Three Year Update

It's been a looooong time! Between 2015 and 2018 I worked for a tourism company and as the increasing responsibilities grew along with my now 9 year old son, I found myself with less time to reflect on the information seeking and organizing aspects of my work and projects. Working for that company gave me loads of opportunities to learn about myself as well as learn how business information is/can be organized. We used a variety of applications for a variety of business operations, such as:

Reservations:
We used Google Calendar to organize the reservations and see what availability we had to meet additional reservation requests. In my 2.5ish years with the company (and the company was 9 years old when I joined), this system gave way to an online reservation system created by Peek Pro. (There was another provider that was considered, Fare Harbor, which from my estimation had a really solid database foundation, but the company went with Peek Pro and Peek was very supportive after the category 5 hurricane Maria struck Vieques, so they are good people over there.) Cool things this did was automate email confirmations, create alerts when over booking a specific tour and eventually easing multi tour reservations, making them much faster by capturing the contact and payment information in a cart. Oh, and allowing bookings to be made from home in the comfort of visitors' pajamas while we were asleep.

Tour Assignments (for the Guides):
At the beginning, this was a spreadsheet and a calendar and a phone. When the company moved to Peek Pro, this quickly morphed to automated text message alerts or app notifications as the manager (me) only had to click a button and the software took care of the rest. For guides with data/wifi capable phones, they only had to open their notifications to receive a link with all the information needed for their assignments.

Equipment and Fleet Inventory and Assignments
For our bicycles, snorkel gear, kayaks, paddleboards, lifevests, scuba gear, paddles, ratchet sets, etc, etc, we used Google Sheets on Google Drive for the longest time. The company was in the process of converting to an online rental procedure after Hurricane Maria, but due to a misunderstanding of how the database worked, it never got off the ground. And then the company sold the business to new owners, so we didn't really get to test the feature prior to the sale. I can say that using Google Sheets served our purpose..., but only if all the staff who processed reservations and checkouts actually used the sheet, so it was good about 75% of the time.

For our vehicles, we used Google Calendar to inform staff of which vehicle was in maintenance, which vehicle was being used by which activity, etc, until Peek came along and allowed us to include vehicle assignments to the tours. Another useful thing about Peek was that it pushed certain information to our Google Calendar, so for staff who were used to reading the Calendar, they could still get a lot of info there.

There was the issue of logging vehicle use and maintenance. We used paper forms. Only by "used," I mean to say that we didn't. I was in the process of converting forms to a Google Doc form that could be filled out in the cell phone, but then Maria struck and we didn't have cellular data for 4 months... or internet for 6ish months.

Communications
As with any company (and we, at our peek, were four locations with forty staff), communication was essential and one of our hardest things to do. We used Skype to send messages to retail staff across the stores. We used email for the managers. We used cell phone calls and texting for guides. Towards the end, I was holding monthly staff meetings, but really, we only had one yearly meeting with the owners, though the managers got together about every 2 months.

Time Sheets
I hate paper time sheets! You are gonna write that down, so that I can then collect it (if I can find it and if you actually submitted it) and enter the data into a spreadsheet, so then I can submit that and the man who holds the purse strings can enter it into another spreadsheet? Yeeeeeaaaaaaah... no thanks. I would have liked to have seen this feature become automated.

Retail
We used Microsoft Dynamics POS, which was installed to one computer at our main store. Being limited to one POS is a horrible way to process transactions. One computer for entering incoming inventory. One computer for printing labels. One computer for ringing up customers. One computer for pulling inventory reports. One computer for tracking staff purchases on accounts. You get the picture.

We were in the process of thinking about converting to another product that was cloud based and allowed a staff member to do inventory on the floor with a hand held device while another staff member was ringing a customer up at the register (and there was an optional register that could move around with a staff member). This service is popping up all over Vieques and I can't for the life of me remember what it is called.

Social Media / Marketing
Facebook, Instagram, Follow Up Emails, TripAdvisor, a website - all the time. YouTube, Yelp - some of the time. Google Ads, Facebook ads - all the time. Print ads in the local Vieques magazine, an airline magazine, the PR Tourism Company magazine, and a monthly newspaper for boaters- all the time.

Data Backup
A structured process for backing up data? Not that I could see.

Other Systems
There were business processes that were above my pay grade.

And that's what I remember at the moment. I hope to use this knowledge for good in the future. I certainly have a respect for organizational processes and flow of information in a large organization, and for the need for them.

Training: EBSCOHost Small Business Reference Center

Just some notes from the webinar: Small Business Reference Center

This database is a unique collection with some overlap of materials collected with other EBSCO databases, but by no means is this database a sub-db of say, Business Source Complete. The trainer pointed out that BSC didn't have the full text of the NOLO small business guides that SBRC contains. Aside from collecting 400 FT periodicals and 500 FT reference books, it also has a graphical interface which makes browsing a bit easier for a person who is not used to using a database.

