InfoPeople Core2: Business Resources: Investment and Finance

I took an online class about stocks and bonds, so I'm pretty familiar with the main resources, although the reminders are always helpful. The notes start of with definitions of important finance terms, quoting Barron's Finance & Investment Handbook. My class listed Investopedia.com as the free online source for definitions. The difference being that Barron's is a known creator of finance information. Investopedia's articles are written by a community. Granted that community of writers has to show their expertise, including submitting a resume, but it's not their primary job. However, Investopedia does have other features, such as the Simulator, which allows you to play with pretend money before you invest your real money.

Things I apparently should at least know:

• American Stock Exchange AMEX was acquired by NYSE Euronext in 2008 and had its name changed to NYSE MKT LLC. According to the notes, this exchange is the primary place for US company trades, bonds, etc. The website however says the exchange is "the leading capital market for small cap companies within NYSE Euronext." I have no idea what that means.
• Mutual Fund
• NASDAQ Stock Market - according to Wikipedia, the name originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations," which would make sense as this is an electronic exchange.
• Ticker symbol - the code given to identify a stock. 

For a list of exchanges, see the Rutgers University Libraries' Stock and Commodity Exchanges page. This is a super sophisticated site! Not just a list of American exchanges, it has listings for countries around the world. InfoPeople notes that their general business page (http://libguides.rutgers.edu/business) is also valuable. I would say their entire Lib Guides section is worth checking out. They have them sorted alphabetically and by Discipline.

If you cannot find a stock in the major exchanges, it could be that the stock is in a regional exchange (
See the lib guide referenced above.), or on a "pink sheet" exchange.

One of the questions a public librarian may get regarding stock is a historic price.  Resources to find historic prices include:

• Historical Stock Quotes and Charts - according to the website you have the "ability to retrieve exact and split-adjusted stock price information and split adjustment factors as far back as January 1985."
• Search old newspapers on microfilm (also check to see if the papers have their own archive or check the database to see if there is an indexed listing)
• Try Standard and Poor's printed Daily Stock Price Record for the AMEX, NYSE and NASDAQ.

Information to be sure to include when quoting stock prices is company name, exchange where traded, common or preferred status, and date. Give the High, Low and Close figures or the Bid/Asked price for over the counter stock.

Of course, don't forget the databases when doing research. See what your local library offers, such as ValueLine, or Morningstar. For beginning investors (think about the one kid who kept wanting stock info) try steering them toward Investment FAQ and Yahoo!Finance pages.

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.

Learning the RC: More Reader's Advisory Resources

The Reader's Adviser (028 REA 14th ED. v.1-5) covers:

• v1: Best in Reference Works, British Literature & American Literature (different time periods, including up to the mid-20th century genre writers)
• v2: Best in World Literature (General Reference, Hebrew, Yiddish, Middle Eastern, African, Indian Subcontinent, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian (ex. Burma, Lao), Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Netherlandic, Scandinavian, Russian, East European (ex. Czech, Estonian, Polish), Latin American, Canadian, Caribbean, Australian, New Zealand)
• v3: Best in Social Sciences, History and the Arts (Gen Ref, Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Education, History: World, Ancient, European, African, Middle Eastern, Asia and Pacific, US, Canadian, Latin American; Music & Dance, Art & Architecture, Mass Media (Journalism, Radio & TV, Film,), Folklore, Humor, Pop Culture, Travel & Exploration.
• v4: Best in Philosophy and Religion (Gen Ref, Philosophy: Greek/Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern Western, 20th Cen, Asian & African, Contemporary Issues; Religion: Ancient, Eastern, Islam, Judaism, Early & Medieval Christian, Late Christianity (1500-present), Bible & Related, Minority Religions, Contemporary Issues in Religious Thought
• v5: Best in Science, Technology and Medicine [STM] (History of STM, Philosophy of STM, Ethics in STM, S&T and Society, Special Issues in S&T and Society, Engineering & Tech (Design, Inventors, Patents, Flight, etc), Ag and Food Tech, Energy (aka Fuels), Communications Tech, Medicine & Health (Aging, Dentistry, Gynecology, Radiology, etc), Illness & Disease, Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry, Mathematics, Statistics & Probability, Info Science & Computer Science, Astronomy & Space Science, Earth Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Ecology & Environmental Science
• v6: the Indexes (author, title, subject)

This looks like the sort of reference work you'd consult for when you are exploring a subject area, or taking a survey class, and you need to draw up a list of "canon" books that you might be expected to read in that class. Or if someone were writing a research paper and needed some titles to get them started, this would be a good book to consult for ideas. Probably, we wouldn't have most of the titles for subjects not on the US or Europe (and maybe not many of them either), but we could find things via ILL or send the person with their list of titles on to a research library like an academic or major city library. The emphasis is on the West, especially Europe and I don't know how specialized it would be (such as wanting books about women in a particular topic, like Vietnam, or women Asian artists of the Chang dynasty (I made that up)). Unfortunately, this text is from the early 1990s, so many of the titles are old. A quick check online and on WorldCat shows there are no new print editions.

