Business/Economics Resources

Required reading
Finding Numeric Data: Financial Information on the Web
http://web.archive.org/web/20070408061400/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/Learn/eManual/chapter.cfm?fldChapterID=11&fldHeading=41
Chapter 8 of U of W Library’s eManual. Includes description of, and links to, Hoover’s, Bloomberg, New York Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq databases.

Finding Numeric Data: Statistics Canada
http://web.archive.org/web/20070408202105/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/Learn/eManual/chapter.cfm?fldChapterID=11&fldHeading=39
Covers The Daily, E-STAT, CANISM, and Statics Canada Community Profiles. [Access E-STAT and other statistical sites from RRC Statistical Data page http://library.rrc.ca/subjectguides/statistical/page_01.htm. For help in using E-ST AT, see the E –STAT Research guide http://library.rrc.ca/subjectguides/estat/page_01.htm

Recommended reading
Commerce 209 Industry and Company Research Handbook http://web.archive.org/web/20051112024629/http://library.usask.ca/commerce/Comm209/Course_notes_comm209_main.html
Provides a basic understanding of how to locate company and industry information. Produced by University of Saskatchewan Libraries.

Research Companies Online
http://web.archive.org/web/20110406103936/http://www.learnwebskills.com/company/index.html
This business research tutorial presents a step-by-step process for finding free company and industry information on the World Wide Web. From the US but includes information on international business.

Associations and think tanks
C. D. Howe Institute http://www.cdhowe.org
Independent, Canadian non-profit, economic and social policy research institution.

Canadian Association for Business Economics http://www.cabe.ca/
For applied economists in business, governments, associations and other organizations, and those interested in business economics, the economics outlook, and policy.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives http://www.policyalternatives.ca/
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives offers an alternative to the message that we have no choice about the policies that affect our lives. We undertake and promote research on issues of social and economic justice. We produce research reports, books, opinion pieces, fact sheets and other publications.

Canadian Economic Association http://www.economics.ca/
The organization of academic economists in Canada.

Canadian Foundation for Economic Education http://www.cfee.org/en/
To help improve the economic capability of Canadians, CFEE has a wide range of resources and programs including publications, multimedia, teacher training, curriculum consultation, and research.

Conference Board of Canada http://www.conferenceboard.ca/
The Conference Board of Canada is the foremost independent, not-for-profit applied research organization in Canada. We help build leadership capacity for a better Canada by creating and sharing insights on economic trends, public policy issues, and organizational performance.

The Fraser Institute http://www.fraserinstitute.org/
An independent public policy organization, The Fraser Institute focuses on the role competitive markets play in providing for the economic and social well-being of all Canadians and as an international forum for policy ideas.

Online encyclopedias and dictionaries
The Biz/ed Glossary and Diagram Bank http://www.bized.co.uk/reference/glossary/index.htm
This site “has over 1000 business and economic definitions and nearly 200 of the most common diagrams for you to search or browse.” Also includes a list of acronyms. From a British “provider of Internet-based learning materials for the economics and business education community.”

Dictionary of Small Business http://www.small-business-dictionary.org/
Provides definitions as a ready reference to 2,500 of the most commonly used terms encountered by the start-up entrepreneur, the small business person, and the student of business theory.

EH.NET Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/
Designed to provide students and laymen with high quality reference articles in the field.

Encyclopedia of Law and Economics http://encyclo.findlaw.com/index.html
Attempts to survey the whole law and economics literature. Most entries contain two elements: a review of the literature, written by an authority in the field, and a quasi complete bibliography. Produced by the University of Ghent, Belgium.

New Business Now.com: Glossary of Terms http://www.newbusinessnow.com/information/glossary.htm
From a Canadian provider of business start-up and related services.

Subject guides
There are numerous subject guides available from the Red River College Library on business and economics. Check the Subject Guides Index at http://library.rrc.ca/Search/Subject-Guides.aspx

Economics http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/content.php?pid=3378&sid=17792

Economics (print-only) http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/content.php?pid=3378&sid=17790
From the University of Winnipeg Library. List print and online resources.

Resources for Economists on the Internet http://rfe.org
Annotated directory of economic resources on the Internet. A WWW Virtual Library site sponsored by the American Economic Association.

Business Links http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/onlineresources/internet/business.asp
From Winnipeg Public Library. This page provides links to selected business and financial websites. Links include general resources for business news and financial data as well as specific sites for company information, currency and exchange rates, government business, investing, real estate and small business. Includes links to stock exchanges.

