VIP Workshop   May 12, 2006

Sal Miranda, Tarpon Springs Library

Big Picture:

1.  Lots of people need information related to business,  economics, and demographics.  Money really makes the world go around.

2.  Government to the the rescue!

• Federal Government
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) (See extensive list of other national and local registers see here.)
  • Department of  Commerce
    • Census
    • Poverty
    • Demographics (quick lookup here.)
    • Economic Census (quick lookup here.)
    • United States Commercial Service (Country Commercial Guides) (link)
  • Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
    • Prices 
    • Wages (link)
    • Consumer Expenditure Survey (link)
• Florida
  • Department of Corporations (Sunbiz.org)
  • Enterprise Florida (especially county profiles, under "Florida's Regions" + Login to "Intelligence Center")
  • Agency for Work Innovation (FRED)

3.  The private sector follows suit. (More or less)

• Company Information
  • God bless Gary Hoover:  Hoover's Online and Hoover's UK
  • Yahoo! Finance (US, UK, etc.)   plus sources for historical stock quotes such as Bigcharts.com
  • Search for company on the internet and look for "Investors" Link.
  • Check international registers of corporations (link)
  • Check business to business catalogs online:
    • Thomas Register
    • Thomas Global
    • Europages
    • Kellysearch
    • Kompass
  • Don't forget the Yellow Pages!

4.  Other Sources of Leads

• Local and National Trade Associations
• Business Journals and Newspaper Archives
  • Forbes Top 500 Private Companies
    • Other Forbes Lists (richest people, etc.)
    • Fortune Magazine Lists (U.S. 500, Global 500, Best companies to work for)

5.  Charities / 501 (3)(c):  Information about rating charities

• Guidestar.org (free registration required)
• Charity Navigator

6.  General Advice

• Reference interview:  Type of company (public/private?)  Ticker symbol?  Location? Line of business?  Brand versus company name
• Keep printouts of your local economic and demographic information in ready reference
• Compile favorites list of web pages of you most commonly use:
  • Peska Business Center at Tarpon Springs Library:  http://www.tblc.org/tarpon/business.html  (Remember Easter egg by clicking on fish.)
  • Irene Marcus' Resources Page at Tarpon Springs Library:  http://www.tblc.org/tarpon/resources.html
  • This page:  http://www.tblc.org/tarpon/vip.html
  • Sal's email address:  tslref@tblc.org