This guide introduces you to the major sources in Memorial Library on business and related topics such as investments, companies, markets, business and society, banking, finance, labor, and employment are not treated in depth. The main focus here is on current sources of statistics and other data that provide the basis of much business and investment decision-making and on sources that provide addresses and information on companies and business people.

GUIDES TO THE LITERATURE

Business Information Sources. Lorna Daniells. 1993 (Ref. HF5351.D16. 1993)

Provides good coverage of information sources on business statistics, economic trends, industries, companies, investments, management, public and nonprofit organizations, finance and banking, human resources, insurance, marketing, etc.

DICTIONARIES

Business Buzzwords: the Tough New Jargon of Modern Business. Michael Johnson. (Ref. HF1001.J64 1990)

Provides definitions of business buzzwords and jargon.

Dictionary of Business and Management.Jerry M. Rosenberg. (Ref HF1001.R79 1993)

Includes over 7,500 entries for commonly used terms in accounting, advertising, banking, economics, business law, finance, labor relations, importing-exporting, public policy, marketing, securities, and other business subject areas.

The Random House Handbook of Business Terms. Jay N. Nisberg. (Ref. HF1001.N55 1988)

Provides definitions of commonly used business terms.

WORLD WIDE WEB

The Library has many business resources available on its web page. The URL is http://library.cortland.edu/subject/business_www.html

Links include:

Bizlink: Your On-Line Business Resource

A selective list for locating quality business, investment, and career information as well as listings of print resources on company and industry research, international business, marketing and demographics, taxes, investments and finance, business forms, patents and trade-marks.

Business and Economy Resources -- section on YAHOO.

Business and Finance Links -- links to business periodicals, company, financial and stock data selected by Digital Librarian.

Time-Warner's Business and Money -- section includes business news and links to resources.

The Economist

Federal Reserve Board

FinWeb -- financial and economics resources on the Internet.

Fortune Magazine -- business news and special reports including Fortune 500 listings.

Hoover's Online -- company profiles and other information.

Securities and Exchange Commission 's EDGAR database - Stock quotes delayed by 15 minutes. Must input ticker symbol.

Wall Street Net -- an excellent supplement to SEC Edgar which provides prospectus and other information on new companies.

Federal Documents Relating to Business: There are many business-related government documents avail-able from the library’s web page link to GPO Access (http://access.gpo/su_docs/db2.html ). Documents include Economic Indicators published monthly by the Council of Economic Advisors and the U.S. Budget and related documents including the Economic Report of the President. To get to GPO Access from the library’s web page click under Reference, Research Help, Government, and Federal Documents.

LIBRARY CATALOG

Books dealing with business and related topics can be found in the library’s online catalog. Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (red books found on top of the Reference Desk Shelf) to find appropriate subject headings such as:

• Business Businesspeople Corporations Securities
• Business Enterprises Business Law Financial Statements Stock Companies

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

Periodical literature, found by using abstracts, indexes and online databases linked to Memorial Library's web page provides current information on a topic. The following sources, found under Databases on the Library web page, provide citations to articles in newspapers, journals and magazines in business related subjects.

Business Dateline (Library web page). 1985-present.

Provides business information from newspapers, business magazines, and wire services in the U.S. and Canada.

Business and Industry (Library web page). 1994-present.

Provides summaries of the latest news on industry, business and companies.

Business and Management Practices (Library web page). 1995-present.

Provides information on the practical aspects of business management. Full-text for many articles is available.

EconLit (Library web page). 1969-present.

Provides article abstracts from over 400 economics journals. Also includes indexing and abstracts of books and subject indexing of dissertation titles.

Journal of Economic Literature 1969-March 2000. (Abstr/Indexes HB 1 J68)

Reviews and provides abstracts and indexing for economic journals from 1969 through March 2000. Starting in March 2000 coverage switches to electronic format available at: http://www.e-jel.org

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (Library web page).

Provides information on companies, government and business, government and politics, accounting, and country/state facts and statistics. Has full-text articles of some accounting journals, and information on trade shows.

New York Times Index 1851-present. (Abstr/Indexes AI21.N45)

This index briefly summarizes the articles, which appear in The New York Times each year, many of which will have a bearing on business activities. Full-text available for articles less than 90 days old.

Newspaper Abstracts. (Library web page). 1989-present.

Indexes 26 national and regional newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post.

PAIS International (Library web page). 1972-present.

Indexes journals, government documents, and books in the areas of government, international relations, social sciences, demography, law, political science, and public administration.

Social Science Abstracts. (Library web page) .1983-present.

Indexes international, English-language periodicals in sociology, economics, political science, and law.

Wilson Business Abstracts (Library web page). June 1990-present.

