Non‐use of business libraries and information services: a study of the library and information managers’ perception, experience and reaction to non‐use

Not since 1980 has research provided any insights into how information managers perceive and cope with non‐use. In an attempt to fill the vacuum information professionals in business companies were surveyed: 42 information managers were questioned and 12 interviewed. The study found that non‐use is widespread, and that the non‐use situation is a complicated mix of non‐use and unsatisfactory user behaviour. The most commonly perceived cause of non‐use was a lack of awareness of the services’ capabilities. There is no stereotypical non‐user. A significant majority of the managers had a positive attitude to non‐use and were worried about the extent of non‐users. Some tackled non‐use head‐on and implemented remedial treatment but less than a third could identify their non‐users. Recent advances in information system design do not seem to have improved the situation and there has been little change in the scale of non‐use, or reactions of information managers to it since 1980. The study concludes that the fruits of such an obviously positive attitude to tackling the non‐user will only be gathered if it is converted into a reality and becomes an integral part of the information managers’ marketing strategy.