Industry Trends
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- taxpayer-funded subscription database - requires city library card outside of library
- librarian-created Find the Best resources page
Failing to keep abreast of changes in your industry is tantamount to business suicide. Trying to keep abreast of changes in your industry could be a full-time job in and of itself. So how to balance this need with a limited amount of time?
The public library is the answer as it has many tools that make it productive and profitable for businesses to track industry changes on a local, regional and nation scale. If a company in your line of business is blowing the sales records off the charts, but they are located in Florida, you might want to know what it is they are doing. Conversely, if a company in your line of business took a gamble on a project and is now floundering, you might want to know what strategies to avoid.
The library subscribes to three different databases, all of which do a fabulous job of tracking such information. You will need a valid Spokane Public Library card to access these databases from your home or office.
Infotrac Onefile (Library's yearly subscription cost: $5627)
Providing index coverage and full-text access to nearly 14,000 magazines, journals and trade publications, Infotrac provides the broadest coverage of business information sources in the Spokane Public Library’s collection.
Proquest (Library's yearly subscription cost: $6948)
While covering thousands of magazines, journals and newspapers, the value of Proquest really shines when doing local research. The reason for this is that Proquest provides full-text access to the Spokesman Review going back to1991. It also provides full-text coverage of the Spokane Journal of Business from 1991. The Seattle Times is covered from 1984, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1990. And so on.
Business Insights: Essentials (Library's yearly subscription cost: $5627)
Business Insights gathers together in a single database company profiles, company brand information, rankings, investment reports, market research, chronologies, and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.
The library has a number of additional resources to search so if you don’t find what you were hoping tofind, contact the Business Reference Librarian at the Downtown Library by email or call 444.5336.