be emphasized enough. You have to be smart the next few years and worked part-time in the interlibrary loan and quick and be able to think on your feet a good deal of the time. department at the UCLA Biomedical Library. From 1974 to 1984, Eventually, your clients come to rely on you not only for research I was an adult services reference librarian for a public library and but also for perceptions about how to best provide the kind of then reference coordinator for a multi-type library cooperative. information that helps them meet their goals. More and more, too, information brokers are analysts and synthesize the information they HK: In a nutshell, what is an average day like as an information retrieve into high quality reports. broker? HK: You started your own company, MarketingBase, in 1984. What AK: I always start early in the morning by checking email and e- has been your biggest challenge during this time? And how have alerts. I belong to quite a few electronic forums and like to know you dealt with the incredible amount of change that has taken place what’s going on that day, learn about recommended sites and sources in the information industry over the last 16 years? or new trends, and respond quickly to my colleagues who must meet deadlines. Information brokers are frequently on deadline and AK: Staying in business during the early years was my first and I’m used to responding immediately and quickly to help colleagues. probably biggest challenge. Networking with library colleagues and Many information brokers find that their clients are spread local business groups worked for me, and a couple of contracts using throughout the country and since I’m on the West Coast, it’s not my library skills, kept me solvent while I developed new business unusual for me to begin taking calls at 7:00 a.m., PST (although I’d and research skills and added new clients during the first five years. rather wait till it’s a little later) to respond to clients and inquiries Another major challenge is staying on top of technology, but this is from the East Coast. My days and weeks are typically divided what information brokers do best. We adapt and make it our business between conducting research for clients, writing for the professional to stay on the leading edge of technology. MarketingBase began literature, and teaching new information brokers or those who wish by providing industry, company, and marketing intelligence research to expand their business through the e-mail based Mentor Program to small and mid-sized advertising agencies. It has evolved to provide I developed in the early nineties. I work with students from all over competitive and market intelligence to a wide range of small, the U.S. and have even had some students from Canada and Europe. medium, and large corporate clients in the U.S. and globally. HK: What would you recommend for someone in the profession HK: Where do you see the information brokering profession going interested in becoming an information broker? in the future? AK: Initially, it’s crucial to evaluate one’s own personality and skill AK: This is a very exciting time for the profession. People with set. An information broker must be entrepreneurial and take risks. many talents and skills are becoming information brokers. They I like to think of the risks, however, as calculated. That is, the more bring new perspectives and knowledge to the field. Experts in market you learn and develop certain business skills, the more you reduce research, computer technology, private investigation, health care the possibility of failure. For many, the most important set of skills and business management are part of this new wave of information involves marketing and sales. Typically, information brokers do brokers whereas those who began when I did were mainly from the not start out with a ready-made client base, though I’ve met a few library field. The Internet both expands available resources we use who have good contracts from former employers. For those without for client projects and serves as a marketing tool for our businesses. this benefit, they must develop regular and repeated marketing of I’ve had a Web site for about three years now with a handful of some type to build a client list. My marketing is multifaceted. I’ve clients coming my way through that medium. It’s not the only Page 16 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

marketing tool, or necessarily the best one, but it’s one that I believe membership been important to your development? How has it will provide greater potential as information brokers continue to impacted your career and growth as an information professional? evolve along with the Internet infrastructure itself. Many information AK: Belonging to several key associations has been one of the most brokers get to know each other through AIIP (Association of thoroughly enjoyable, educational and satisfying aspects of my entire Independent Information Professionals [http://www.aiip.org]), where career. Meeting professional colleagues and becoming both business we share knowledge, business relationships and cross referrals. and personal friends has been a source of inspiration, connection Information brokering is still a pioneering field and fun and exciting and business alliances that have nurtured me throughout my to be part of, though it’s come a long way since I started my full- professional life. I don’t think I can say enough about the value of time business in 1984. professional organization membership as one of my most basic yet HK: As an independent information professional where do you see rewarding activities. What’s difficult, of course, is selecting those the future challenges coming from in business information research? that are most important when your interests are multifaceted. My What, if anything, on the horizon worries you? strong belief, too, is that you get out of an organization what you AK: What’s been incredibly valuable is the wealth of business put into it. Someone who may not feel that he or she is benefiting information, sources and tools that were never available in the early must do some self-examination and look at ways to evolve the days of electronic research that are now on the Web. The largest organization through their own contributions and create a situation challenge, I think, is related to both conducting research and that is satisfying, just as my experience has been so completely educating clients about the ramifications of an abundance of rewarding to me. information. Business researchers must meticulously perform due Amelia Kassel is the principal of MarketingBase, an information diligence for every question and project. What I mean is that it’s brokerage firm founded in 1984. Ms. Kassel provides business and necessary to be knowledgeable about more sources than ever before market intelligence to customers globally. She also conducts courses and know people with whom you can consult who know what you designed to mentor independent information professionals. Ms. don’t know. The old adage about knowing what you don’t know Kassel presents regularly at conferences such as Online Information, plays a crucial role. When I need more ideas, I know that one of my Londo;, Online World; WebSearch University; National Online colleagues will be able to further enlighten me by suggesting other Meeting; and Internet Librarian. She has written extensively in sources, terminology or subject knowledge. At the same time, a such publications as Searcher, Online, and Database/EContent new fact of life with regard to the addition of so much information magazines. She has published the book Super Searchers on Wall is that almost every project I do takes much longer to complete than Street: Top Investment Professionals