Valuing an Information Service: Information Specialist as Research Team Member

Home > Valuing an Information Service: Information Specialist as Research Team Member

© Lisa C. Wallis; Libraries, Information, and Society; Fall 1999
"When information specialists become part of the research team, they are able to provide
the right information at the right time to the right person in the right manner."
-Neway, 1985, p. 158
Employment Setting
The information specialist valued in this paper is a member of a public health-oriented research team in a non-profit research and policy organization. For the sake of clarity, it will be assumed that the employing institution is the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), a 62-employee body with offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. The Alan Guttmacher Institute is a national leader in the area of reproductive health, specifically focusing on population, family planning, pregnancy, and abortion policy (AGI, 1998).

In existence since 1968, AGI has weathered many storms over the years. In the early 1980s, for instance, when the conservative Reagan administration cut funding to many progressive social programs, AGI federal grants were completely eliminated (AGI, 1998). Since then the Institute has attempted to broaden its funding base, relying less on government money and more on non-government grants, private donations, and support from Planned Parenthood. In 1997 only 18% of AGI's annual income came from government grants, while project and unrestricted grants provided 32% and 31% of annual income, respectively (AGI, 1998).

Through research, policy analysis, and public education, the Alan Guttmacher Institute strives to reach five organizational goals: 1) preventing accidental pregnancy, 2) promoting reproductive health, 3) focusing on youth, 4) understanding abortion, and 5) reaching out (AGI, 1998). For the purposes of this assignment, it will be assumed that the information specialist is a member of a ten-person research team that is dedicated solely to preventing accidental pregnancy. Other members of such teams include social scientists, statisticians, and writers. All team members are regular contributors to AGI's periodicals, briefs and special reports, including The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, Family Planning Perspectives, International Family Planning Perspectives, Facts in Brief, and Issues in Brief (AGI, 1999).

Examples of past efforts toward the goal of preventing accidental pregnancy have included the reports Hopes and Realities: Closing the Gap Between Women's Aspirations and Their Reproductive Experiences and Protecting Health: A New Look at Birth Control Choices in the United States (AGI, 1999). Published by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, these documents have been disseminated widely throughout reproductive health care organizations, often serving as a basis for administrative decisions and strategic planning. Furthermore, AGI has an established reputation that makes it "a trusted source of information and advice to policymakers and legislators" (AGI, 1998, p. 3).

Job Description
The information specialist, in addition to having a degree in library and information science, preferably will possess a graduate degree in a specialized subject area (Neway, 1985). In this case, the specialist is assumed to be a graduate of a two-year master's degree program in public health. First and foremost a research team member, the information specialist is not a typical reference librarian. However, many of the responsibilities of the information specialist will be the same. A reference librarian job description from the RAND Institute, another non-profit policy research institution, indicates the employee

Provides reference support to the research and administrative staff of RAND on a cost-recovery basis by performing in-depth and complex literature searches using electronic and print sources; locating specific information/data in response to reference queries; acting as information consultant on research projects; and providing end-user training in the use of library reference tools including the Library's online catalog, CD-ROM databases, the Internet and other information retrieval systems. Also assists with collection development activities and participates in the Library marketing program and outreach activities. (RAND, 1999).

It is reasonable to assume that an information specialist would be required to fulfill many of the same duties, perhaps with the exception of end-user training. The information consultation portion of the job description would instead be the primary duty, with the other tasks falling under that responsibility. The information specialist will differ from the research librarian in that she is a member of the research team instead of an employee of the library (Neway, 1985). She will be responsible for meeting with all team members individually and collectively to assess their information needs. She will be consulted in all stages of the research process, from grant writing to evaluation.

Methodology
In all cases monetary values from years other than 1999 have been updated to 1999 dollar figures using a Consumer Price Index conversion factor chart developed at Oregon State University (Sahr, 1999). Each previous year's figure was divided by the appropriate factor. For instance, to convert 1998 dollars to 1999 dollars, each dollar amount was divided by 0.976. Monetary amounts were collected from numerous sources, and they are credited throughout.