Indexes and abstracts of over 345 major English language business magazines. Topics including accounting, personnel, and small business

PERIODICALS

Memorial Library has the following periodicals related to business. Please consult the Periodicals List on our Home Page to determine which volumes we have. Since we have many more titles, refer to our list of business journals listed on our Home Page under "Academic Subjects" in the "Reference" section.

• Acquisitions & Mergers
• Advertising Age
• Black Enterprise
• Business America
• Business Economics
• Business Week
• Forbes
• Fortune
• Harvard Business Review
• Journal of Business Strategy
• Wall Street Journal

Note the special issues for the following periodicals:

• Advertising Age. 1981-present. (also available at http://adeage.com )
  • January - Agency of the Year
  • February - Media Agency of the Year
  • March - Magazine of the Year
  • June - Ad Age 3000; The Marketing 100
  • August - 100 Leading Media Companies
  • September - 100 Leading National Advertisers
  • October - The 50 Most Powerful People in Marketing
  • December - Marketer of the Year; Yearly Ad Review
• Business Week. 1930-present. (also available at http://businessweek.com) Need user ID, password)
  • January - The Top 25 Executives of the Year
  • March - The Best Performers: The Top Companies of the S&P 500
  • May - Guide to Online Investing
  • June - The Info Tech 100: The World's Best Performers
  • December - Where to Invest
• Forbes. 1981-present. (also available at http://www.forbes.com )
  • January - Company of the Year
  • February - Mutual Fund Ratings and Best Buys
  • April - The Forbes 500s
  • July - The International 500
  • August - Bull and Bear Ratings - Mutual Funds
  • November - The 200 Best Small Companies
• Fortune. 1941-48; 1953-present. (also available at http://www.fortune.com and from Business Links page)
• January - The 100 Best Companies to Work For
• March - America's Most Admired Companies
• April - Fortune 500 Annual List
• September - Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies
• December - Investor's Guide

COMPANIES

Memorial Library has a few annual reports published by corporations. It is a good idea to write a company for a copy of its annual report if you are seeking an in-depth view of its operations. Remember that only public companies are required to make their financial records public. Information about companies is also available from the Library’s web page. To get to the "Companies" section of our web pages, click under
"Electronic Reference Resources", "Directories, and then "Companies."
Links include:

• AnyWho: Business Search -- Also has a Toll Free Directory
• BigBook --Addresses, phone, categories, and maps to show location of business
• Companies Online -- Information on over 900,000 public and private companies.
• Europages European Business Directory -- Information about 500,000 companies in 30 countries
• GTE Corp.'s SuperPages Interactive Services -- includes both yellow pages and Web sites searchable by company or category
  
• NYNEX Big Yellow Pages -- Organized by state and business category
• Monster Company Information
• SwitchBoard - For people or businesses
• Thomas Register of Manufacturers -- Free, but you must register In addition, the sources listed below under Directories will help you find fundamental information such as ownership, addresses, products, executive officers, brief company histories, description of business and property, and financial statements about specific companies.