Share Their Online Research in the past. The good news here for independent information Secrets (CyberAge Books). businesses is not only do sales continue to grow by leaps and bounds since more people than ever before do not have time to do their own research, but the size of each sale is up a huge percentage because of the increased time it takes to appropriately complete a project. At SCIENCE AND one time, many information brokers struggled to make a profit because a large portion of a budget had to be assigned to commercial TECHNOLOGY WATCH databases. Although commercial database prices are still a part of (Continued from page 11) most every budget in my work, the time an information broker spends without incurring costs because of low cost or free Web information this Fall as the House and Senate try to merge the two versions of is definitely having a positive impact. It simply takes more time to this appropriations bill, with potential direct consequences for PubSCIENCE. finish something when it’s necessary to consult more sources and make sure that you’re covering all bases that fit the project goals, For current references on emerging “e-issues” try the Scholarly budget and turnaround time. I find that just about any project I Electronic Publishing Weblog at the University of Houston http:// work on these days requires using commercial databases and the info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepw.htm. Thoughtful summaries of selected issues are provided by the University of Michigan’s News from the Internet. A further concern that information professionals must focus Science Library (select Science Library Newsletter from http:// on that which evolves from the Web, however, has to do with quality www.umich.edu/~scilib/). A list of preprint servers can be found at and authority issues. Information brokers and all information Preprint Servers and Databases http://www.lib.virginia.edu/science/ professionals must continue to be acutely aware that the sources guides/s-preprn.htm. they use are authoritative Ð or when in doubt, they must fully disclose Finally, Robin Peek wrote a comprehensive overview of the this to the client and make the client aware of potential red flags PubSCIENCE debate in “What if PubSCIENCE Is Shut Down?,” about the data they supply or its potential bias. They must hold the Information Today, September 2001. data and sources they use to quality standards. Jane John is the owner of On Point Research, which provides online HK: Starting out as a new librarian…and then as your career research and information services for science, technology and progressed into the information brokering industry, has association business. FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 17

Due Diligence Research: A Public Records Perspective Lynn Peterson, PFC Information Services, [email protected]

The due diligence that is typically conducted when an M & A When the subject is a corporation, Secretary of State records (merger and acquisition) is pending involves scrutiny of financial are retrieved to determine whether the corporation is active and in statements, tax returns, business plans, contracts, agreements and a good standing. If the context is M&A, then it is not uncommon to myriad of other documents by attorneys and accountants. Public have to manually retrieve articles of incorporation, annual reports records research is often an integral part of the process. There is no and certificates of good standing. For smaller, privately held absolute standard for the breath or depth of the research. However, companies, you may also want to research business licenses and when the stakes are as high as they are with a merger & acquisition, DBAs (fictitious business names registrations). If the company in the public records researcher must go to the ends of the earth for question is publicly held, search SEC filings and SEC staff comment information, searching multiple online databases, and manually letters, and request responses under the FOIA (Freedom of retrieving documents from courthouses and governmental agencies. Information Act). Contact NASD (National Association of Securities Essentially, due diligence research is a hunt for dirt or dust. Dealers) and state securities commissions regarding any disciplinary But the term “due diligence” is often used more loosely. Clients actions or derogatory data pertaining to specific officers and frequently request “a quick due diligence report” when they don’t directors. need extensive research, but also don’t want to enter into a situation You may wish to research environmental records if the company without doing at least some homework. For instance, I have a client is involved with chemicals. Records of OSHA (Occupational who calls from time to time, asking for the $500 “peek in the shorts” Security and Health Administration) inspections and violations may before he decides to do business with someone. be relevant if the subject is a manufacturing company. In addition, Begin with a look at the subject’s website for basic information you would usually research the company’s assets and Uniform about the company - a good starting point for due diligence research. Commercial Code (UCC) filings and bankruptcies. The list of You might also want to search newspapers and periodicals. If records that may require research goes on and on and on. research on individuals is to be included, you must conduct It isn’t always easy to determine how much due diligence is preliminary research to find the subject’s address history, date of actually “due.” The context within which the research is to be birth, former names and Social Security number. Address history is conducted, size of the company, the nature of the business, the time essential, as knowing where to search is as important as knowing available for the research and, of course, the budget all have a direct what to search. bearing on how far the research will be taken. The client may not Civil litigation is a central component of any due diligence provide clear direction about scope. If the client’s instructions aren’t research. Search both state and federal courts. Most U.S. district more specific than a “peek in the shorts” versus a “full body search,” courts are available online, and a project known as ECF (Electronic it behooves the researcher to shift that responsibility to the client by Court Filings) is underway at the U.S. District Courts which will defining in writing exactly what will be included and what will not make the actual court documents available electronically. However, be included before the research begins. records from state courts may or may not be available online, depending upon location. Even when online data is available, it is Lynn Peterson is president of PFC Information Services, Inc., a usually limited to case number, filing date, case type and parties. public records research firm located in Oakland, California. Lynn Therefore, you will probably have to conduct the research with old- has been quoted on public records research in a variety of sources fashioned gumshoe methods—by physically sending someone to including The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance the courthouse to retrieve copies from the case file. Magazine, and The Information Broker’s Handbook. PFC Information Services provides public records research for law firms, When due diligence research is being conducted on a privately corporations, lenders, venture capitalists, employers, the media, and held company, especially a smaller company, it is not at all unusual other information research firms. to have to conduct criminal background checks on the corporate officers and key executives. As with civil litigation, check criminal records at U.S. district courts and at state courts. Some of the states provide statewide criminal indices, but in most states the research must be conducted in the county or the counties where the individual has lived. Full name and date of birth are usually required for “WANTED” criminal records research. AUTHORS Judgments and federal, state, and county tax liens are generally included in the research. Federal liens are available online in most for the next “Connections” states, but state and county lien information and judgments may have to be researched manually. See the Footnotes column for details. Page 18 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