Costs
According to the Special Libraries Association, special librarians in research institute settings made a median salary of $42,100 in 1998 (Special Libraries Association, 1998). In 1999 dollars this is equivalent to $43,315 a year. On average employers spend approximately 20% of an employee's total compensation on employee benefits (Employee Benefit Research Institute, 1999), making the cost of the information specialist's benefits $8,663 a year. There are no other direct costs of employing an information specialist at AGI as the library would exist with or without a trained intermediary to access its information most efficiently.

Benefits
According to Griffiths and King (1994), there is a very important distinction between value and worth. The value of an information service is "the amount paid for goods or services, since price is a gauge of the value one is willing to pay" (Griffiths & King, 1994, p. 82). Worth instead "reflects what is gained or the value derived from the purchase" (Griffiths & King, 1994, p. 82). In terms of this analysis, value will refer to the monetary cost of services provided by an information specialist that would otherwise have been incurred by a social scientist or other researcher. Worth will reflect the impact of the research on society as a whole, specifically in the United States.

Value of the information specialist. Through a 10-year longitudinal study of 84 special libraries, Griffiths and King quantitatively assessed the value of the services provided by special librarians. It is their significant work that provides background data for the value analysis of the AGI information specialist. Based on the job description supplied earlier and intuitive guesses as to the typical work of an information specialist, it can be concluded that the information specialist's value at AGI is $58,949.80. This figure was derived as follows.

Working on a team of 4 social scientists, 3 statisticians, and 2 writers, the information specialist is the link between the staff and the information they need to do their work. The direct value of the specialist, then, is best calculated by determining how much time the other professionals save by using the intermediary rather than doing information retrieval tasks themselves. On average, Griffiths and King found that a user will spend 0.45 hours of his own time per use of a special library, with use time varying according to task. Tasks relevant to the AGI setting include access to library collections, borrowing and document delivery services, photocopying, reference and research, database search services, and current awareness services (as cited in Griffiths & King, 1994). Given that the original special library study sample was not entirely made up of research-intensive institutions, the amount of time users spent accessing information annually in the Griffiths and King study is not likely a true reflection of the use patterns of AGI research staff. Therefore, it will be assumed that each professional spends at least an hour each day doing work that requires information specialist services; each member of the team would generate 260 hours of special library use time annually.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (1998a), social scientists at the Ph.D. level make a median salary of $41,862 in 1999 dollars. In addition, statisticians make $68,325 (BLS, 1998b), and technical writers make $49,564 (BLS, 1998c). If it is assumed that each staff member works a 40-hour week, the equivalent hourly salaries of those professionals are $20.13, $32.85, and $23.83. Again, there are 4 social scientists, 3 statisticians, and 2 writers on this particular team, so the information specialist saves the team members a total of approximately 2,340 hours a year. The equivalent amount in dollars, considering hourly wages is then $58,949.80. Given these conditions, the information specialist will average a 45-hour workweek, while earning a total compensation package of $51,978.00. AGI essentially will be making a $6,971.80 profit on this employee based on value alone.

Worth of the information specialist. If successful, the AGI accidental pregnancy research team will contribute to society by making every child a planned child, an outcome that has innumerable benefits. The psychological benefits to both mother and child as well as other interested parties are immeasurable in the scope of this paper and will not be addressed. While it is difficult to assess the benefits of an event not happening, the worth analysis will attempt to examine some of the savings that result when just one unplanned child is not conceived and born. Because the information specialist is one member of a 10-member team, the information specialist's independent contribution will be calculated by dividing each savings figure by 10.

To begin with, by preventing the birth of a child, there is a savings of the money that it costs to raise one child to age 18. In 1999 this amount ranges from $112,039 for a child in a single-parent family with an annual income less than $36,000, to $228,690 for a child in a two-parent family with an annual income of $60,000 or more (United States Department of Agriculture, 1998). For the sake of simplicity, it will be assumed that it costs $170,365--the average--to raise a child to age 18; the information specialist's contribution saves $17,037 per unborn child over 18 years. The annual equivalent saved is $946.47.