DIRECTORIES

• Directory of Corporate Affiliations (5 volumes) (Ref HG4057.A219 1998) Lists over 40,000 U.S. companies with revenues in excess of $10 million and international companies with revenues in excess of $50 million. Company name, address, telephone number, assets, liabilities, sales, net worth, SIC code, names of executives, and subsidiaries are provided for each entry. Directory is arranged alphabetically and includes geographical and SIC Code indexes. Provides company name changes, acquisitions, and mergers information.
  • Volumes 1-2 Master Index
  • Volume 3 - U.S. Public Companies
  • Volume 4 - U.S. Private Companies
  • Volume 5 - International Public and Private Companies
• Information from the Hoover’s sources listed below is also available from the library’s web page under Business Links and at http://www.hoovers.com.
• Hoover's Handbook of American Business 1999: Profiles of Major U.S. Companies( 2 volumes) (Ref. HG4057.A29 1999). Profiles 750 largest U.S. companies with annual sales in excess of $200 billion. Information includes overview of company, chief officers, products, key competitors, financial data, etc.
• Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies 1999: Profiles of America's Most Exciting Growth Companies. (Ref. HG4057.A28618 1999) Profiles 300 emerging high growth companies with annual revenues between $20 million and $1 billion. Information includes overview of company, chief officers, products, key competitors, financial data, etc.
• Hoover's Guide to the Top New York Companies. (Ref. HG4057.N7.H66 1996) Provides profiles of New York based companies with revenues over $200 million and all private companies with revenues under $200 million. Also provides information on partnerships, nonprofit organizations, and government-owned agencies. Information includes annual sales, stock prices, key competitors, etc.
• Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies 1999: Profiles of Major U.S. Private Enterprises. (Ref. HG4057.A28616 1999). Provides information on 800 of the largest, private companies mostly with revenues in excess of $600 million. Profiles are provided for 250 companies. Information includes overview of company, chief officers, products, key competitors, financial data, etc.
• Hoover's Handbook of World Business 1999: Profiles of Major Global Companies. (Ref. HG4009.H66 1999). Profiles 300 publicly traded, global companies. Information includes overview f company, chief officers, products, key competitors, financial data, etc.
• National Directory of Corporate Public Affairs (Ref HD59.N24 1999) Provides information on the political and social activities of 1,500 companies and their officers and employees. Includes information on political action committees, contributions to candidates, public affairs staff, corporate philanthropy, etc. Four indexes include Companies, People, Geographic and Industry.
• New York Manufacturers Directory (Ref HF5065.N7.N48 1999) Provides basic information on New York companies. Indexed by geographic region, SIC Code, company name, and product.
• Thomas' Register of American Manufacturers and Thomas' Register Catalog File (Ref. T12.T6) 1996. (Also available at http://www.thomasregister.com) Provides comprehensive listing of American manufacturing firms and their products (not including food).
  • Part 1: Products and Services: alphabetically lists products, then broken down by state, company names, addresses and phone numbers.
  • Part 2: Company Profiles: lists company addresses, phone numbers, and products by company name. Includes an index of trademarks and brand names.
  • Part 3: Catalog File: Contains files of company catalogs.
• Value Line Investment Survey (see under Investments)
• Ward's Business Directory of U.S. and Private Companies (Ref HG4057.W37 1994) Annual. 5 volumes. Provides information on 25,000 largest private and public companies. Provides analysis of companies by state, revenues per employee, SIC code, and geography.
  • Volumes 1-3: Alphabetic Listing.
  • Volume 4: Special Features and Geographic Listing.
  • Volume 5: Ranked by Sales with 4-Digit SIC.

GUIDES TO ECONOMIC INDICATORS

• Business Cycle Indicators and Measures: A Complete Guide to Interpreting Economic Indicators. George Hildebrand (Ref. HB3730.H54 1992). Provides information on interpreting key economic indicators.
• Guide to Economic Indicators. Norman Frumkin. (Ref. HC103.F9 1994) Provides basic information on over sixty measures of the performance of the U.S. economy including wages, balance of payments, balance of trade, bank loans, consumer price index, employment, GDP, interest rates, housing starts, etc.
• Handbook of Key Economic Indicators. R. Mark Rogers. (Ref. HC103.R64 1994) Provides in-depth information on key economic indicators.

BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

• SIRSResearcher (Social Issues Resources Series) (Library web page). 1988-present. Indexes articles exploring social, scientific, historic, economic, political, and global issues from U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, journals, and government publications.
• Social Science Abstracts. (Library web page). 1983-present. Indexes and abstracts international, English-language periodicals in sociology, economics, political science, and law.
• Social Sciences Citation Index - 1976-1995. (Abstr/Indexes H1.S67) Available on CD-ROM 1996-present. Indexes all areas of the social sciences, including economics, public policy and some business, using words as they appear in the titles. Be sure to check under all the possible terms for a topic.

INVESTMENTS

• A-Z of International Finance: The Essential Guide to Tools, Terms & Techniques. Stephen Mahony. (Ref . HG3880.M33 1997) Provides definitions of terms used in finance.
• Dun & Bradstreet's guide to your investments. Nancy Dunnan. (Ref. HG4905.D8) Library has 1993 edition. Provides solid basic information on investing.
  
• The Investor's Guide to Stock Quotations and other Financial Listings. Gerald Warfield. (Ref. HG4636.W28 1990) Provides basic information on how to interpret financial information.
• Moody's Handbook of Common Stocks. (Ref.HG4905.M815) (Additional investment and financial information available at http://www.moodys.com ). Library has 1996 edition. Provides financial information for over 950 high interest stocks.
  
• Morningstar 500. (Ref. HG4530.M664 1998-99) (Additional investment and financial information available at (http://morningstar.com ) Provides operations, performance, historic profile, risk aalysis and portfolio analysis information for over 500 funds.
• Mutual Fund Fact Book (Ref. HG4930.M85 1999) Provides information on all kinds of mutual funds and investment opportunities. Easy to read and includes numerous charts and graphs.
• 1999-2000 Directory of Mutual Funds, Closed-end Funds, Unit Investment Trust Sponsors. (Ref. HG4930.G84 1999-00). Lists more than 7,645 open-ended funds, 480 closed-end funds, 8 unit investment trust sponsors, and 1,078 variable annuity funds.
• Value Line Investment Survey [5 volumes] (Ref. HG4501 V26) 2000-. Also available at (http://www.valueline.com. Analyzes and rates more than 1,700 stocks for potential market performance, appreciation potential, and security of investment. Reports on each company are updated quarterly. Pro-vides information on 93 industries, such as composite statistics, trends, prospects, and comparative posi-tions of competing companies. A weekly letter, in the Selection and Opinion volumes provides opinions and detailed data on recommended stocks, views on economic outlook, and advice on investments. Value Line contains a summary index of stock data alphabetically by name of stock at the beginning of the "Summary Index" section. Otherwise, data is arranged by industry, then company, as indicated on the front page of the "Summary Index" in front of the notebook. Note: There is a pamphlet How to Use the Value Line Investment Survey, filed right next to Value Line (with same call number), providing complete instructions on use.

