Information Vendors Tapping Into Growing Market for Business Data

Business people seeking patent descriptions, trade journal articles and other technical information can now pay a fee and tap resources beyond those of the public library.

A growing number of “information vendors” are offering their services to customers who need such data as records from government agencies or standards from trade associations.

Craig Maxwell and Peter Shikli, co-owners of the Answer Store in Irvine, set up shop six months ago. The store is doing brisk business with “customers who recognize a void in their own knowledge about a specific company and come to us with their fears,” Maxwell said.

Among those patrons have been stockbrokers interested in contact lists and company backgrounds, and companies doing background checks on possible hires by looking through driver’s license records.

Much of the Answer Store’s work, Maxwell said, involves old-fashioned research by telephone.

Another shop in Irvine, Global Information Center, opened last week. Operated by Global Engineering Documents, a privately held company based in Englewood, Colo., the firm caters to engineering companies by offering access to government specifications and to standards issued by electronics organizations and academic groups.

The shop is the company’s first walk-in operation, spokeswoman Christy Williams said. It was already serving clients through a worldwide network of offices that take requests by mail, phone and fax.

“If they have a place to come in and look at documents instead of just ordering over the phone, that gives them a chance to see what other documents they need. We’re hoping that saves time for everyone,” Williams said.

Deborah Evans, proprietor of the Information Source in Newport Beach, is a licensed private investigator who realized that computer-aided search tools could be useful for companies as well as individuals.

Evans now spends much of her time tracking information electronically for companies that hire her to do market research or to conduct background checks on applicants.

“A lot of it is competitive intelligence types of things, like finding out what the business climate is in a certain (geographic) area,” Evans said.

Lawyers are also among her clientele, she said. An attorney once asked her to find some evidence to show a jury how frightening dog bites can be. A library search turned up a training film made by the U.S. Postal Service.

The distribution of government and other public databases through the Internet computer network has changed the information-retrieval business considerably in recent years, said Mark Wettler, a consultant who owns Wettler Information Express in Tustin.

By searching through the Internet before leaving his office, Wettler said, he can determine which libraries have the specific journal articles a customer wants, saving him time.

On the other hand, Wettler said, the increasing distribution of data by public agencies over the Internet, for free, means his own searches and services must become more specialized to attract business. The ability to tailor searches to a specific customer is the main advantage that private vendors have, he said.

“I like to think that I benefit the public libraries in that I take some of the load off of the reference librarians,” he said.