Company Information and Trade Directories (Canadian) http://epl.bibliocommons.com/list/show/71329236_eplguides/71574794_eplguides-_business-_company_information_and_trade_directories

Company Information and Trade Directories (U.S. and International) http://web.archive.org/web/20060106024653/http://www.epl.ca/EPLMaster.cfm?id=COMPANYDIREC0003
Both compiled by Edmonton Public Library.

University of Manitoba. Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Virtual Reference Shelf. Business and Management http://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/content.php?pid=253987

Indexes
Recommended reading
Goldermann, Gail and Bruce Connolly. “Getting Down to Business.” Library Journal, Winter 2003 Net Connect, Vol. 128 Issue 1, p38, 6p. (fulltext on EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier)
Reviews electronic general business resource databases. ABI/INFORM by ProQuest Information and Learning; Business & Corporate Resource Center by the Gale Group; Business Source Premier by EBSCO Publishing; RDS Business Reference Suite by the Gale Group; Wilson Business Full Text by H. W. Wilson Co.

Titles
EconLit
Major index for economics literature, produced by American Economic Association. Indexes and provides citations to >600 journals, books, working papers in the field of economics and finance.

Business Source Premier
World’s largest full text business database. From EBSCOhost.

Regional Business News
Provides comprehensive full text coverage for regional business publications. Incorporates coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers, and newswires from all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States. From EBSCOhost.

CBCA http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=302&cfc=1
CBCA Current Events News: Newspapers, Newswires, Transcripts, Magazines
Includes Canadian titles focusing on current events. Current events is interpreted broadly to include politics, business, the arts, sports, and any other kind of news, whether happening in Canada or abroad. Newspapers, newswires, newsmagazines, as well as television and radio transcripts constitute the titles in the subset.

Reference General Reference: Journals, Magazines, Newsletters
This collection provides in depth access to a wide diversity of Canadian periodicals, ranging from academic titles to special interest publications to general magazines.

The following titles are all available via OCLC First Search:
Business and Industry
Contains important facts, figures and key events for international public and private companies, industries, products, and markets for manufacturing and service industries. Covers all the primary business information sources—from leading trade magazines, newsletters, and the general business press to international business dailies.

Business Dateline
Includes information about library resources that describe regional business activities and trends and major stories on local firms, their products, and executives. Provides online articles from regional publications, Business Wire press releases, and major newspapers.

Business and Management Practices
Contains online articles about the practical aspects of business management. Includes case studies and how-to articles.

PAIS International
Provides selective subjects and bibliographic access to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries. Includes materials in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish with English language abstracts and subject headings.

PAIS Archive
Contains more than 700,000 records, originally published in the PAIS Bulletin, 1915-1976. Complements the contemporary coverage of the PAIS International database, also available on FirstSearch.

Web sites
Canada Business Network http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/
The main Government of Canada portal for Canadian businesses. Includes links to provincial and territorial government business sites.

Canadian Business News http://www.journalismnet.com/business/canada.htm#private
Links to Canadian business news and company information search sites from JournalismNet.

EDGAR http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
The EDGAR database is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission portal to company filings.

SEDAR http://www.sedar.com/homepage_en.htm
Canada’s EDGAR. Annual reports and other securities information for Canadian companies.

EH.Net http://www.eh.net/
Owned by the Economic History Association. Site includes a book review series, a collection of course syllabi, a directory of economic historians, the EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History, several databases, numerous links to websites related to economic history, and the popular “How Much Is That” service which allows users to easily look up historical prices, interest rates, wage rates, GDP statistics, exchange rates and inflation rates.

Innovation in Canada: Business Intelligence http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071115002346/http://www.innovation.gc.ca/gol/innovation/site.nsf/en/index.html
Internet based sources of information useful for understanding and implementing market research or competitive intelligence strategies within an organization. Contains company databases, how-to guides and websites as well as lists of experts in market research.

NetEc http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/
MetEc was an international academic effort to improve the communication of Economics via electronic media. It consisted of: Information on printed working papers on BibEc, data about electronic working papers on WoPEc, and World Wide Web resources in Economics on WebEc.

Standard Industry Classifications http://www.statcan.gc.ca/concepts/industry-industrie-eng.htm
The current classification in use at Statistics Canada is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada, 2012. Site also links to other classifications and concordances to other industry classifications.

