Bowker's Envirofiche Plan.

This article focuses on the plan of Bowker Business Research (BBR) to help solicit corporate funding for a library collection of Envirofiche, a BBR microfiche subscription service of major journals, speeches, conference proceedings, symposia papers, reports, and studies covering environmental topics. Blighted by the Exxon Valdez disaster, corporations have been seeking to improve their image with today's green consumer, and BBR believes libraries which are facing increasing budget cuts of specialized information sources provide the perfect outlet for image enhancement. It is a benefit of major corporations to establish a positive presence in the public according to BBR vice president and publisher Ralph C. Ferragamo. Local corporate sponsors donate Envirofiche text from 1971 to the present as well as its print and CD-ROM indexes. BBR contributes fiche cabinets to house the collection. BBR will also conduct training seminars for library personnel. The sponsorship remains somewhat flexible. Elizabeth Wachendorfer, a campus development officer at the University of Houston in Texas expressed her interest in the BBR plan, but would like to have sponsorship of a continuing subscription and computer equipment compatible to the current library system.