ABSTRACT
Warnken’s Directory of Fee-Based Information Services lists 177 information brokers in the United States. Helen Burwell’s Directory of Fee-Based Information Services notes 447 entries, an increase of 153%. Georgia Finnegan, in a 1976 Special Libraries article, describes the founding of Information Unlimited, a free-lance information service located in Berkeley, California. The idea for the company originated with Sue Rugge in 1971 when she realized that people who no longer had access to special libraries still needed literature searches and other library-related services. The second information brokerage reviewed, The Information Store in downtown San Francisco, is Georgia Finnigan’s new venture. This company is primarily interested in market studies and legal research. Most work is charged on an hourly basis with bids put out on specific projects. The third information brokerage, Warner-Eddison Associates, based in Lexington, Massachusetts, was founded in 1973 by Alice Sizer Warner and Elizabeth Bole Eddison, both graduates of Simmons College.
