Finding books:  QUEST, our computerized catalog, provides access to the materials in our library.  Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (large red books near QUEST) to identify the best subject headings for your topic.  Subject headings that may be relevant to your topic include:

 Business Enterprises
Competition
By name of the company (ex: IBM)
Corporations
Organizational effectiveness
By the name of the industry (ex:  Computer Industry)

 
FINDING ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS/JOURNALS  

Periodical indexes provide the most efficient subject access to journals, magazines, and newspapers.  Indexes relevant to your topic include:

ABI/INFORM (Access via PLU Network):  A business and management database covering U.S. and international professional publications, academic journals, and trade magazines.  Also includes information on 60,000+ companies.  Includes many full-text journals.

Business & Industry (via PLU Network):   Indexes leading trade magazines, newsletter, general business press, and international business dailies. Offers important facts, figures and key events dealing with public and private companies, industries, products and markets for all manufacturing and service industries at an                           international level. From 1994 to present.

 Business Periodicals Index 1958+ (Index Area, ref Z7164.C81.B983 & via PLU Network)
A business index similar to ABI.  It provides citations of articles without abstracts.

EBSCOhost (via PLU network):  Comprehensive index to over 3,100 scholarly journals and general periodicals in all subject and interdisciplinary areas.  Coverage prior to 1990 is sparse.  Some full text for 1,000 publications.  Includes some regional business data.
 

LOCATING PERIODICALS/JOURNALS

Use Quest to obtain the call number of the journal you need.  Current issues of journals are shelved on the first floor.  Older issues (bound volumes & microfilm) are on the second and third floors, shelved with the books.
 

REFERENCE SOURCES

Business Information Sources (ref HF5351.D36x 1993)
Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (ref HF5351.R53x)
Handbook of Business Information:  A Guide for Librarians, Students, & Researchers (ref HF5351.S77x 1988)
Industry and Company Information:  illustrated Search Strategy and Sources (HF54.5.H387 1991)
Contain details about databases, government documents, and other sources of business information.  Good source for titles PLU's library may not own.

Directory of Corporate Affiliations (ref HG4057.A217)
Covers major parent companies and lists all their subsidiaries for public and private U.S. companies.  There is a separate volume for international companies.  Has indexes by company name, brand name, geographic area, SIC Code, and personnel.

Hoover's Handbook of American Business (ref HG4057.A28617)
Profiles 500 major U.S. companies and provides lists of top 10 or top 200 companies according to various characteristics.

International Directory of Company Histories (ref HD2721.I5x)
A multivolume set which describes the founding and development of major companies within various industries.

Manufacturing USA (ref HD9723.M3x)
Presents statistical data on 448 manufacturing industries.  Coverage includes over 2,000 products, 400 occupational groupings, and nearly 17,000 companies.

Moody's Industrial Manual (ref.HG4961.M67)
Moody's OTC Industrial Manual (ref.HG4961.M69)
These volumes contain in-depth information about companies.

North American Industry Classification System (ref.HF1041.5.N674 1997)
This is the new classification system that replaces the SIC.

Standard & Poor's Corporation Records (ref HG4501.S76)Covers corporate histories, earnings, stocks, & bonds issue, and other data for 11,000 companies.  Older issues are available on microfiche.  Ask at the Reference Desk.
 

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (ref HC106.6.S74)
Standard and Poor’s focus is on the current outlook of an industry from an investor's point of view.  50% of the coverage is in the retail and service industries.  S & P's includes data on some 1,200 companies and is updated quarterly.

Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations (ref HG4057.S785)
Alphabetical list of over 55,000 private and public corporations.  Each listing includes addresses, names of directors & officers, SIC code, sales, number of employees, parent companies, and more.  Includes indexes for region and SIC Codes.

Standard Industrial Classification Manual (ref HF1042.S73 1987)
Commonly called the SIC.  The federal government assigns a  SIC code to every industry in the U.S.  Most of the business reference tools on industries are arranged by SIC Codes.  The SIC is being replaced by the North American Industry Classification System.

U.S. Industrial Outlook (ref HC101.U54)
Provides information for over 350 industries.  Includes brief descriptions of the industry, its current situation, the outlook for the coming year, and long term prospects for the next five years.  80% of the coverage is in the manufacturing and mining industries.

Value Line Investment Survey (located at the Reference Desk)
An investment service that includes detailed information on 17,000 companies.  An excellent source for industry and company analyses.

Walker's Manual of Western Corporations (ref HG5128.C2W2)
Covers more companies west of the Mississippi than national sources.  Gives 2 pages of background and financial information for each company.
 

OTHER USEFUL SOURCES

Disclosure Corporate Snapshots (via PLU network):  Corporate and financial information on corporations whose shares are traded in the U.S,

National Trade Data Bank (via PLU Network):  The NTDB provides access to Country Commercial Guides, Market Research reports, Best Market reports, U.S. import and export statistics, and other various reports and programs.  The full text of all documents is searchable by keyword, country, and product.

INTERNET SOURCES

@ Brint:  (http://www.brint.com/)
Companies Online:  (http://www.companiesonline.com/)
Company Lookup: (http://www.companylink.com/companylookup.cfm)
Wall Street Research Net: (http://www.wsrn.com/home/companyResearch.html)
Yahoo Business and Economy:  (http://www.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/companies/)
 

Or, use a search engine such as alta vista (http://www.altavista.com) or Excite (http://www.excite.com) to search for your company.
 
 
 

BEYOND PLU

PLU belongs to a consortium of small private colleges and universities.  This consortium includes: St. Martin's College, Northwest College, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, and University of Puget Sound.  You may check materials out from these libraries using your PLU ID.

You may also order articles and books from PLU's Interlibrary Loan (Most libraries won't loan reference books)  Staff at the Reference Desk will assist you with your ILL orders.

If you have questions while doing library research, ask for help at the reference desk or make an appointment with me for personal research assistance.

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