There are Harvard business videos, which are a great resource. I saw that there was a note on the videos that said that there were supplemental lecture materials available for purchase. I asked whether EBSCO collects those materials or not. The trainer said she would look into it.

The start up kit is actually one of the NOLO books with the chapters broken down. There is also a state-by-state guide to what you need, but the guide is not as thorough as I would have liked. Of course that would have been hard to do b/c regulations are always changing/evolving, so the state-by-state guide tells you of the sorts of things you should look out for, such as licensing in your area of business.

Remember you can do a publication search. There's the usual EBSCO functionality such as email an article, permalinks. Remember patrons need to authenticate first, then they'll be able to access the material.

I did a trial search for "florist" b/c I had a patron who was interested in opening a florist shop. There were a lot of industry specific articles that talked about the status of earnings, where to get floral supplies, etc. Very handy. So long story short, be sure to recommend this resource when someone comes in looking to research starting their own business.

InfoPeople Core2: Business Resources: Starting a Business

How many times did I have people come into the library interested in resources for starting a small business!? Okay, maybe only 4-5 from the first of the year to the present, but they ranged from florist, to auto shop, to spa services. As in the notes, interests ranged from financing, to internet resources, business plans to just getting started. Before I take any more notes from the lesson, I do want to point out that my library system has a great online resources titled The Business Plans Handbook volumes 1-26 from the Gale Virtual Reference Library. They are digital files dating from the 1990s, so while the projections on the numbers of the older plans are over 20 years old, the types of things to plan for may still apply or will at least get a beginner going.

The notes make certain that you understand two "important" defintions:

1. definition of Small Business- set by the Small Business Administration, usually based on numbers and annual earnings and will vary by industry.
2. US Small Business Administration- usually your first stop when you really want to be confused. The notes are much more positive in their review of what the SBA can do for you, but when I was going about creating a business plan a million years ago, all I was was confused by the website and by the local office. It looks as though they've streamlined the page since then to revolve around what a person wants to achieve (write a plan, qualify for contracts, etc) rather than a list of departments and publications. The SBA has various publications, so if you already know what you are looking for, you can just submit a title in the search box. Otherwise, there is the site map. Other links from the SBA portal:
• Business Law and Regulations
• Office of Women's Business Ownership
• Regional Small Business Development Centers
• also look for links for veterans and faith-based entrepreneuers 

Other titles:

• Small Business Sourcebook: the entrepreneur's resource- I tried searching Gale/Cengage for this title, but I didn't retrieve any results. According to WorldCat the most recent print edition is the 29th published in 2012.$600+ on Amazon. I gotta get my hands on this thing to see what it is about!
• Legal Guide for Starting and Running a Small Business, Fred S. Steingold. Nolo Press (latest edition, 2013 346.7306 LEG 2013)
• Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, Steven D. Strauss (John Wiley & Sons, 2008) 658.022 STR 2012 We also have this as a downloadable audio.
• The For Dummies series (Wiley) - Includes a number of small-business-related titles. 

Other Online Sites to consider:

• Small Business Advisor - isquare.com
• SCORE: Counselors to America's Small Business - score.org
• Entrepreneur.com
• Nolo.com Self Help Law Center - nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia - I quickly looked at this site and for a dotcom, I'm happy to see it is a self-contained that doesn't have external commercial ads. I know that Nolo has their own line of books, and so there probably isn't a ton of info under the individual articles, but it will answer preliminary questions and then point you to the correct resources. And this site was extremely easy to browse or search.

Franchises- try these resources to learn more about them before getting into one.

• Bond's Franchise Guide - the 2013 is out, but we only have the 2009: 381.13 BON 2009 
• Franchising for Dummies - 658.8708 SEI 2006 
• Association of Small Business Development Centers:  asbdc-us.org - Lots of information geared toward real small business entrepreneurs, such as how to web productivity tools and using interns legally. But this site works more like a blog than a systematic collection of browse-able information, which if you have a specific thing you want, would be difficult to find, especially as the site does not have a search bar.
• Franchise Solutions - franchisesolutions.com -site allows for searching by amount of investment, industry (retail, food, lodging, education, real estate, etc) and location. There are also lists for the most popular searches and the top franchises, dependent on industry.

Financing the great plunge into small business ownership:

• SBA's Financing page: sba.gov/financing - the page for the SBA loan program, including the microloan, real estate and equipment, and general small business. Tips on how to prepare for the loan application process and looking at venture capital are among the articles written.
• Financing Guide Table of Contents: morebusiness.com/finance 

Assignment: a quick look at the levels of information the .gov, .org, .com web resources provide. I think based on their goals for displaying the info, the three that I found were equally informative. I know that most people are looking for free money when that inquire at the desk about funding for small businesses, so the SBA finance site is confusing. It should state clearly whether the government provides free money assistance. However, it does have plenty of info on getting a loan. I liked the interface for the Association of Small Business DC site. It is good for serendipitous discovery.

