This world-wide financial crisis is really harshing my mellow.
Companies and industries are changing so quickly, and I’m finding it difficult and frustrating to do research. For example, my usual favorite for industry research is the wondrous IBISWorld. But IBISWorld is updated every four months. That’s terrific most of the time, but not useful to me these days. IBISWorld’s Real Estate Loans and Credit Lines Industry Report from July 18th, 2008? I’m, like, whatevs. Like that’s going to help me.
So what’s a library user to do?
Here are some of my current databases of choice:
Hoovers
For company information, Hoovers is really stepping up to the plate. Their company information is updated as events happen and is a reliable source for who’s buying out whom. The information isn’t all that in-depth, but it is current.
Factiva
Factiva is also leading the charge for up-to-date information. For stock prices and analysis, use the “Companies/Markets” tab at the top (and check out the interactive charts and graphs). You can also use the “News Pages” link to see the day’s major business newspapers and journals all in one place.
Business & Company Resource Center
Up-to-the-minute industry information is hard to come by these days. Business & Company Resource Center can help. Do an “articles” search within the database for the industry. For example, you can do a search for “Airline Industry” or “Real Estate Industry.” This will give you articles from newspapers, trade journals, and other publications. It’s not as quick and easy as IBISWorld’s reports, but you’ll know the information is current and correct.
For up-to-date resources and in-depth coverage from many sources, check out this pathfinder from our librarian-friend Louise Feldmann at Colorado State University:
Financial Crisis Pathfinder
http://libguides.colostate.edu/financialcrisis
* Originally published on October 17, 2008. Special archived addition of the LIB-BIZ-KIT Archives. Updates are usually added a 4-month lag. For business research tips & tricks in real-time, subscribe to LIB-BIZ-KIT .