Industry Canada http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home?OpenDocument
Contains business and consumer information in the form of directories, industry overviews, reports, legislation, regulations, standards and statistics.

VIBES: Virtual International Business & Economic Sources http://web.archive.org/web/20040824075136/http://library.uncc.edu/display/?dept=reference&format=open&page=68
VIBES provided over 2,800 links to Internet sources of international business and economic information that are in English and available free of charge.

globalEDGE: Your source for Global Business Knowledge http://globaledge.msu.edu/
From Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business. Global Insights provides international business and trade information on over 200 countries. Offers reference desk and knowledge tools.

Libraries
Canada Manitoba Business Service Centre http://www.canadabusiness.mb.ca/
The Canada Manitoba Business Service Centre website contains a collection of information on government programs, services and regulations as well as other items of interest such as E-Commerce, accessing technology and financing information. There is an extensive collection of relevant website links compiled by a librarian. The Reference and Trade Library has over 10,000 books, magazines and audio-visuals on Business Information.

University of Manitoba. Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Business. http://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/cat.php?cid=56311

Economics

From: Herron, Nancy L., ed. The social sciences: a cross-disciplinary guide to selected sources. 3rd ed. Greenwood Village, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 2002. pp. 93-97

Economics
Kirsti Jensen
ESSAY 

Because the term economics has so many connotations, it would be misleading to present a single, rigid definition. Adam Smith, often referred to as the father of economics, defined economics as the “science of wealth.” Alfred Marshall, founder of the Cambridge School of Economics, defined it as the “study of men in the ordinary business of life.” Any undergraduate student taking an introductory economics course would define economics as a study of supply and demand. The scope of economics is also important, because it concerns the supply and demand of goods and services at the individual and institutional level as well as on a national and international basis. A consumer deciding what vegetables to buy at the supermarket and a nation making policy decisions about the flow of imports into its markets are both engaging in economic behaviour. 

Economics can be subdivided into three major subfields: economic theory, applied economics, and economic history. Economic theory, also called pure or basic economics, is concerned with the relationships between variables in the economic system (e.g. , if “A” rises, then what will happen to “B”?). An economic theorist will study data, attempt generalizations, and then build these generalizations into theories. The theorist also develops economic principles by constructing a hypothetical situation to determine what should be the consequences of a course of action. Some of the greatest names in economics—Smith, Marshall, Ricardo, Mill, and Marx—were theorists whose ideas are still studied today. Once largely speculative, economic theory is now based on a priori reasoning and, increasingly, on mathematical modules and measurements. 

In applied economics, economic theories are applied to Marshall’s “everyday business of life” by public and private policy makers. Policy decisions based on economic knowledge or reasoning are designed to bring about positive results, such as high profits or low taxes. Among applied fields are banking, public finance, labor and industrial finances, land and agricultural economics, and transportation. Some of these applied fields constitute areas of study that can stand alone. For instance, agriculture economics usually commands a separate department in most universities. Agricultural economists usually have their own professional associations and have amassed an enormous amount of literature and data that nearly exceeds that of all other fields of economics combined. 

Economic history is the study of economic institutions in varying cultures and time periods. Often regarded as a branch of economics with little relationship to economic theory and applied economics, economic history has slipped into benign neglect in recent years. However, economic historians have discovered that the economic behavior of the past has implications for today. In addition, some of the statistical and mathematical procedures developed for economics have been successfully applied to historical problems. 

There are two main branches of economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is concerned with the small economic unit, such as the household, a commodity, or an industry. It is dedicated to the study of resource allocation, which in its simplest form relates to the “making ends meet” of the budget-conscious household or corporation. Macroeconomics examines economic relationships on the large scale, such as looking at how the change in an economic variable affects the economy of a nation. An economist examining the impact of a plant closing on the buying behavior of employees’ households would be doing a microeconomic study; a thesis on the effect of plant closings on the unemployment rate of a state or country would be a macroeconomic study. 

Brief history of economics
Obviously, economics has been around since the beginning of civilization, or since humans wanted something and had to choose from limited resources. Both Plato and Aristotle were students of economics, although to the ancient Greeks economics pertained to the management of the household. The Greek philosophers supported the notion of an exchange economy as a way for humans to build up their property of material possessions. 

