Early research studies, such as the questionnaire-based surveys conducted in Australia (Frey) and in the UK (Warr), can be summarised as attempts to gain first insights into alternative service provisions and work arrangements that were evolving in a world that was moving towards a technology-dependent and service-based economy. These works focused on the overall appraisal of the fee-based information services sector, often referred to as information brokering or information consultancy.

A 1995 study followed a more specific approach by studying the critical success factors of fee-based information services in Sweden, Denmark and the UK. The research project included a survey (via questionnaire) of 53 information professionals engaged in fee-based services who were either working independently or as employees for public or private sector institutions, (Abell et al.). This study laid the foundation for a more recent publication which can be described as a comprehensive guide to information consultancy (Wormell, Olesen, and Mikulás).  

Within the library context, social capital has been discussed as a resource communities can draw on in order to “achieve desirable goals for the benefit of that community and the individuals within it”  (Goulding 4).

Further discussions of the history of the concept, its various uses in social theory and attempts at quantifying social capital would go beyond the scope of this review and readers are referred to the thorough literature reviews provided by Barbieri who studied social capital through network analysis (681-701), and 2002 and 2007 studies (Anderson and Jack 193-210; Anderson, Park, and Jack 245-272).

Works Cited

Abell, Angela, et al. Critical Success Factors for Fee-Based Information Services, University of Hertfordshire Press, 1995.

Anderson, Alistair R., and Sarah L. Jack. "The Articulation of Social Capital in Entrepreneurial Networks: A Glue Or a Lubricant?" Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, vol. 14, no. 3, 2002, pp. 193-210, doi:10.1080/08985620110112079.

Anderson, Alistair, John Park, and Sarah Jack. "Entrepreneurial Social Capital Conceptualizing Social Capital in New High-Tech Firms." International Small Business Journal, vol. 25, no. 3, 2007, pp. 245-272, doi:10.1177/0266242607076526.

Barbieri, Paolo. "Social Capital and Self-Employment a Network Analysis Experiment and several Considerations." International Sociology, vol. 18, no. 4, 2003, pp. 681-701, doi:10.1177/0268580903184003.

Frey, Christine F. Information Consultants and Brokers in Australia: Report of a National Survey Conducted in November 1985, University of Tasmania, 1986.

Goulding, Anne. "Editorial Libraries and Social Capital." Journal of Librarianship and information science, vol. 36, no. 1, 2004, pp. 3-6, doi: 10.1177/0961000604042965.

Warr, Karen M. Paying for Business Information: The Role of UK Information Brokers and Consultants as Providers of Business Information, Effective Technology Marketing, 1992.

Wormell, Irene, Annie Olesen, and Gábor Mikulás. Information Consulting: Guide to Good Practice, Elsevier, 2011.

Acknowledgment: The MLA referencing is by Mark Hangartner. This uses text modified with permission from:

Traser, Simona Pilar. "The role of social capital for self-employed information professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand." (2014). http://hdl.handle.net/10063/4693