ResourceBlog Article: Resources of the Week: Taking Care of Business

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Thursday, 19th October 2006

Resources of the Week: Taking Care of Business

Resources of the Week: Taking Care of Business
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

Last May, here at ResourceShelf, we joyfully drew to your attention an article that ran in BusinessWeek Magazine: The Library: Next Best Thing to an MBA.

With an estimated 500,000 new small businesses launched annually and an incredibly high failure rate -- 80% within the first year, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA) -- the appetite for affordable tools and information has become enormous. Indeed, there are more than 117,000 libraries across the country, and a growing number of them now provide dedicated sections and resources for helping entrepreneurs.
...
The sheer volume of library resources available is staggering. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that many could rival an MBA program in terms of the tools they offer for instruction and information -- available for little or no cost.

Well, we couldn't have said it better ourselves, and we were thrilled to see such a wonderful testimony about the value of libraries to the business community. The article mentions several public libraries:

Brooklyn Public Library's Business Library, "one of the nation's premier public libraries dedicated exclusively to business, finance and entrepreneurship." ResourceShelf especially likes PowerUP!: Your Business Starts Here, an annual business plan competition sponsored by the library, which "gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to strengthen their business knowledge, learn about business trends and gain insights about starting or growing a business as they are introduced to using the resources at BPL's Business Library."
The San Diego Public Library's Business Resources & Technology Link, "an outreach program to assist small businesses. The program's goal is to provide services that complement those of other agencies serving the small business community." ResourceShelf especially likes the printable research guides (PDFs): Business Reference and Marketing Resources, Job Search Web Sites, Successful Business Plans.
Enoch Pratt Free Library's Business Center. ResourceShelf especially likes Starting Your Small Business Successfully, an online guide which "provides an outline of steps to take and resources important for creating a successful business or new product, or for expanding your existing business."

On a larger scale, we've ferreted out some meta-resources for you, such as:

The Library of Congress's Business Reference Services where, among other things, you'll find a wide variety of Specialized Business Guides.
The Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of the American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), which has assembled a collection of The Best of the Best Business Web Sites.
The Canada-Ontario Business Center's Business Information Services at Ontario’s public libraries page which, in addition to general information about what libraries have to offer, includes a collection of subject guides (in the blue navigation bar on the left side of the page, under "Popular Topics").
The British Library's vast Services for Business site offers a collection of Information Sources for Starting Up in Business. (The Industry Guides are awesome!)
At the National Library of Australia, you'll want to browse the collection of E-Resources for Business & Commerce; E-Resources include "websites, indexes, full-text e-journals and subject guides."

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- Source File (ResourceShelf)
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