Reference Guides

• Business Information Sources  REF/HF/5351/D36/1993.
  Evaluations of business sources by a guru in the field of business librarianship.
• Encyclopedia of Small Business  REF/HD/62.7/H553/2002.  2 volumes.
  Clear, concise overviews of issues facing small business entrepreneurs.
• How to set up your own Small Business.  REF/HD/62.7/F35/2003. 
  Contains a chapter on researching the market that is couched in laymen's terms.
• Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources.  REF/HF/5353/E9/2004. 
  Provides clues for an industry's leading trade periodicals and associations.
• Encyclopedia of Associations.  REF/HS/17/.G332.3/3. 3 volumes. 
  Contains contact information and descriptions for a broad spectrum of organizations.

Defining the Business

• North American Industry Classification System.  REF/HF/1042/N67/2002. 
  Provides a consistent numbering scheme for the dissemination of industry statistics
  for United States, Canada and Mexico.
• North American Industry Classification System
  The U. S. Census Bureau provides useful interactive search boxes for defining a business.

 Approaching the Small Business Plan

• Small Business Sourcebook.  REF/HD/2346/U5/S66/2002.  2 Volumes.
  Details licensing, franchises, computerized databases, statistical sources,
  trade periodicals and many other aspects of 338 specific small businesses.
• The Business Planning Guide.  REF/HD/30.28/B362/2002.  9th edition.
  Guidelines for preparing data that will convince financiers concerning a new
  enterprise's viability.
• Business Plans Handbook.  REF/HD/62.7/B865.  Volume 7. (2001)
  Compilation of actual business plans for a restaurant, real estate company,
  event planning company and more. Try our new e-reference book versions
• Business Plans and Profiles Index.  A guide compiled by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Learning About the Industry Setting

• Portals From the Industry Research Desk. 
  This Internet source offers some central sites for industry information.
• 2002 census. The reports listed on these pages are the first of over 1600 publications from the 2002 Economic Census to be issued during the next 2 years. (See the schedule .)
• 1997 census .  If 2002 economic data has not yet been issued for your industry, consult the web pages for the 1997 census.
• Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys.  REF/Hc/106.6/.S74
• Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios.  REF/HF/5681/.R25/I525
• http://www.ThomasRegister.com  Simply register for free to access the web sites for more than 2.3 million products and suppliers.

Reviewing Marketing Guides

• Editor & Publisher Market Guide. REF/HF/5905/.E38. 
  Provides pithy profiles of newspaper markets.
• SRDS Consumer Magazine Advertising Source. REF/HF/5905/.S725/2001
  This service provides advertising rates, profiles and specifications plus circulation data for publications used by consumers.
• Survey of Buying Power. REF/HF/5437/S96/2004.
  This special annual issue of Sales and Marketing Management provides important data about U.S. regional variations of population, income, retail sales and buying power. Available also from the ABI/Inform database. 

Uncovering the Demographics

• Demographics USA: Zip Edition 2002.  REF/HF/5415.1/D464/2002
  Detailed demographics in an easy to read tabular form. 
  Contains projections, consumer buying power and business characteristics.
• Lifestyle market analyst.  REF/HF/5415.33/U6/L54 2003.
  Interlaced are details for 210 DMAs, 75 lifestyle interests, 42 consumer segments and classifications for consumer magazines and direct mail.
• American Factfinder. 
  A few mouse-clicks brings you detailed demographic facts about towns, cities,
  states or the entire United States. 

Surveying the Literature

• ProQuest databases.
  ABI/INFORM Global and Trade and Industry plus national newspapers, i.e.,
  the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Providence Journal.
• Lexis-Nexis Academic.
  Offers the text of business wires, trade journals and regional newspapers.
  Use the HELP button at the top of the screen to find examples for "Citing References from LexisNexis™ Academic".

Making it Legal

• FirstGov.       
  Official U.S. Internet gateway to all of government.
• Lexis-Nexis Academic  
  Supplies the text of federal and state laws.