Staff Picks: Business
Resource Spotlight: ReferenceUSA
On Tuesday, March 6, a representative from ReferenceUSA will come to our library and will provide you tools to use this invaluable resource. ReferenceUSA has eight databases that can help you:
- locate sources of funding
- find new business opportunities.
- research executives & companies worldwide.
- track down addresses and phone numbers.
- find new articles for research.
- locate out-of-town companies.
- profile a neighborhood, city or state.
- search for jobs, by location and industry
U.S. Businesses
Use this module to search for comprehensive, accurate and up to date information on more than 13.5 million U.S. Businesses. Data is telephone verified and updated monthly. Use the more than 3 dozen search selections to create custom queries. Results link to individual profiles for each business containing essential information.
U.S. Standard White Pages
With more than 89 million U.S.listings, this module gives you access to people all over the United States. Records are continuously updated against the USPS National Change of Address and Delivery Sequence File (DSF) to be the most current source for residential listings available. Records include maps and key demographic data.
U.S. Consumers / Lifestyle
Searchers use the Consumer / Lifestyle data to understand the buying habits of groups of consumers. Drawn from a variety of sources the results are a blend of purchase preference information with household and census type data.
U.S. New Businesses
Updated on a weekly basis with information from a variety of sources, the U.S. New Business module is the ideal resource for anyone wanting to connect with businesses in their start up and early phases of development.
U.S. HealthCare
Profiling more than 1 million physicians and dentists, the U.S. HealthCare database gives researchers a unique look at a doctor’s practice. Essential information includes the doctor’s specialty, age, medical school attended, year of graduation and hospital affiliation.
U.S. New Movers /Homeowners
Each year 15% of the country’s population moves to a new location. Each week ReferenceUSA adds more than 300,000 New Movers/ Homeowners to this module. Search using key data elements including Residential Details, Mortgage Details, Confirmed Homeowner status and Move Distance.
Canadian Business
The Canadian Business data module is one the most robust information sources of Canadian business information available. Researches create custom searches using criteria from a list of search options and results link to profiles of more than 1.5 million businesses.
Canadian White Pages
Records are 100% publicly sourced to comply with Canadian privacy laws and contain information on more than 12 million Canadian households.
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SRC Review: The Broker by John Grisham
3 Stars - Meh, It's OK. Worth a Read.
I've read many books by John Grisham and generally like them. Most of his recent work does not seem to live up to his early work, but regardless, he generally puts out interesting reads, even if they do not have the excitement of The Firm, The Pelican Brief, or The Client. This book falls into that generalization. It was good, but I wouldn't call it a page turner. I checked out the audiobook and the reader was really good, but unfortunately I couldn't skim through sections that were getting boring.
This was one of Grisham's few books that is not set in the South. It concerns a big shot deal broker in DC who got into a deal that was over his head, so he is now on the run in Italy. The fact that it is set in Italy got my interest, so I checked it out. If you are like me, the thought of a man on the run in Europe might interest you. Just be prepared to read chapter after redundant chapter about the main character's journey of learning the language and culture of Italy. Seriously, it seems to go on forever with not much page turning/plot developing action and then all of the sudden...it is over.
I will say this, though: Grisham's description of Italy is very enticing, and I think I would love to visit there one day. I guess He had a nice trip there and decided to write a book about it. If you are interested in Italy, you'll probably enjoy this book. If you want a page turner, you may want to look into other options.
Written by Scott N., Central patron
Other books you might enjoy
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Dave Ramsey is the Man!
I love Dave Ramsey. He has simple easy ways to simply, easily manage a really complicated thing: money! From snowballing debt to budgeting and investing, Dave has it all. Today on Facebook, he endorsed something that costs a LOT of money. I know, because we have it at the library free for you to use. I went to make a comment and noticed that many had already said the same thing: you can get Morningstar at the library! So I thought it might be good idea to look and see what the library has as alternatives to spending more money on things like that. (I am sure Dave would approve).
Morningstar Mutual funds
The topic of conversation on Facebook. The library has it at its Central and Lake Arlington branches in the reference section. From their website: "Counting all their variations, there are nearly 14,000 mutual funds on the market today. Morningstar deems 1,500 worthy of your attention. To further help you narrow the field, Morningstar Mutual Funds includes up to 150 Fund Analyst Picks spread over a wide variety of investment categories." Check out their website for valuable articles as well.
Value line investment survey and small and mid-cap edition
Value Line is to stocks what Morningstar is for mutual funds. They describe it as "a comprehensive, multifaceted investment management solution used by both individual and professional investors to conduct basic research, formulate sound investment strategies, identify timely opportunities and make smart investment decisions." Value Line is available at Central, Lake Arlington and Woodland West while the small and mid-cap edition is only available at Central and Lake Arlington.
Dave's Books
Check them out at the library. If one really speaks to you, then go out and buy it!
Legal forms
If you are in the need for legal forms take a look at these titles.
Budgeting Tools
Check to see if your bank has a budgeting tool available. There are also free online options, such as Kiplinger's online worksheet or even Dave's free Gazelle Budget Lite.
Meal Planning
It doesn't seem intuitive but Dave does recommend some pay meal planning. It makes sense: food "eats" up a lot of many people's budgets. For online help, try Food on the Table, or my favorite, the Hillbilly Housewife.
other resources
All of these titles are available in reference at Central: Dick Davis Digest, DRIP investor, Kiplinger Letter, Moneyletter, Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys Bound, and Standard & Poor's Investors Package (includes Outlook, Stock Guide, Trends and Projections, Standard & Poor's Index Directory, Trendline, and Bond Guide).
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Online Shopping Helps the Library!
If you read books or watch movies, you’ve probably looked at various online shopping sites to see what is new and available. If you’re like me, you even purchase these and many other items from that website. I just found out that we can help support the library programs by buying books! It doesn’t cost anything extra, you can use the logon and password that you already use, and a small commission of every sale goes to the Arlington Public Library Foundation. No one tracks your purchases, you can buy anything (not just books) and you help support the library’s activities. Check out our page about Shopping for the library.
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Consumer Reports
Arlington Public Library subscribes to the print version of Consumer Reports. It is located at the reference desk at most of our libraries and can be used for inhouse use. We often get asked if we subscribe to the online edition through the Consumer Reports website. No, but we have something better--we provide access to Consumer Reports through our Databases.
Under Popular choose EBSCOhost. Make sure MasterFILE Premier is checked, and hit continue.
Under "Limit your results," there is a "Publication" field. Type "Consumer Reports" in that Box. There is an option to limit by publication date, if you happen to know exactly what issue you need (for example, Consumer Reports generally feature cars every April). Or, you can simply type your desired search term (say, vacuum cleaners).
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