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS AND STATISTICS

• Statistical Abstract of the United States. Annual. (Ref. HA202.A3. 1999 Ref. Desk) Provides summaries of economic, demographic, political, health, and social statistics culled from federal and private sources. Supplies the sources for statistics so you can follow up for further information. Also available on the library’s web page under Reference.
• Business Statistics of the United States. 1967-1995. (Ref. HF3001.B874 1997) Replaces Business Statistics which was published by the Department of Commerce. Library has 1996 edition. Provides a historical perspective on U.S. business statistics. Coverage is from 1967 to 1995.
• U.S. Industry & Trade Outlook (Ref. HC101.U54 1999) Reviews the following U.S. industries and how they affect the economy: energy, construction, industrial materials, manufacturing equipment, information and communications, consumer economy, transportation, health care, and financial services. Provides statistics and graphs.
• Economic Report of the President. (HC 106.5 A272 2000). (Also available at http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2001 Transmitted to the Congress in February of each year. Together with the Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisors Discusses economic policy and outlook. Includes economic trends and many statistical tables on employment, production, income, etc.
• Handbook of Labor Statistics. Annual. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Ref. HD8064.H362 1997). (Additional labor statistics available at http://www.bls.gov/datahome.htm .) Provides current and retrospective statistics on employment, unemployment, composition of labor force, productivity, industrial-labor relations, prices, etc.

• Statistics on the Web: The following sources of census and government business statistics are available on our web pages. From the Library web page Click on "Electronic Reference Resources," then on "Statistics."
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States - Provides summaries of economic, demographic, political, health, and social statistics from federal and private sources.
  • FedStats - Provides access to statistics and information produced by many U.S. Government agencies including the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
  • Government Information Sharing Project - Oregon State University. Provides Census information on population, employment, economic census information, U.S. Imports/Exports, etc.
  • Social Sciences Data Collection - University of California, San Diego. Provides U.S. and international financial economic, and social science statistical data. Downloadable spreadsheet files available for the U.S. Budget and the Economic Report of the President.
  • Statistical Resources on the Web - University of Michigan Documents Center. Provides links to information and statistics on U.S. and international economics, demographics, labor, finance, banking, trade data, and economic policy. Also includes information on the European Union, International Monetary Fund, National Trade Data Bank, etc.
  • U.S. Census Bureau - Contains all census statistics including Current Industrial Reports, Statistical Abstract of the United States, Commodity Trade Data, and U.S. International Trade Statistics.

GOVERNMENT PERIODICALS

The following monthly periodicals published by the Federal Government provide a wealth of statistics related to business. Consult the Periodicals Holdings List to determine the library's holdings. Periodicals (located on the 3 rd floor) are filed alphabetically by their titles. Government Documents are also located on the 3 rd floor.)

• Economic Indicators. U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. (GovDoc Y4 EC 7 :EC7) Statistics on productivity, income, spending, employment, unemployment, wages, prices, finance, etc. Usually provides monthly statistics for the past year and annual statistics for five years.
• Employment and Earnings. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1969-present. Good source of U.S. labor statistics.
• MLR: Monthly Labor Review. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1949-present. Best source for current statistics on employment, unemployment, wages, prices, productivity, industrial-labor relations, etc.
• Survey of Current Business. 1972-present. U.S. Department of Commerce. Best source for current business statistics; including commodity prices, business indicators, labor force data, finance, numerous industries, etc.

REFERENCE DESK

Remember to consult a librarian at the Reference Desk any time you have questions about business information or other topics.

Created by: Gretchen Herrmann, April 1985 (partially based on materials developed by Carolyn Bossard, Christine Bulson, Lorna Daniells, Ellen Ehrig, Nancy Harbison, Katie Laurence and the D. Leonard Corgan Library).
Memorial Library
Revised June 6, 2000 By: Joan Packard with the assistance of Gretchen Herrmann

SUNY Cortland Memorial Library (607) 753-2526
Copyright 2008. Page last updated: 10/12/2005 11:20:42 AM