The genesis of modern economic thought paralleled the growth of trade during the Middle Ages. Monarchs, attempting to diminish the power of the nobility, extended trade privileges to towns. Guilds, the forerunners of today’s trade unions, developed as people became free to pursue livelihoods other than farming. As towns and guilds competed for business with other towns and guilds, the regulation of trade became an issue. Therefore, most early economic thinking revolved around issues relating to money, interest, revenues, and taxation. Slowly, intellectuals realized that financial concerns were related to other problems, such as population and natural resources. Early economic writings tended to be very moralistic and persuasive in tone because their authors were generally spokespeople for a guild, a church, a town, or a class with a cause to promote.  

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, two powerful schools of thought developed in Europe. In Great Britain, the mercantilist school grew in favor. Mercantilists, reacting to the growth of nationalism, advocated active government influence on the balance of trade and payments. They encouraged the export of goods in exchange for full employment and rapid economic growth. In France, a competing school developed that championed a “physiocratic” system. Followers of the physiocratic school were called “economistes” and they advocated a laissez-faire, or “natural,” economic system in which land, and not trade, would be the major source of wealth. 

Adam Smith’s publication of The Wealth of Nations in 1776 1 established the classical school of economics that would flourish for more than 100 years. Heavily influenced by the physiocrats and their laissez-faire philosophy, Smith established the doctrine of free enterprise and attacked the mercantilists. Because he wrote about the economic aspects of particular political decisions, Smith established the school of political economy—the early name for contemporary economics. Other prominent political economists were David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Jean Baptiste Say, and Thomas Malthus. These classical economists were convinced that production, income, and consumption were based on economic laws, lending credence to the notion that economics was an empirical science. 

A neoclassical school developed in the late nineteenth century. Led by Alfred Marshall, it promoted the concept of demand as integral to economic relationships. An excellent mathematician, Marshall was influential in establishing the use of mathematical formulas to explain economic theories. 

This growing fascination with economics in Europe did not immediately translate into comparable activity in the newly formed United States. Although Adam Smith’s theories of free enterprise and laissez-faire would seem attractive to a citizenry recovering from a revolution, his ideas were not widely discussed in academic circles. American higher education was still heavily influenced by religious groups and clerics, who were suspicious of Smith’s ideas on religious doctrine and were not anxious to change the status quo. 

The United States was in its honeymoon period, and the British influence in economics was found objectionable. British economists seemed to have a disdain for the service sectors (of which U.S. clerics and educators were a part), and they were too interested in the promotion of free trade among countries. America preferred to suppress foreign competition so that it could develop its domestic industries. Economics had to be adapted to U.S. audiences and philosophies. Not until the turn of the twentieth century was economics firmly established as an academic discipline, although the courses were usually taught under the auspices of political science. Economists were still not secure in teaching positions in higher education; this contributed to their leading the fight for academic freedom and the establishment of tenure in U.S. universities. 

The Industrial Revolution radically changed society. Suddenly there were new economic concerns, such as the growth of railroads, high government expenditures, the influence of powerful unions, and the dire social conditions of many cities. At the height of the Revolution, a new school called “institutional economics” developed. This school championed the study of institutions—corporations, unions, interest groups—and their thirst for power and property. Led by Thorstein Veblen, more a social satirist than an economist, the institutional school for the first time examined the social role played by economic institutions.  

The devastation of the Great Depression, which began in October 1929, emphasized the shortcomings of economic theory: It was inadequate for dealing with the real problems of employment and income. John Maynard Keynes, perhaps the greatest economist of the twentieth century, ushered in the “Keynesian Revolution” with his publication of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. 2 This seminal work advanced the macroeconomic approach to economic theory: It suggested that a government could establish policies leading to full employment and stable prices. Keynes advocated better government use of fiscal and monetary policy, and his policies are still promoted and widely discussed today, although not with the same fervour that they once were. 

Economics today
Economics has undergone tremendous growth since World War II. An understanding of basic economics is now integral to nearly every academic discipline, and the employment of economists in business, industry, and government is at an all-time high. Economics has become quite specialized and is now characterized by many subfields (e.g., consumer economics, health economics, behavioral economics, environmental economics). 

Two things distinguish modern economics. First, economics has become a mathematically based discipline. Research is approached empirically, theories are expressed mathematically, and economists are finding that a grounding in statistical and mathematical techniques has become essential for almost any study of economics. The proliferation of computers, now accessible to most researchers, has enabled the processing of large datasets to prove and disprove economic hypotheses. The application of statistics to economics is called econometrics, and it constitutes the most rapidly growing field of economics. Despite an increase in the number of dissenting voices who believe the field should focus less on the “rational man” and mathematics, no viable alternative approach has risen to replace the status quo. An increase in dissent, however, may account for some of the increase in specialized subfields, including feminist, institutional, and post-Keynesian economics. 