Online at http://www.martindale.com/legalbiz online. Survivors: Law Library Service Providers Susannah Crego, M.L.S., J.D. [email protected]

You would think law library service providers would be down for librarians, and even independent operators of law firm libraries. Neither the count. Legal publishers are putting their products on the Web. Law law librarians nor law firms seem to be troubled by the trend. firms are decreasing the square footage allotted to stacks of books. Deborah Schwarz, the president of Library Associates, a company Controversy over outsourcing of library functions raised the ire of law that took over the operation of the San Francisco office library of Pillsbury firm librarians. Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop, LLP) in 1999, reports that But no, library service providers are survivors. They are more than the need for her company’s services is increasing. The increase is due to surviving. Business is booming. Not only do law firms continue to a general scarcity of experienced librarians and the demand by law firm employ them as filing services, updating print resources, but many law administrators for law firm library personnel with advanced technology firms are turning to service providers for help in solving other problems. skills. Law firm administrators, according to Schwarz, have begun to Outsourcing Library Functions look more critically at their library staff, particularly in areas she identifies as those that blend the dissemination of information with intranets and Keeping law library books up-to-date by filing new pages into the extranets, and support marketing. Sometimes the firm administrators feel books, an essential, yet frequently dreaded task, has often been farmed that an outsider’s view is helpful, and sometimes the administrators feel out by law firms to independent companies. Outsourcing this painstaking the need to change or supplement the staff. Schwarz emphasizes that job, where accuracy and speed is prized, is a cost-effective solution to Library Associates is owned and managed by librarians and that it is not the problem. Often, law firms do not have the personnel, or the inclination, the company’s intention to take away jobs, prestige, territory, or anything to assign this type of work to staff members. As more than one law firm else. Rather, the company wants to place good people in good jobs. librarian has said: “If I made the staff file updates, they would all quit.” Understanding that lawyers want information updated continually, Law Firm View many publishers have begun offering Web-based versions of their Will law firms outsource more library functions? Ann Jeter, Manager products. No filing needed. Just click and go. Doesn’t this mean filing of Information Services, Jackson Walker LLP, Dallas, TX, points out is history? that if an entire library operation is outsourced, a law firm could lose a Carol Lucarelli of Professional Library Services, Inc., Plainview, lot of the “added value” that professional librarians provide to the firm NY, was told she would be out of business ten years ago. But her business such as database and knowledge management, competitive intelligence is growing with three new client companies added in the past month. support, and income from billable research and consulting. Why? Lawyers prefer print products and, she speculates that with the Mike Palmer, Executive Director at Jackson Walker, notes that good economy, many lawyers can demand their own set of books, even outsourcing is often used to correct deficiencies. Since outsourcers charge if the physical space for the firm’s library is reduced. a premium for their services in order to make a profit, the outsourcer A shift in business is the way Lucy Rieger, President of New Jersey- must be able to deliver something the internal staff cannot. The library based Library Update, Inc., puts it. She finds that in her 23 years in the staff at his firm is very capable, so he would not consider using business, her work has shifted due to changes in information formats. In outsourcers. the area of tax law, there is somewhat less updating work, but in other Surviving areas of legal publishing, there seems to be more paper and more updates. Right now, there is plenty of work for both law library service Ray Jassin of Law Library Management, Inc. of Huntington, NY providers and law firm librarians. Demand for library service providers agrees that more tax publications are on the Web but finds that tax lawyers is strong. But fears about the strength of the economy and the strength rarely want to discontinue the print versions of those publications. They of the individual law firms may cause law firm administrators to want both. Jassin confirms that the portion of his business devoted to reevaluate their need for library services and to reconsider the level of filing is strong. services needed. If law library service providers do not want to be voted Cataloguing is often done by independent companies. Joni L. off the island (that is, the law firm premises), they need to take action. Cassidy, of Cassidy Cataloguing Services, Inc. of Harrison, NJ has written They must create alliances with law firm administrators and make sure about her thriving business in the Law Library Journal, vol. 93 no.3. Her that they offer added value to their customers, particularly in the area of proudest achievement is involvement of her services in the reclassification technology. The time to hatch the plan is now. of the Lillian Goldman Library of Yale Law School. Things were different back in 1995 following the dismissal of the Susannah Crego, M.L.S., J.D., a legal information professional, based entire law library staff at the Chicago headquarters of Baker and in Fairfield, CT, currently works part-time for two library service providers. McKenzie. At that time there were many heated debates over outsourcing © 2001 Susannah Crego of law library functions. Law librarians in Chicago and around the country were outraged. The American Association of Law Libraries established a task force on the value of law libraries in the information age. Today, outsourcing of various law firm library functions seems to be increasing. In addition to filing and cataloguing, library service providers now act as consultants, sources of temporary professional FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 19

BUILDING OUR BUSINESS How You Do What You Do: Living Your Brand Robin Neidorf, president, Electric Muse,[email protected]

