Let me know if you’ve heard this one:

Last week, this undergraduate finance major comes by my office. “I’ve been searching in IBISWorld for hours and hours trying to find an excel-downloadable balance sheet for Estee Lauder. By the way, I need a ten-year spread. I’ve looked in every corner, every pocket of IBISWorld and I can’t find it.” So I say to this undergraduate finance major, “The reason you can’t find it is that you’re searching in the wrong database. Mergent Online will have what you’re looking for.” People, I can’t make this stuff up!

Here’s another:

So, this student team all visits me at the reference desk. “Emily,” they moan, “we have spent three DAYS combing through ABI/Inform and Business Source Premier, looking for the perfect statistical chart on HDTV purchasing by demographics. We don’t sleep. We don’t eat. All we do is research, but we can’t find the statistics we need.” “First of all, you can’t do good research when you’re starving and exhausted,” I explain to them. “Next time, don’t wait for three days to talk to me. You can find just what you need in a database called Tablebase.” Seriously! Can you believe it?

Ok! Ok! Just one more:

I answer the phone, and there’s this MBA on the line. He’s actually crying! I mean totally sobbing and hiccupping. “What’s the matter?” I ask him. “All I want to do is create a list of veterinarians in the Philadelphia area,” he weeps, “but I can’t do it! I’ve been fighting with the Business and Industry database all day.” “Dry your tears,” I order, “and try D&B Million Dollar Database. You can create a list based on industry, location, and even size, all in a spreadsheet.” I kid you not!

People, let me explain something. The right search in the wrong database is no way to get what you want. To make it easier to choose the right database, try the library’s research guides. These guides will give you the best resources to use for a variety of different business research tasks.

To find the business resource guides:
Go to www.library.drexel.edu
Click on “Research Guides”
Click on “Business”

* Originally published on May 15, 2009. For business research tips & tricks in real-time, subscribe to LIB-BIZ-KIT .