Frank Warren is President of Instant Information Systems and has been providing full-text medical document delivery for over a decade. Instant Information Systems developed and maintains www.docdel.com – a free directory indexing hundreds of document delivery resources and host of the document delivery listserv.

Since 1988, we have accumulated a long list of document suppliers and resources. One of the more useful indexes we have developed lists document providers with a narrow subject specialty. These boutiques do not offer a wide scope of coverage but can be a life saver for that one document no one else can supply. There is no shortage of full-service providers and they usually have the marketing budget to promote themselves but discovering a narrow specialist is a real find.

The following list of document suppliers with a narrow subject specialty is drawn from what we have developed over years of searching for obscure documents, and may serve any information professional in that moment of need when finding that impossible document can almost seem miraculous.

Document Delivery
T.R. Halvorson’s directory http://www.netins.net/showcase/ trhalvorson/g-stuff/gs_dd.html	T.R. Halvorson’s directory of dozens of document delivery companies is an eclectic mix of full-service suppliers along with the most specialized.
Earth Science
GeoRef Document Delivery Service http://www.agiweb.org/georef/ dds.html	Copies of earth science documents and maps, maps, maps can be found at the GeoRef Document Delivery Service.
Financial Services & Business
Center for Banking Information http://www.aba.com/aba/ CenterforBankingInformation/ CBI.asp	The Center for Banking Information holds an extensive collection of material related to the financial services industry. They also are a valuable resource for other related sites on the Internet.
London Business School http://www.lbs.ac.uk/library/ libis.html	The London Business School has a related subject specialty. Their content includes substantial holdings in business statistics, economics, and company accounts. Business researchers who bring an international perspective and contacts in many markets are another service they provide.
Foods
Advanced Information Consultants http://www.advinfoc.com/	Some full-service providers also have unique specialties. Advanced Information Consultants has access to a one of a kind collection at General Mills. This enables them to fill requests from the Foods Adlibra database.

Foreign Document Suppliers
Sometimes the only way to find a document in a foreign country is to locate a supplier based there with a specialized knowledge of the area. Here are three document suppliers with special knowledge in finding documents in three very different parts of the world.
Russia	Israel	Latin America
Access Russia http://www.arussia.com/	Infomayda http://www.actcom.co.il/~atoz/	ontyme I.B. http://www.informar.com.ar/

Hospitality
Nestle Library of the Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration http://www.nestlelib.cornell.edu/ hostline/	The Nestle Library of the Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration is considered the most comprehensive in the world in the subject of “hospitality.”
Labor
INFOSOURCE http://www.ifebp.org/icebdocd.html	Articles cited in the Employee Benefits Infosource can be found at INFOSOURCE. Also listed here is the Americans with Disabilities Act Document Center.
WorkNet@ILR http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/ kheel/	It is not too difficult to find a specialist in the field of business or management but one that offers expertise in labor is noteworthy. WorkNet@ILR offers document delivery in addition to research services from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.
Nursing
Biomedical Information Service (BIS) http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/ bishp.html German National Library of Medicine http://www.uni-koeln.de/zentral/ zbib-med/indexengl.html	In the health sciences, nursing documents are some of the most difficult to find. Here are two suppliers who have strong nursing collections. Biomedical Information Service (BIS) is in the U.S. and the other is the German National Library of Medicine.
Oil & Gas
API EnCompass (American Petroleum Institute) http://www.apiencompass.org/	API EnCompass (American Petroleum Institute) claims to be, “the authoritative source of worldwide information for the petroleum, petrochemical, natural gas and related energy industries.”
Public Records
Public Record Retriever Network http://www.brbpub.com/prrn/	The Public Record Retriever Network is not a single source but rather a database containing dozens of public record providers. It is especially valuable because it can be searched to locate native public record suppliers in almost any U.S. state.
Rehabilitation
RECAL http://www.recal.org.uk/	Located in Glasgow Scotland, RECAL has a very narrow scope of service but is unmatched in providing information and literature of prosthetics, orthotics and related rehabilitation engineering.
Specifications and Standards
Document Center http://www.doccenter.com/ home.html	Specifications and standards can be found at the Document Center.
Textiles
Roger Milliken Textile Library http://www.itt.edu/lib_2.htm #Document_Delivery	The Roger Milliken Textile Library will provide documents or literature searches on the topic of textiles.
Theology
Theological Research Exchange Network http://www.tren.com/default.cfm	The Theological Research Exchange Network holds over 7,800 theological thesis and dissertations and conferences. Titles may be ordered online. (Visa and Mastercard are accepted).
Transportation
Mouzon Information Services http://www.mlc.lib.mi.us/~mouzonm/	Mouzon Information Services has been providing information services in transportation and safety for over 15 years.
Urban and Rural Development
Planning Exchange http://www.planex.co.uk/index.htm	The Planning Exchange is a European site that offers a comprehensive information service covering all aspects of urban and rural development.

In our decade of searching, these have been some of our best finds. If you know of a narrow subject document supplier or another valuable URL related to document delivery, please email me at [email protected] so I can share it in the next installment.