Marketing means much more than pulling in new clients. Information. Inspiration. Communication. Marketing is part of everything you do as a business owner that I could have used a strictly descriptive tag line, along the lines communicates with the “outside” world – prospective, current and of “Business Research and Communications.” Instead, my tag line past clients alike. In fact, there are three distinct purposes to conveys a sense of creativity, efficiency and energy—in other words, marketing: my branding, not my profession. 1. Positioning in front of prospective clients But your tag line is only the beginning. You have opportunities 2. Servicing current and past clients to express your brand in all marketing materials: collateral, Web 3. Building a base of repeat business design and content, and other traditional marketing vehicles. Every choice you make, from the colors and visual composition to the This broader perspective on the work of marketing can language you use, has the potential to reinforce your branding. The significantly alter the way you approach your entire marketing plan. more consistent you can make your unspoken messages, the more Your marketing is not just brochures, speaking engagements, articles effective your marketing materials will be. and the like; it’s also inherent in how you deliver services to clients and the little things you do throughout your client relationships that What we usually think of as our marketing materials Ð keep everyone satisfied Ð and coming back for more. brochures, web sites and the like Ð are only one phase of our marketing. The other phases of marketing Ð servicing current clients Bigger companies refer to this total marketing approach as the and building a base of repeat business Ð can also be strengthened “brand promise.” The brand promise encompasses the unspoken through effective use of branding. expectations that a client or potential client comes to associate with a company. No company is too small to take its brand promise Every time you communicate with a client, whether you send seriously; in fact, the brand promise of a small — even a one-person an e-mail, pick up the phone, meet for coffee, write a thank-you — company can be the very thing that makes clients most eager to note, or prepare a preliminary report, you are conveying a brand work with you. message. You are embodying how you work, and what a client can expect from doing business with you. By approaching all of these Understanding Your Brand communications with their marketing potential in mind, you have The essence of branding and brand-based marketing is that it an opportunity to think about the unspoken messages you are evokes an emotional response as much as an intellectual one. Hitting delivering along with your reports. the right emotional chords is just as important in selling to businesses So, for example, what are the possible unspoken messages you as it is in selling to consumers. Branding gets to the heart of how deliver with your reports to clients? What do they say about how you do what you do, not just what you do. you do what you do? Different media or formats (paper, fax, e-mail You can start to understand your branding by listing the or Web-posted reports) can convey the idea that you are: flexible, adjectives your clients would use to describe you and your services, technology-oriented, professional...One format is not inherently i.e., how you do what you do. For example, are you: better than any other; simply be sure that the unspoken messages of efficient? creative? professionally well-connected? persistent? the formats you use are consistent with your branding. reliable? cost-conscious? premium-priced? service-oriented? Indeed, “consistent” is the key word in planning and executing technology-savvy? Ask some past and current clients for their input all phases of marketing. When you live your brand and base your as well; often the very thing others say about us is the last thing marketing on it, you can’t help but be consistent. And clients who we’d think to say of ourselves. know what to expect and get what they expect will keep your Consider also the adjectives you want clients to associate with business thriving. you and your services. Remember that you can use these attributes as a competitive edge, distinguishing your company from Robin Neidorf’s company, Electric Muse, offers strategic competitors. What should pop into a client’s mind when they think communications consulting grounded in research. She can be of you or see your company name? That’s the emotional response reached at [email protected]. on which you can build solid long-term relationships. Communicating Brand Once you’ve identified your brand, make it an integral part of everything you do to communicate with potential, current and past clients. Every point you touch on should reinforce and fulfill the brand promise. Always remember that branding is how, not what. For example, the tag line for my company, Electric Muse, is: Page 20 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

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An Annual Financial Check-Up Maryanne Nasiatka, Sabat & Jablonska & Co., [email protected]

The fourth quarter is staring us square in the face. For many Has all the required paperwork been filed and have the small business owners, this is a good time to take a look at the corresponding tax deposits, or payments, been made? health of their business and ask some end-of-the-year accounting In general, all levels of government take a very dim view of questions. filing reports late and an even dimmer view of late, or not yet made, Take a few minutes and examine how your business will fare payments. If you have not filed required paperwork, do so this year and do some planning for next. Much like a visit to the immediately. If you owe a government agency money, contact it as dentist, it’s not something many folks relish, so it’s tempting to put soon as possible. If you don’t have the funds you owe it, ask if you it off. However, if you do, you’ll likely regret it. Your business can work out a payment schedule. Once you agree to a payment finances and the accounting associated with them require constant schedule, stick to it. And put next year’s filing dates on your 2002 attention. And periodically, you and your bookkeeper, or accountant, calendar now. need to step back and look at several major issues; an annual check- Are salary and benefits on track? up, so to speak, even if you think that “not much has changed.” Small business owners are often surprised to find that while they Salary is the most common form of compensation, but don’t were busy working away during the year, several things have forget to evaluate whether other forms are appropriate for your happened: most notably, their income streams and expenditures situation. Depending on your corporate structure, there may be may have changed, or applicable IRS regulations may have been additional benefits that you can give yourself. In addition to salary, amended. shareholders in S corporations can receive distributions of corporate profits according to their percentage of ownership. Partners in limited Over the years I’ve developed a list of things to look at in liability corporations can divide year-end profits according to a October, and then follow up in a conversation with or visit to my formula they set, which does not have to correspond to ownership. accountant if necessary. This isn’t a definitive list, but it covers many of the main issues that owners of small research and K-1 distributions are not subject to deductions for Social consulting businesses face. Security and Medicare by either the employee or the employer. Since small business owners are typically both, K-1’s can represent a Is cash flow what you anticipated? double tax savings. Distributions are also not subject to state or Take a look at the income you’re generating. This is a good federal unemployment taxes. opportunity to think about your clients and the projects you Another advantage of owning a small business is the opportunity undertake. Have you been billing steadily? Do you have some gaps to steer cash into retirement accounts such as Simple IRA or Simple where you have worked fewer hours than you would have liked? Employee Pension programs. In general, a combination of employee Were there times when it