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.

ALA Library Code Year Interest Group

The Digital Shift has an article about librarians learning to code to improve their skills to fix interfaces and so forth. The concept it nothing new, but I wanted to throw their list of online tutorials here for future reference:

• Starting Tutorials & Resources
• Bohyun Kim’s Tips for Getting Started
  acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=2460
• Catalogers and Coders catcode.pbworks.com
• Codecademy www.codecademy.com
• Code4Lib Wiki wiki.code4lib.org
• Coding Questions stackoverflow.com
• Java Tutorials and Resources www.greenfoot.org
• Library Code Year Interest Group connect.ala.org/node/167971
• Library-related Questions libraries.stackexchange.com
• Official Python Site python.org
• Official Ruby Site www.ruby-lang.org
• Open Source Library Software foss4lib.org
• Open Source Programming Community github.com
• Subscription-based Training www.lynda.com
• WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM News, tutorials www.w3.org

Training!

I've got my degree, but that doesn't mean I can stop learning. Below are some resources for online (and otherwise) learning.

• INFOPEOPLE! (ok, they don't really all caps their name, but I love this resource) Based in CA, but webinars and online classes are open to anyone and they are affordable. Anyone can register.
• WebJunction. A service by OCLC. Webinars, and self-paced courses. Webinars (archived and upcoming) are free, but the actual courses require sponsorship through a library and they only support certain states. Ask your library system for access.
• ALA's eLearning. These you pay for. Sign up at the ALA Store, which also sells books for professional development.
• And then, of course, there are the various resources offered by the (state) library associations, such as their conferences and continuing education. 
• TxLA Continuing Education Corner- swing toward school libraries, but hey.
• and others- CO State Library's webinars come from WebJunction;
• R-Squared (Risk and Reward) Conference- look out for more like this
• My School and other iSchool continuing education classes/ professional development and certificate courses.
• Cool Professional Journals such as Reference & User Services Quarterly and Library Technology Reports.