A pharmaceutical research intranet

An intranet used within a multinational healthcare company is described. Four stages in the intranet's development are identified: (I) initiation to extend sources of information available to information professionals; (2) improved provision of in-house information; (3) empowerment of end-user searching; (4) standardised access to applications on diverse platforms. It is proposed that the direction of future development will be groupworking. The wide range of information available on the intranet is highlighted, including news, in-house R&D databases, competitive intelligence, company manuals/procedures and an employee directory. The effects of the intranet on users were assessed by interviewing six staff who use the system daily. After an initial exploratory stage of 2-4 weeks staff tend not to have time to search actively in a systematic manner. They tend to use in-house sources which are job-related. The changing role of the information professional is discussed, particularly the extra demand placed on information staff to monitor new intranet information sources. There has been little effect on traditional library and information services. The intranet has been beneficial to geographically distant sites by offering access to services not previously available, including those which were prohibitively expensive for a smaller site to subscribe to alone. Management of staff use and security aspects of the intranet are described. The expansion of the intranet and its role as a fool in R&D which meets business needs is discussed.