The Business Library: What it is and what it does

by Louise B. Krause

The Library and the Publicity Department

One of the important departments in modern business organizations served by the business library, is the publicity department which is the outcome of the recognition of the dependence of any business upon the public's understanding and appreciation of what it has to offer, in order to successfully carry on its work, whether that be a manufactured product or the service of a public utility. In this day of economic investigation and criticism, it is vital to success that industries exploit their work and products clearly and logically, not only as a means of advertising but also to win and hold that all-important asset known as public good-will.

The publicity department strives to make the public understand the organization and its work and has charge of preparing direct advertising, for daily papers and periodicals, and in many utility corporations prepares copy for the financing and marketing of securities.

A live publicity department cannot do its work without ample library resources as its needs are encyclopaedic, for it is constantly preparing copy which calls for the most accurate and comprehensive data and it must keep up to date on what is currently issued in the lines of business in which it is particularly interested. Library service is so indispensable in publicity work that in a number of cases the library has been organized in the business house as a part of the work of the publicity department.