seemed as if you worked night and day and employer contributions of up to 13.04% of pre-tax salary can and still had more work to do? be made into a qualified account. How the contributions are made, Think about whether there’s a way to adjust your work and and by whom, depends on your corporate structure and how your billing. Some people prefer to smooth out the work flow. Others plan is set up. It may be possible to make a contribution this year, try to arrange their schedules so they have less to do when school’s even if you’re unsure if you will have the funds to make one next out or when the garden needs weeding. After taking a look, you year or any subsequent year. may decide to pursue additional business more aggressively. Decide An Archer MSA (previously called a Medical Savings Account) what works best for you and make it a goal. is yet another vehicle to be considered when building your benefit Make sure that you are being fairly compensated for your work. package. The current Internal Revenue Code allows small business Examine all your costs including your time. owners and self-employed individuals to establish an Archer MSA. Are your billing and invoice collection current? If your coverage is classified as a “high deductible health plan,” or catastrophic care plan, you can generally make a pre-tax contribution Unless you have special arrangements to bill your clients in up to 75% of the deductible. You can use the funds in your MSA to another fiscal year, they will expect to be billed in 2001 for services pay for medical costs not covered by your health insurance. Funds rendered in 2001. If you delay invoicing, there may not be funds remaining in your account at year-end can be used toward covering budgeted to pay you next year. medical expenses in future years. Any funds remaining when you Are there any outstanding invoices that you haven’t collected? retire can be withdrawn under rules and conditions similar to 401(k) Are any of these overdue? Always follow up with your client. or 408(k) plans. If you have cash on hand, or expect cash on hand at Frequently, especially when dealing with larger organizations, there the end of the year, this is a good time to think about what benefits may be some bureaucratic—but simple— explanation, such as a you might be able to add if you haven’t already done so. missing purchase order number that can be corrected by a phone Are there other deductions that you can take advantage of this call. Occasionally, smaller clients may sit on a payment to improve year? their cash flow. Again, a phone call is usually enough to get the payment wheels rolling. Remember that even if you do not expect Make sure that you’ve properly documented all your expenses. to be paid for some reason, the IRS’s position is that you must In addition to surviving any potential future IRS scrutiny by make attempts to collect the debt before you can write it off as bad. maintaining good records, accurately classifying your expenditures Page 22 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

is the best way possible to understand your business and plan for for lawsuits, consider limiting your personal liability by the future. Knowing how much you spent this year for items such incorporating. as postage, office supplies, internet access and equipment will help If you own an S corporation that’s been in business for several you estimate what will happen next year. If you haven’t already years, take a look at converting it to a C corporation. As your done so, this is a good time to begin your 2002 business plan and company grows larger, there are advantages to not zeroing-out the budget. bank accounts at the end of the year; C status lets the company pay Review the records you have been keeping and ask your the taxes instead of your paying them personally as part of the pass- bookkeeper or accountant whether there are any additional through scenario. Remember that the accounting drives the legal deductions that you can take advantage of. Make sure that you decisions. understand what you must do to qualify, and how you must document Finally, build a good rapport with your accountant. If you’re your claim. not comfortable with him or her, search for another. You need One example of an additional deduction you can consider is a someone whom you trust to give solid advice and answer your “Section 179 deduction,” named for the Internal Revenue Code questions on a timely basis. Just as you depend on your doctor for section that spells out the details. Consider whether you need any personal health issues, you depend on your accountant for financial new furniture, equipment or computer hardware. The IRS allows health issues. businesses to deduct $18,000 a year—a substantial tax saving And don’t forget that the Small Business Administration is a compared to depreciating the cost of these items. great source of information (http://www.sba.gov) on this topic. They Should your business structure be changed? offer educational programs, loans and other financial aid and contract Nothing dictates that your legal structure needs to remain the assistance to small businesses. The IRS also offers a Small Business same forever. In fact, it’s actually quite common for businesses to Resource Guide on CD. The publication number is 3207 and can be change. It all depends on your individual situation. Don’t make the ordered online or by calling the IRS. mistake of pigeonholing yourself year after year into the same legal Maryanne Nasiatka is Managing Partner of Sabat & Jablonska & entity. Co. based in Plymouth, MI. It specializes in research and analysis Some businesses operate as a sole proprietorship and should of statutes and administrative rules, by topic, across all 50 states. stay that way. But your income and assets may lend themselves to a The company is named after her grandmothers. Maryanne is different structure. If the work you’re involved in has the potential currently AIIP Treasurer.

Negotiating: First Contact to Final Contract Seymour Satin. President, Procurious. [email protected] This article is based on one that originally appeared in Searcher Simple Steps: Preparing for the Negotiation (vol.9, number 6, June 2001, pages 50 - 54), a publication of You must understand the issues thoroughly and go into the Information Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055. negotiation process prepared. Do your homework and know as much Telephone (609) 654-6266. To view the article in its entirety, go to as you can or you’re not going to get too far in the negotiating http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun01/satin.htm, or read it in process. Don’t try to wing anything! The old saying that librarians Searcher. have used for years is so true in negotiating, “Knowledge is Power!” The information professional’s job description changes so There are six steps involved in gathering your information. rapidly from day to day, it’s hard to keep up. From researcher to web designer to information guru, the latest skill set all information 1. Do a cost benefit analysis. See what types of information professionals need is how to negotiate. Three areas that particularly resources you currently have within your organization and what the require our negotiation skills are in contracting, purchasing and resources cost. Talk to your users and see if the current resources licensing agreements. provide what they need. Understand your clients’ goals and objectives. See if the resources you currently have will provide what Some view negotiation as confrontation and, let’s be honest, users will need in the future. most of us tend to avoid confrontation whenever possible. Hard as it may be to imagine, negotiation is a natural process, and should be Look at competitor vendors’ products and prices to have a basis for viewed as fun, as an activity both challenging and rewarding. The comparison. Don’t be afraid to have the vendor work for you in this simple steps and golden rules outlined below can help you achieve process of getting prepared. If you’re working on an enterprise- this attitude and start you in the right direction. While there are wide deal and currently have this product somewhere within your many definitions of negotiation, the best definition I’ve heard to company, ask the vendor to supply a list of all current users within describe the truth about negotiation comes from Robert D. your company, along with a historical usage report to help you with Rutherford, Ph.D., author of The Twenty Five Most Common your analysis. Make sure you get raw data. It’s funny how easy it is Mistakes Made in Negotiating...and What You Can Do About Them. to manipulate numbers. Anyone can make them appear the way He defines negotiation as: “...an effort to resolve a difference they want to, so make sure you crunch your own data. I have found between two or more parties by the give-and-take process. “ this very helpful. FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 23

Once you have this information you can begin the next step. 5. Anticipate all options. I can’t tell you how many times I have 2. Request trial periods. Trials are very important and can open sat in a meeting where a question or situation came up and no one your eyes to some miscalculations and misperceptions. Let me had an answer. The typical response has always been, “I’ll have to illustrate this with a story of one vendor. At my prior company, we get back to you.” Sometimes you can’t avoid this, but in getting subscribed to hard copies of a daily publication considered the yourself prepared for the negotiation process and keeping the “bible” by that industry (every industry has one). The vendor conversation moving, you must try to anticipate what your opponent developed an electronic edition that we could post to our intranet. might do or say and work out different scenarios in your mind. Role At that time, we had over 17,000 employees, but the vendor said a play with co-workers, try to get someone to play devil’s advocate, license for 10,000 should cover all users and, of course, presented anticipate all options that might come up in your meeting. Also me with a cost for that many people. Now, my assessment posited reverse the role playing and place yourself on the other side of the that only 500 would have a business need to read the publication, table. This will help you understand your opponent’s position. but the vendor said, “It’s on your intranet and therefore anyone could Understanding your opponent is one of the most powerful tools in a read it, so you have to pay the full price!” negotiation, and it will help you better prepare yourself. I asked them to do a trial. I promised the company would market I have played devil’s advocate many times in the role-playing process the product by an e-mail push to each desktop. We would post an to assist others in getting ready for their negotiation. Picking your icon on each company intranet site. And I would monitor the usage role-playing partner is critical. You don’t want to have a “yes” person of the system for one month. The vendor agreed to our marketing opposite you. You want someone who will keep you on your toes plan and gave us the trial at no cost. After the month was over and and think out of the box. we gathered the statistics, we discovered we were both wrong. We 6. Identify your best options. You always need to know your best averaged only 150 people viewing it on a daily basis! After options: know what your bottom line is, the minimum you’re willing discovering this information, the contract was written for 150 to give up on. It could be dollars spent, port access, printing, number average daily users. Needless to say, the cost of the new product of users allowed, distribution rights or the renewal or cancellation and its delivery mechanism fell far below the cost for the projected clause in the contract. Remember, you should already have these 10,000 users originally quoted. So always insist on a trial. points written down on your wish and want lists. 3. Develop a plan. Have a well-thought-out plan before you go While role playing and anticipating all your options, you should into the negotiation. Know exactly what you want! Working with also anticipate the vendors’ best options. The vendor is either going your clients and IT group, construct a list of everything you need. to sell you its product at a certain dollar and give into some of your Break this list into two areas: a wish list of what you would love to requests, or maybe the vendor’s best option, if not getting some have and another list of what you really need. With the wish list in aspect of what they want, is just to walk away. If things don’t work hand, subcategorize the minimum amounts you’re willing to pay. out in a meeting, then maybe your best option might be to walk Keep this list with you in the negotiation and check points off as away. Walking away doesn’t mean you have lost or didn’t do you proceed in the process. everything right; it just means that stroll was your best option at the 4. Know your strengths and weaknesses. No person or time. organization is immune to weaknesses. For you, it may be as minor It doesn’t pay to get into a partnership where one side dictates all as the data supporting one of your points or as major as innate distaste the terms and conditions. That is not a partnership at all. The most for the confrontational aspects of negotiation. Recognize these important point in gathering your information and doing your weaknesses and try and work out alternatives before you sit down homework before the process begins is to find another vendor to with the vendor. For example, if you don’t have a solid understanding partner with, so you won’t have to accept the deal currently in front about the IT aspects, team up with your IT group members and of you. That way you take the pressure to make a deal work with have them present at the meeting. If you dread confrontation in an this vendor. upcoming meeting where you’ll have to present the vendor with a Seymour Satin is President of Procurious - a consulting company counter-offer, have someone else present at the meeting, maybe from which offers negotiating and research services to individuals and your procurement group or management team. companies to help them get the best deal possible. Procurious staff Another option is to outsource the process and hire a professional can provide training or negotiate for you to save you time and negotiator. Negotiation is a skill one develops over time. If you money. have a major deal in the works, the best bet might be to hire a negotiator and sit in and watch and learn the process. If your data is weak or incomplete, then you might not want to start the sit-down process until you can improve the data. Knowing your strengths is very beneficial. Data can be your best asset, if you understand it and use it to your advantage. You might only be working on an individual contract for one department, but don’t hesitate to use the size of your company and the potential business it might bring the Association of Independent vendor for leverage. Information Professionals Page 24 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS How To Say No Without Sounding Like a Two-Year Old Throwing a Tantrum Marydee Ojala, Ojala Associates. [email protected] When you’re just starting out as the proprietor of your own attention to the client’s very important project. If the situation were information company, it’s hard to imagine turning away business. reversed, your client