If a child is unplanned, it may be assumed that the mother is unlikely to receive adequate prenatal care. Either she will deny the pregnancy and attempt to ignore it or she will be completely unaware that she is pregnant. In either case, inadequate prenatal care can result in a child born with a birth defect. Over a lifetime, each child born with a birth defect incurs medical costs of $290,476 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1995). The successful information specialist saves society $29,047.60 over a lifetime. If it is assumed that the average person lives to age 75, the amount saved is $387.30 annually.

Babies of mothers who did not receive adequate prenatal care may also be more likely to be born in a complicated delivery. While a "normal" delivery is quite expensive at $7,215, a complicated delivery can cost from $22,548 to $450,958 (Laman & King, 1994). The average of these figures is $236,753. The information specialist then saves $23,675.30 by preventing just one complicated delivery. Low birthweight is another common outcome of inadequate prenatal care. One day in a neo-natal intensive care unit costs, on average, $2,023 (Krebs, 1993). While a severely ill newborn may spend several weeks or months in a NICU (Krebs, 1993), a less severe two-week stay will be used for this example. The cost of NICU care for that time is $28,322. The work of the information specialist saves a family $2,832.20.

Summary
It is truly impossible to put an exact dollar amount on the service that an AGI information specialist provides. The value is fairly easily calculated, but the worth is inestimable. When attempting to place a monetary amount on a human life, it can be difficult to avoid sounding callous, as well. Of course, more than one accidental pregnancy will be prevented by the work of the research team. How many more simply cannot be determined. AGI Reports will lead to advocacy, which will lead to laws, which will lead to change. However, by examining the immediate effects of preventing one unplanned birth, one can see the enormity of the potential amount of money saved. Again, just considering the prevention of one unplanned birth, the results are as follows:

Costs

Salary

Employee benefits

43,315.00

8,663.00

Subtotal

($51,978.00)

Benefits

Value

Savings to team members

58,949.80

$58,949.80

Worth^a

Raising child to 18^b

Birth defect^b

Complicated delivery^d

2 weeks in NICU^d

946.47^c

387.30^c

23,675.30^c

2,832.20^c

$27,841.27

TOTAL BENEFIT

$34,813.07 per year

For preventing the accidental conception of one child
Annual cost for a lifetime event
Amount attributable to information specialist alone
One-time cost for a one-time event

References

Alan Guttmacher Institute. (1998). The Alan Guttmacher Institute 1997 annual report. New York: Author.

Alan Guttmacher Institute. (1999, October 4). The Alan Guttmacher Institute home page [Online]. Available: http://www.agi-usa.org/home.html

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1998a, January 15). Social scientists [Online]. Available: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos054.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1998b, January 15). Statisticians [Online]. Available: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos045.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1998c, January 15). Writers and editors [Online]. Available: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1995). Economic costs of birth defects and cerebral palsy--United States, 1992. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 44, 694-699.

Employee Benefits Research Institute. (1999, February). Facts from EBRI: Employer spending on benefits, 1997 [Online]. Available: http://www.ebri.org/facts/0299bfact.pdf

Griffiths, J.-M. & King, D. W. (1994). Libraries: The undiscovered national resource. In M. Feeney & M. Grieves (Eds.), The Value and Impact of Information (79-116). London: Bowker-Saur.

Laman, J. & King, M. (1994). Promoting healthy babies. NCSL Legisbrief. Washington, D. C.: National Conference of State Legislators.

Neway, J. M. (1985). Information specialist as team player in the research process. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

RAND. (1999, October 19). Management/administrative position descriptions [Online]. Available: http://www.rand.org/reaching/Employment/aaaac1.html#LIB

Sahr, R. (1999, February 15). Conversion factors (preliminary) for 1999 dollars, 1800 to 1999 [Online]. Available: http://www.orst.edu/dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/cv1999.htm

Special Libraries Association. (1998, October 30). Earnings by type of institution [Online]. Available: http://www.sla.org/pubs/serial/io/1998/nov98/research.html

United States Department of Agriculture. (1998). Expenditures on children by families, 1998 (USDA Publication No. 1528-1998). Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office.