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If Gene Wilson and Dana Eddy had to come up with a motto for the library maintenance service they own and run, it might well be this: Timing is everything.

In 2004, when the two women started their business, all they were looking for was a legal industry niche they could settle into without facing a lot of competition. The economy, however, had other plans for the business partners.

Driven by the recent recession, law firms are operating leaner than ever, and every member of a firm’s staff is necessary to do work that can be billed to clients. That means maintenance work 鈥� such as updating reference books in law libraries 鈥� often gets put on the back burner.

The trend has created a golden opportunity for Wilson and Eddy and their company Accurate Update Service. Working on a month-to-month contract basis, the business partners travel to local law firms in the Portland-metro area providing whatever maintenance services the firms require related to their legal libraries. On one day, Wilson and Eddy might be adding updated pages to a stack of reference books. On another day, they might be asked to help a law firm transition from traditional books to an online system.

The business is going so well that Wilson and Eddy are starting to look for firms and companies in other industries 鈥� such as engineering and certified public accounting 鈥� that might need similar services.

Marketing matters

These days, Wilson and Eddy can rely on word of mouth and a solid reputation they’ve built over nearly a decade to help bring in new clients. In the early days, however, they had little more than a good teacher and a lot of energy.

Eddy’s mother started a similar business about 25 years ago in Los Angeles. That’s where Eddy first learned the ropes of maintaining libraries for law firms. She eventually moved in another career direction, working 17 years as a social worker and raising a family.

Eddy occasionally talked to Wilson 鈥� the two women are neighbors 鈥� about her mother’s business in Southern California. One day Wilson approached Eddy after finally meeting her mother and pitched the idea of starting what would become Accurate Update Service.

“Gene came to me 鈥� and said, ‘Why don’t we do that?’ ” Eddy said.

Just as she had taught her daughter about the fine art of maintaining a law library, Eddy’s mother helped Wilson learn the details of updating law libraries.

But even with their solid training, Wilson and Eddy knew there were no certifications, credentials or program degrees they could shop around to potential clients. Instead, they decided to make a big push when it came to marketing their services.

They went through phone books to find law firms in the Portland-metro area. They embarked on a direct mail campaign. They made cold calls.

“We pretty much did all of the marketing you can do,” Eddy said.

Their efforts paid off. Two months after they decided to go into business, the partners had their first client.

Looking forward

For Miller Nash law librarian Doug Hull, the service that Eddy and Wilson provide helps make his workday easier. Like many law firms across the country, Miller Nash has fewer law librarians now than when Hull started working there 14 years ago. And Hull has seen his role in the firm shift in recent years.

“(Law librarians are) being asked to do more research, but filing still needs to be done,” Hall said. “Research is time that can be billed; the filing is just maintenance,” Hull said. “But filing still needs to be done. (The amount) is down from what it was 10 years ago, but it still takes a substantial amount of time.”

Wilson and Eddy think print books will continue to hang around law firms for years to come, but the business partners are looking at ways to tap into the fact that a growing number of firms like Miller Nash are finding that moving to online reference materials can save time and space.

“We see possibilities for expanding into training and troubleshooting (related to online systems),” Eddy said.

The business partners aren’t limiting their expansion efforts to the local legal field, however. Wilson and Eddy say they’re always looking for ways to expand beyond the legal industry to new markets. One of those markets might well end up being engineering and architecture firms.

“Any company that uses standardized books that need to be updated regularly, we’re perfect for that,” Wilson said.