Infopeople Core2: Business Resources: Company and Industry Information Notes

I like that this section opens with a few business questions to give an idea why patrons would want information on businesses and the sorts of details, from company info in preparation for a job interview, to contact info on manufactured products to business research in comparing revenue for businesses in a given market.

Important: Try to learn how the user intends to use the information, as that will inevitably affect which resources you consult to answer the question.

Online resources:

• Of course, the company website. Be aware that information is "what the company wants you to know." Clever to remember that the website tells a crafted tale, so if you're looking to dig up dirt, the company website may not be the place to start. If you can't find a company on a search engine or web directory like Anywho.com, you may try searching for the local...
• ...Chamber of Commerce (ex. the East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce would be a good place to try to track down info of small businesses in that specific area of Sacramento).
• If a patron wants a toll free number, try searching Go Toll Free: http://inter800.com/ (the search domain name that came up in the status bar was yakfree.com!). It is as simple as inputting a "product, service or company name," selecting the state (optional) and indicating the maximum number of results you want. The results will list the full name of matching companies, the state the listed 800 number call and the categories that the particular company covers.

Keyword searches in a catalog should include the terms like:

• corporations
• industry
• sub-keywords to narrow the search such as:
• geographic location: ex. california
• size of business: ex. small
• special characteristics: ex. minority

Then try looking at the subject headings of titles that best match the search for links to other titles in the same subject heading. I also like to go from the OPAC interface to the staff interface in order to browse the subject headings (I have yet to see an OPAC provide a list of subject headings to browse.)(I do this anyway, but thought I'd add it as a reminder.)

Directory resources for searching for companies:
Domestic:

• Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives (332.67 STA 2012 V 1 & 2) V1: Alphabetical listing of over 50K corporations along with contact info, officers names, stock exchange info, description of products/services, NAICS codes, annual sales where available. V2: Alphabetical list of over 77K directors/executives along with business affiliation, titles, addresses, brief biography where available; also Indices: NAICS index, list of corporations by NAICS code, by geography, and Obit section.
• Hoover's Online (hoovers.com) 
• ThomasNet (thomasnet.com)
• Forbes Magazine Lists (forbes.com/lists)
• Inc Magazine's 500 (inc.com/inc500)

International:

• Hoover's Handbook of World Business (338.7 HOO 2013) Profiles of 300 of the "largest, most influential, and [in their opinion] most interesting companies[, private, public and governmental,] based outside the" U.S. Profiles are listed alphabetically and include an overview, history, execs, locations, products, competitors, historical financials. Indices (Companies by Industry, by Headquarters, and list of Execs) and lists of lists (ex. 100 largest by sales) included. This would be a great resource for when someone asks, "what are the top most profitable companies outside of the US."
• Kompass (kompass.com)
• Europages: The European Business Directory (www.europages.com)
• World Business Directory (worldbusinessdir.com)  *community contributed content

Annual Reports and Other Financial Information
Public companies are required to publish an annual report. It may be found on their website, or filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s EDGAR (sec.gov/edgar.shtml) database. If this database is too difficult to use (and it's a government one, so why should it be easy?), try Annualreports.com where you can search by "name, ticker symbol, stock exchange, industry or sector." Private companies are not required to publish an AR (though they may- look to company's website or PR office.)

Reputation of a Company
Need to track down a company that closed (to find old manuals or see if warranty is still good) or research it before you engage in a transaction? You can try reading about it in the news (Lexis Nexis has a good companies-appearing-in-newspapers database.) or contact the Better Business Bureau (locate your local one by searching http://www.bbb.org/us/find-a-bbb) or local Chamber of Commerce, but be aware that they only tell you if there are any outstanding disputes ("unsettled"). They don't certify as "in good standing" any business.

To track down the address of the owners of a business that has closed, contact the Secretary of State for the state in which the headquarters of a business was located.

• (The Texas Secretary of State has an online form to search businesses by "entity name, name of person listed as a registered agent, officer or director of a corporation." It requires requesting an account ahead of time and paying for all searches. 
• State of California has a free online business search, but only for Corporations or LLCs. Search by sole proprietors is not available.)

Referring Company Questions
Essentially a best practice list of pointers, such as being as specific as possible and using statements like "net and gross sales for the past two fiscal years," instead of "financial information" when referring questions to subject specialist.

Industry Information
When researching an industry (as compared to a specific business), knowing the NAICS codes and/or the SIC codes is the way to go. Use US Census Bureau's NAICS page (www.census.gov/epcd/naics02) to convert between the two. Other research tools:

• Current Industrial Reports from the U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov/manufacturing/cir/index.html)  
• International Trade Administration (ita.doc.gov)
• Industry Association webpages
• Subscription Databases: ex. LexisNexis database allows you to search for info by NAICS code. 