wouldn’t want you to put off their project for a You’ve worked so hard to get your first customers; saying no to newcomer’s, would they? Play on their self-interest, saying that you someone who seems quite happy to pay you for your information wouldn’t want to short-change them since you understand how vital gathering and analysis skills sounds like the proverbial height of this project is to them. folly. Yet there are a number of instances when refusing a customer Under no circumstances should you leave it there. A rejection is the right thing to do even when you really need the money. that sounds final to the client will be the final communication you Timing is wrong have with that client. Offer to find them a substitute, either by giving Time is one of those triggers for rejection. You simply don’t them names of colleagues who can pick up the slack or by contacting have enough time to do the project as outlined. The client calls on your colleagues directly and making a subcontracting arrangement. Friday and wants a full report by Monday. This is an unrealistic Whether or not you take a finder’s fee for referring the business to deadline for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that your colleague is something you should work out in advance. Push you have a life outside your business. Suppose you are desperate the client on how definite their deadline is. If they have been clients for work, or you feel really sorry for the client, and you agree to in the past, they may be willing to extend the deadline to work the weekend on the project. What will you do the next time accommodate your overload situation. you get a Friday call from that client, or a friend of the client’s to You don’t know the subject (or they don’t seem to know the whom you’ve been recommended as someone who will give up question) weekends to satisfy requests? Why exactly should a client’s Time isn’t the only determinant. You’re sitting in your office, procrastination affect your work schedule? doodling on your desk pad, fervently hoping the phone will ring Even if you’re willing to put up with the inconvenience, there’s (and that it won’t be a telemarketer), with no pending projects. The the issue of whether you can actually do the project over the phone does ring and it’s someone who wants you to research a field weekend. If it’s a straightforward online searching exercise, it may you know absolutely nothing about. You know you’re out of your be possible. But what if you get into the search and discover a depth. There’s a real temptation to take the job, figuring you can problem with the database? You may not be able to reach tech support educate yourself as you go along. The client has some names of until Monday. What if it turns out the data you can pull from a chemical compounds so, although you are a chemistry ignoramus, commercial database or the Internet is incomplete? To fully meet you figure you can just throw them into a database or the Internet the client’s expectations, you’re going to have to follow up with a and satisfy the request. Wishful thinking. It’s just not that simple. phone call to an expert. Chances are you’re not going to find your Similarly, if you’re a chemist, you may not be as au courant with expert in his or her office on Saturday despite the fact that you’re corporate financial information as a client expects. slaving away in your office. Worse is the situation when you realize that your client is less Simply not enough time experienced than you are. The question seems badly phrased. When Whenever a project requires accessing non-instant sources, a you probe, you find that the client can only parrot what someone tight deadline, whether it’s over a weekend or not, is nerve-wracking else has already said. Since the client’s knowledge is so limited that and frequently not feasible. You may discover your best course of they can’t properly articulate the query, they probably won’t be able action is a visit to your local public or university library to consult to evaluate your results. And if they don’t really know what they an old newspaper article that’s only on microfiche or a book chapter want, there’s an excellent probability that anything you deliver will that’s only in print. You have to allow yourself time to get to the be wrong, at least in their eyes, and that’s what counts. This is a library and do the research. This always seems to take more time really good time to refuse the request. Tactfully, of course, because than it should. Or you may discover that your local library doesn’t the next time they call, it may be a great project with a reasonable have the material you need. Then you’re into a subcontracting time frame and something that both you and the client can agree on. situation, which puts you at the mercy of a colleague’s schedule. If You can’t do the work the way the client wants it you think they’re going to drop their projects to accommodate yours, Language is another expertise you just can’t fake. If the client you’d better think again! tells you that the major scientific literature in the field is written by Tight deadlines aren’t the only reason to say no. Clients may researchers in Paris, your high school French will not be sufficient. have a very reasonable deadline, but if you’re already overloaded, Similarly, a survey of articles in the Chilean, Argentinean, and you need to turn down new work (if you’re just starting out, you Peruvian press cannot be done if your Spanish language skills only may have trouble imagining this scenario, but it will happen). You enable you to order a meal in restaurants in those countries. Find a should do it politely, leaving the door open for future assignments. good translator and build translation costs into the bid. You also need to be honest with the client. Explain that you have When the client wants results in a format you can’t deliver, that’s some prior commitments and don’t feel you can give adequate another terrific time to say no. You can’t build a sophisticated Excel FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 25 spreadsheet; you don’t have (or care to use) WordPerfect 5.1; you can’t burn a DVD and create a fancy label for it; you can’t present your results in Kanji. It may point up a shortcoming on your part that you find you need to rectify with further training, but learning on the job at someone else’s expense is not usually the best approach. Holding yourself out as an expert when you’re not will reverberate negatively. It’s better to reject the work opportunity than to promise things you can’t provide. Again, don’t slam the door, but be honest. It’s better to tell a client where your expertise lies and to refer jobs that you are not up to handling. By acting in a professional manner, you’ll enhance your opportunities for picking up future assignments—and you’ll feel a whole lot better about yourself. There may be ethical problems There are business considerations that can necessitate your refusing a customer. Conflict of interest is the most obvious. A law firm has retained your services and you’ve thoroughly researched an issue for them. The opposing law firm calls, totally unaware you’ve been working for the other firm. You have to turn them down; you can’t work both sides of a case. Similar scenarios exist for public relations, marketing, and a whole host of other situations. Even when you think there’s no conflict, envision how a newspaper reporter might view it. If it might look at all bad for you when printed in a newspaper article, don’t do it. Then there’s the matter of ethics. AIIP has an ethical code. If someone asks you to do something that would violate that code, say no. If it’s even borderline, walk away. It is not worth being branded as unethical, or worse, to