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We have a huge collection of two volume editions of a series titled Magill's Literary Annual (028.1 MAG YEAR V1,2). I eyed it askance, wondering how this 60 book, gold cover thing could be of use and easily referenced. In a nutshell, 200 books of "interest to general readers, that reflect publishing trends, that add to the careers of authors being taught and researched in literature programs and that will stand the test of time." It's like a yearly, if you can only read 200 books, this is the list!

At first I was very excited. (To be honest, I still am.) A selection of the thousands of books being published and reviewed in BookList and Publisher's Weekly and Book Page and a myriad of other weekly and monthly review columns, a selection of the most literary, thought to stand the test of time. Then I was sad, because by necessity, the list is a year old. Then I returned to suspicious. "Wait a minute! Who is Magill, and why does he get to pick?" And it turns out he's an actual dude who founded Salem Press and, yeah, we just have to take his word for it. But I like the idea of having the selection for when someone comes along and asks if we can recommend anything for their book club. Something literary, but that people will actually want to read. I also like that the description of the book is about four pages long, giving the book club representative (or the librarian) enough information to get a feel for the book. At the back of the 2nd volume of each annual is a subject index and a category index, which allows you to browse for genres and subjects, when you are just open to serendipity. Also, the beginning of each volume has a complete annotated list for quickly browsing (alphabetically) the list of titles for the year. My one beef with this selection is that we are not told how the books are selected in the first place. What is the criteria? Are they only adult books? Are they only books published in the United States? Are there any translated works? With that aside, the collection provides a focused way to browse for something interesting, educating and entertaining to read.

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We randomly have this booklet called Books Change Lives, Quotes to Treasure. I don't like it. There's no index to search for a quote by a particular author, nor is there an index to search for a quote by subject. Sometimes I like serendipity, but it's not even inspired. Bleh. I'm not even going to include the call number.

Two more genre specific advisory guides:

• Strictly Science Fiction: A guide to Reading Interests (028.9 HER). The chapter titles don't tell me much, but the subject index will start you off looking for those titles specifically about dystopian societies. The edition we have is 2002, so of course the Hunger Games, et al aren't in here, but this would be good for back list titles, the oldies, but goodies for when someone has read everything. Lists of types of Awards and books awarded are included in the resources and appendix.
• The Horror Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses (028.9 SPR). It is slim, but very informative on describing the sub-genres to draw out what people are thinking when they say horror. Is horror for the reader vampires? Or is it mad science gone awry? Every good RA book includes the obligatory lists, for which I'm grateful. I only wish there were one for children, too.

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

Volunteering at my son's Montessori School

I'm not a Children's Librarian by training, however, I enjoy reading to my son. I enjoy reading to him using all the voices and inflection I can muster because my dad used to read to me that way when I was a child. (I have loving memories of his re-enactment of the creation story in Geneses, flashing lights and all.) As a reward for getting to school on time, I read to my son in the lobby area on the couches. A 3-5 minute him and me time before starting out day.

I was unaware that the director of the school was listening in. To Captain Underpants and Ook and Gluk: Kung-fu Cavemen from the Future, and any other assortment of books that the school had on display from which my son would select. So imagine my surprise when he asked if I would be willing to talk about being a librarian and read books to the kids and then let slip that he was looking forward to it. What a great compliment! Now what do I do?

The Children's Librarians with whom I work have been very helpful in making suggestions, even encouraging me to take what they have planned for the summer to use. So I'll do a little bit of that, because I am not for re-inventing the wheel. I also found the following resources:

• A Storytime Year: A month-to-month kit for preschool programming by Dailey and illustrated by Wagner.
• Silly Books to Read Aloud by Reid
• The Storytime Sourcebook I & II by Cullum
• The Storyteller's Sourcebook: A Subject, Title and Motif Index to Folklore Collections for Children: 1983-1999 by Read MacDonald and Sturm
• Books Kids Sit Still For (3): A Read Aloud Guide by Freeman (apparently there's a 1 & 2 as well)
• Storytimes for Two Year Olds by Nichols
• A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books

Essentially the structure of a storytime at my institution is :

1. Start with a song (the same one each time) so the kids know it's time to get down to business.
2. Read a book or two along the theme.
3. Have an activity such as a felt board or physical activity that is interactive.
4. Read another book.
5. Have a craft.
6. End with a song (the same one each time).

The school has themes for each of their days. And I plan to use them where appropriate, but I also have many favorite books that I've shared with my son that I think I want to revisit:

• Paper Bag Princess or The Fire Station by Munsch (this man is pure genius and the narrator on TumbleCloud is also genius for getting Munsch's pacing down perfectly).
• Flotsam by Wiesner, David (really any of his "wordless" stories) - great for the Sea theme
• Anansi and the moss-covered rock by Kimmel and illustrated by Stevens (actually I really like this trickster and I may want to do a recurring storytelling of Kimmel's Anansi series)
• The Quiet Place by Stewart, Sarah (themes: culture (shock), language acquisition, private spaces)
• The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle's Wedding by Ada, Alma Flor (I also love her poems, especially the collection Pio Peep! traditional nursery rhymes)
• My Asian favs: The Real Story of Stone Soup by Compestine, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Lobel and Three Samurai Cats by (lo and behold) Kimmel
• Someone Bigger by Emmett, Jonathan

I'm all over the place with these. There are so many elements that I want to choose from, from funny stories to strong (female) characters, to exposing kids to different cultures. I guess really this is just an opportunity to share my favorite books with the kids with whom my son attends school.