Assignment: Compare the reports as found on Edgar and Annualreports.com.
Annual Reports was way easier, however they only had the 2011 report in your choice of PDF or HTML. The EDGAR interface was harder to interpret, (there were instructions that I decided not to read), however they had 2012 and 2013 filings, including quarterly reports and so much more! 

Infopeople Core2: Business Resources: Overview Notes

I signed up for Infopeople's online, self-paced tutorial Core2: Subject Area Mini Courses. It covers as many or as few of the following choices:

• Business resources and job hunting
• Consumer information
• Legal resources
• Medical information
• Genealogy
• Poems, songs, and quotations
• Homework help

I didn't take these classes in school because I was focused on doing digital library related stuff. I'm also very familiar with some of the resources, such as the homework help, having recommended them to patrons when I worked at Sacramento Public. However, I expect to still learn lots that I haven't been exposed to through the course of work, so I'm just going to work my way down the list, spending about 1-2 weeks per subject.

Notes:
Business Resources and Job Hunting
Overview Section

• If people ask for you to define a business term you could use a print resources like The American Heritage Dictionary of Business Terms or an online one such as Investopedia.com: Financial Dictionary
• These two print resources look as though they would be very useful:
• Strauss's Handbook of Business Information: a guide for librarians, students, and researchers, by Rita W. Moss (Libraries Unlimited, 2004)- a 400 page guide, sort of like the directory of public information. It tells you what sort of resources to consult for to locate different types of business info, such as company information and statistics. There is a 2013, 3rd edition.
• Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (20th edition, Gale, 2009), (print and Gale Cengage ebook) From the WorldCat abstract: "comprehensive listing of business related finding aids including abstracting and indexing services, almanacs and yearbooks, bibliographies, biographical sources, directories, encyclopedias and dictionaries, financial ratios, handbooks and manuals, online databases, periodicals and newsletters, price sources, research centers and institutes, statistical sources trade associations and professional societies, and other related sources of information on each topic."
•   These two online resources were part of the "Time to Explore" section:
• The Library of Congress' Business Reference section (lcweb.loc.gov/rr/business). Like, hello, this is the LOC! I'm amazed that they provide business reference service to the general public, but the do. From the "about" page, "...business reference librarians thoroughly familiar with the indexes, online catalogs, computerized databases, CD-ROMs, and reference sources available in the Division, other locations in the Library of Congress, the Washington area, and indeed, throughout the world, are ready to assist readers with their inquiries and searches." It's interesting to me that the FAQs they have are not so exotic. People consult the LOC Biz Ref Division to learn how to find old stock certificate values, acquire sample business plans, SIC (and NAICS) Codes (more about that later), performance of companies and info on starting a business. This FAQ page provides both online and print recommendations pointing the user in a direction to begin their research. Other links bring the visitor to pages that describe the Biz Division collection. Bibliographies and Guides (if someone were to ask me to come up with Biz Bib List, I'd stop here first), a subject list to internet resources, links to historical information and current information. My mind is boggling as to what subjects and resources these librarians are required to know how to find.
• Internet Public Library's business page (ipl.org/IPLBrowse/GetSubject?vid=13&tid=6607&parent=0) As of this blog post, clicking on this link will take you to a list of over 500 online resources, sorted in no particular order (possibly in entry order?). Since nobody wants to browse through a list of 500+ links, in the left hand column there are sub-headings such as "Labor and Workplace" and "History of Business and Economics."
• The two terms on the overview page that I have difficultly remembering or even thinking about are the SIC Codes (Standard Industrial Classification) and NAICS Codes (North American Industry Classification System). Businesses are given these codes to classify the industry in which they work so that businesses in the same classification may be compared to each other. I remember using this we I was searching Reference USA to locate the businesses around my zip code.
• The overview sections lists these databases as some of the more popular:
• Business & Company Resource Center (Cengage/Infotrac)(being transformed into Business Insights: Essentials)- more than journal articles- for analyzing businesses and data research
• D&B Million Dollar Database- more than journal articles- for analyzing businesses and data research
• EBSCOHost Business Source (Complete, Primier, Elite and Corporate, depending on the institution subscribing and their level of needs)- Indexing of Biz Journal Articles
• Mergent Online (formerly Moody's)- company data, insider reports, fact sheets, annual reports, bond info, corporate family trees, etc.
• Poor's NetAdvantage- from the site, "source of business and investment information, offering on-line access to S&P's independent research, data and commentary on stocks, bonds, funds, and industries."
• Reference USA- business and residential directories with corporate family trees. "create marketing plans, conduct competitive analysis, etc.
• Finally, there's IP's Resources Listing of Business Resources and Job Hunting