The unique role and value of information professionals in special libraries

This report, produced by Dr Katherine Howard and commissioned by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), is based on desk research carried out over the period of November 2016 to February 2017. It followed on from the Special Libraries Summit, held on 2 September, in Adelaide, alongside the ALIA National Conference.
 
The report is structured as follows: a recap on what we already know that special librarians do now, through literature reviews, projects and commissioned research, and how this role may be extended. Secondly, the report identifies competitors in the marketplace in terms of both job classifications and information providers, with areas of overlap between them and the librarian role highlighted. This in turn identifies the unique selling points (USPs) of the librarian in the Special Library domain.