User driven: The evolution of the Ei reference desk

Growth in the primary engineering literature has been accompanied by a boom in electronic secondary information‐retrieval products and services which can access information that is increasingly current, specific, and inclusive. While these services provide more options and solutions for researchers, the perception of an overwhelming array of hard‐to‐use electronic searching alternatives has been confusing. Users want an electronic searching system simple enough for library patrons to use, while at the same time sophisticated enough to meet the demands of the professional researcher. Adding to this challenge are the economic realities of the marketplace. Diverse corporate and academic research centers around the world have different levels of budgetary constraints. Recognizing these disparities, Engineering Information Inc. (Ei) has fashioned a range of research tools that can be used individually or in combination to offer maximum budgetary flexibility to its global constituency. Customers wanted from these various tools the opportunity to easily access the most cost‐efficient method dictated by the needs of a particular search.