actually end up in a legal situation where you’ll need a lawyer to defend you. Act ethically, legally, and responsibly, and you will recoup the business in the long run. It just doesn’t feel right There many rational reasons for saying no to a client’s project, but there’s also an emotional one, probably best memorialized by the character Han Solo in the Star Wars movies — “I got a bad feeling about this”— turning down a client simply because you don’t want that person or company as a client. Maybe the project doesn’t interest you. Maybe you think there’s some question about when (or whether) you’ll get paid. Maybe you sense some underlying hidden agenda. Maybe the client is just plain obnoxious. This is why you’re an entrepreneur instead of a corporate salaried employee. You have the option of saying no for no reason at all. You can refuse clients on a whim. It may not be advantageous to your bank account, but at least you are in control. And in the long run, that’s why most of us became independent information professionals. Nobody’s going to tell us we have to take on a client we don’t like or a job that’s boring. There are lots of good reasons to say no to clients—and you may want to use one of them as an excuse when it’s a “bad feeling about this” situation. But we don’t have to have a reason. We can say no just because we feel like it. Marydee Ojala has run Ojala Associates since 1987, when she left BankAmerica Corporation to become self-employed. She does business/ banking research, gives seminars on business information, speaks on a variety of information-related topics, and is editor of ONLINE magazine and editor-at-large for EContent magazine. This article is based on an article that appeared in LegalBiz Page 26 AIIP CONNECTIONS - FALL 2001

Firing a Client Jan Davis Tudor, JT Research L.L.C.., [email protected] I thought of naming this article Letting a Client Go because it better to convince them that you’re acting in their best interest….and sounded less severe than Firing a Client. But, hey that’s what I did. that they would be better off with someone else.”2 I’m afraid in my I fired a client. It felt great, though it wasn’t easy to do by any situation I probably did make my client realize that I didn’t want to stretch of the imagination. After all of the time, energy and money I work for him, so I’ll fire my next client with more grace. spend to get clients, why would I want to get rid of one? In addition, if you work with a client on a regular basis timing Some time ago, I saw a greeting card with the following quote is also important, so give the client plenty of notice. Finally, don’t by Rumi: “Surround Yourself with People Who Make You Feel personalize it. Independent marketing consultant Marcia Yudkin Good,” which I decided to frame. I’ve incorporated these words of says: “The client doesn’t ever need to know your true feelings. You wisdom into my life and now apply them to my client base as well. can simply say, I think I’m just not the right person for you.”3 The client I fired, Mr. X, didn’t make me feel good. To make a long When questioning whether or not to fire a client, the issue is not story short, Mr. X pushed my buttons Ð big time. And he was sapping the potential of lost income, but whether this business relationship me of my much-needed energy. fits well with the goals and ideals of your business. I find it helpful This happened from the very start of our acquaintance. During to continually ask myself “what do I want my business to be?” our initial reference interview I remember going into automatic Included in that definition is a description of my ideal client. coping mode and telling myself “breathe…breathe.” You know the type Ð the needy ego that requires constant affirmation, nit-picks Jan Davis Tudor is President if JT Research LLC, located in Portland after the project is done, says “hurry, hurry, I need it now” but then Oregon. JT Research specializes in research for business appraisers, takes his time to pay. Mr. X needed a lot more than research. accountants and financial analysts. I will spare you the laundry list of complaints about Mr. X, 1 Stuart Kahan. “Fire That Client!” The Practical Accountant, October 1996, pp. 46+. 2 Maria Lenhart. “Firing a Client: How to Recognize When It’s Time to Cut Your because the bottom line was I didn’t want to work for him. Some of Losses.” Meeting & Conventions, December 1997. you may be thinking “what’s the big deal? - Just tell him you don’t 3 John Rossheim. “How to Fire a Client – and Why.” Free Agent Guide: Manage Your want to work for him.” For me this was a big deal - it was not an Business. Internet: easy thing to do! In fact, when I finally said “Mr. X, I don’t think we work well together, I prefer the next time you need research to call John Doe” — I don’t know what gave me the strength; perhaps it CONNECTIONS was the presence of my calm and sensible assistant who was in the office that day. Now that I have done it, though, I know the next Advertising Rates time around won’t be so difficult. AIIP Connections is a quarterly publication with an average print An Ideal Client run of 2,000, including prospective member packets and conference The AICPA’s (American Institute of Certified Public distribution. It is also available electronically via the AIIP website. Accountants) MAP (Management of an Accounting Practice) Basic rates for single color ads: Committee suggests not accepting a certain client in the first place. Size 1x 4x per year MAP advises setting up a good screening mechanism that involves 1/4 page $80 $250 creating an “ideal client profile.”1 Through the help of a business 1/2 page $130 $430 coach I was able to identify positive and negative client traits to help 1 page $220 $700 me determine if a new client fits my client ideal profile and with the For two color ads: core personal values that I apply to my business. One of these values 1/4 page $130 $520 is to be respected; in my opinion, Mr. X didn’t respect me as a business 1/2 page $180 $720 professional. 1 page $270 $1080 In deciding whether you might wish to continue a business relationship with a client, you might want to think about whether the Members in good standing receive a 50% discount on single color rates, but no discount on two color advertisements. Ads must be client: is unusually difficult and/or makes unreasonable demands; submitted in electronic copy. In addition, a copy of the ad must be pressures you on your fees; refuses to sign engagement or faxed to Advertising Director, Eiko Shaul, at 416-544-0253. Any representation letters; is verbally abusive or unpleasant to work with; advertisement not submitted in electronic copy will be charged a is more time-consuming than other similar jobs; asks you to do one-time conversion fee of $40 per new ad. Ads must be received something illegal or unethical; is slow to pay. by the following deadlines: July 31 (for the Fall issue), October 31 (for the Winter issue), January 31 (for the Spring issue), and April Saying Buh-Bye! 31 (for the Summer issue). Like with any relationship, some issues can be discussed and Make checks payable to AIIP Service Corporation. resolved. But for those clients who are truly toxic, like Mr. X., saying Mail checks to: Eiko Shaul, Shaul InfoResearch “buh-bye” should be done professionally. The world is too small to 209 Cranbrooke Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada M5M 1M8 burn bridges, so ideally the client should view the parting as a mutual Tel: 416-544-0208 ¥ Fax: 416-544-0253 decision. Sherri Cook, president of Sherri Cook and Associates states: E-mail: [email protected] “Never let a client know that you don’t want their business. It’s FALL 2001 - AIIP CONNECTIONS Page 27

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