And of course, no list would be complete without recommendations from Jennifer:

• Author Mo Willems's stuff in general, but specifically the Piggie and Elephant books and Edwina, the dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct
• I want my hat back by Klassen, J.

TexShare Databases or What We Can Get for Cheap

I'm not quite sure how this works, but in the great state of Texas, the state library has a "cooperative program" that regional library systems, academic libraries, etc can participate in, in order to have access to more resources, such as databases. I have no idea if it is paid for by the state library through state taxes (such as income tax) or paid for by the individual libraries on a subscription basis.

Anyway, it's budget time and there's been a change up in the resources being offered. I'm not going to list here what we had before or what we are keeping, b/c it is outside the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is simply to note that there were some webinars that came out of the new additions. And I attended two this morning. Below are the notes from the sessions.

• Full text PDFs
• 720 videos
• 1500 resources indexed, 
• including books which don't read like ebooks, but you can click through the chapters
• In Advanced search, you can limit by greater than/ less than <> page numbers to find more detailed artilces
• Sharing articles is difficult b/c the user needs to login w/ username & password; so they would need their home organization's proxy link. (Best would be to log into library account first and then try links?)

AND

• This resource is more for the home owner/ weekend warrior and not so much for contractors, etc. They feature things that the average home handy(wo)man should be able to do.
• Be sure to look through the A to Z topics to have an idea of what there is for people to use. Examples are: Treehouse plans, ideas for small spaces, tiling, etc.

I'm glad I took the webinars b/c the trainer pointed some things out that I wouldn't have noticed or possibly bothered to browse. They look like cool resources and definitely as the trainer said, something to look through that is curated and good quality when the library is closed and at 2 in the morning you just got to peel the wallpaper off the bathroom walls.

All Ebsco products have a link to the support, training and promotional materials at the bottom of the page. I got the above images from there.

Tools for Working the Adult Reference/ Reader's Advisory Desk

This past week has been the week of the research paper at the public library. All these middle, high school and college students coming in (the latter I suspect attend the local community colleges, which nonetheless have libraries and better database subscriptions than we do). But I love research! I'm so glad I get to do it with my public library patrons.

Today's college research student wanted authoritative resources on religion in the 1700-early 1800s in the colonial united states. I was looking under religion-United States-18th century as a subject heading. My supervisor spontaneously suggested Daily Life in Colonial America (Lucent library of historical eras) which has a subject heading of United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775. This makes sense as religion was a part of Colonial cultural life whereas "religion- united states - 18th century" may be more about the history and evolution of religion in that era. Not sure what exactly the researcher really wanted, but she seemed to walk away happy.

Her second request was for books about the values and morals of modern families versus traditional families. Well, I started asking for a bit of clarification by what she meant by traditional (nuclear? christian?) and what she meant by modern (same sex parents? divorced parents? blended families?) and she said she hadn't figured it out yet. My supervisor happened to be next to me and he suggested she do a little reading on the broad subject in order to get an idea on how to define her terms and narrow her topic down. She felt overwhelmed, but I explained that it was all part and partial of the whole experience of selecting a topic and writing a paper.

My sup then sneaked up behind me and slid the following two books on my desk for my perusal and professional development:

• 10,000 Ideas for term papers, projects, reports and speeches by Lamm, K. 1998 - This book lists ideas under broad topic areas (ex. Foreign Policy (broad topic), "Compare reconstruction policies of the United States in Japan and in Germany after World War II." (specific topic)) Helpful symbols indicate those topics on which there should be plenty of source material, which will need prior specialized knowledge, which topics will need to be broadened or narrowed, etc. Just ideas are listed here, no other resources. 808.02 LAM
• 100 More Research Topic Guides for Students by McDougald, D. 1999 - This book pairs ideas with extra information, such as a general description, call numbers and subject headings to search for books that will provide source material, as well as suggestions for specific titles, periodicals and indexes to search, internet sites, videos, organizations, etc as well as related topics. (Very awesome and helpful, but only if your topic idea is listed, still, it helps to see how the info may be organized.) Reference 025.524 MCD

Finally, my supervisor placed in my hands the DEWEY Decimal Classification 11th Abridged Edition, which is found on the ready reference shelf. As I didn't take a traditional cataloging class, this is most helpful to just see how the subjects are grouped. I especially like to reference the relative index which lists the broad subjects alphabetically and lists the sub-topics, then shows the dewey numbers, which could be all over the place. The Central branch has the LOC subject headings and I would love to own a copy of that, but it's a multi-volume set and always being updated, so I guess I just wait until I'm rich.