Second, we have moved into what is called the global economy, which has tremendous implications for economic research and policy decisions. The consequences of the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s dramatically demonstrated that economic problems have worldwide impact. Nations no longer operate as autonomous economic institutions but are linked by a strong bond of interdependence. Recognition of this is demonstrated by international collaborations, such as the economic summits of world leaders, by the amount of economic research generated by international agencies, and by the growing exchange of scholars at international conferences. Other manifestations are the expansion of development economics, which pertains to the study of economic growth of low-income nations, and the growing interest in the application of economics to the information revolution. This combination of information and high technology is revolutionizing how we function and interrelate with each other. Economics continues to play a pivotal role in addressing many of the questions and concerns raised by the networked information revolution. 

Is economics a social science?
Economists now proceed in their research efforts by using the scientific method. They test theories by relating them to empirically observable data. Because economists cannot duplicate their data in a laboratory, they must use the empirical methods of social scientists, not scientists. Like any other social science, economics is subject to the vagaries of human nature; therefore, its theories cannot be totally reliable and accurate, as the following story illustrates. 

In the spring of 1973, the U.S. consumer was shocked by a rapid escalation in meat prices. Government economists calculated that the price of meat would drop by the end of the year, as high prices would diminish the demand for meat and ranchers would loosen up supplies. Based on its research, the government established special policies to bring control to meat prices. However, the economic experts and their carefully calculated theories were unable to predict the behavior of U.S. homemakers. Angered by high prices, the homemakers demonstrated their power by quickly organizing a massive national boycott of meat, causing an immediate decrease in meat prices. 

Economics cannot exist as an isolated science, because the understanding of many economic problems is related to an understanding of our social and political system. For example, a study of women in the labor force would not be complete without knowledge of the changing social mores that supported the moves of mothers and married women in the workforce. Like other social sciences, economics has policy implications. Desirable economic policy decisions must consist of both scientific economic analysis and socially ethical value judgments. 

Nobel Laureate Robert Solow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote, “Modern economics tries hard not to be a social science, but it can’t help itself. Social institutions and relationships help shape the production and distribution of wealth. The power of wealth is sometimes reflected in social institutions.” 3 He would find a supporter in Douglass North, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics, who believes that traditional economics focuses too much on mathematics and not enough on human behavior. He finds that the beliefs a society has in common are not analyzed enough in traditional economics, and that the irrationality of people’s behavior contributes to the success or failure of economics. 4 

The literature of economics
The literature of economics has evolved as the discipline has grown in breadth and complexity. Early economic works were either pamphlets that protested or advocated a cause or, beginning in the eighteenth century, full-length studies of economic theories. Economists have drawn from monograph literature for centuries: When Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of The Nations in 1776, he cited nearly 100 authors. Early economists seriously studied existing literature to make sure that their “original” theories had not been expounded earlier. They borrowed heavily from the business world, using materials such as journals of mining and banking, annual reports of railroads, and the histories of industries. 

Early theorists such as Smith, Marshall, and Marx became prominent through their monographs. Their works generated a flood of secondary works that questioned, interpreted, and modified their ideas. Even today, monographs continue to be published that discuss the theories of these economists. 

As the discipline grew more scientific, the literature of economics changed. Professional economics associations, such as the Royal Economics Society (1890), were organized, and founded journals. These journals grew in importance as timely channels of economics communications became necessary. The first economics journal was the Quarterly Journal of Economics, founded by Harvard University in 1886. Soon professional journals supplanted monographs as the most popular research tools for the burgeoning number of economic faculties, researchers, and students. 

As economists began to explore econometrics and built theories that required analysis of data, access to statistics became critical. Government publications, which expanded rapidly in the twentieth century, now supply much of the statistical data necessary for manipulation. International organizations, especially those affiliated with the United Nations, also provide economic data and sponsor specialized research. The advent of computerization meant that these statistical data could be easily processed and disseminated. 

The urgency to publish research before it becomes obsolete has led to the development of another form of literature, the working paper or “gray” literature. Working papers are semipublished papers or preprints, in which they are not yet available through official channels such as journals or books. Instead, they are inexpensively produced and distributed by the author, a department, or an organization, such as the National Bureau of Economic Research. Many organizations now provide access to the full text of their working papers via the Internet. In addition, several resources have been developed that allow scholars to search the content of the working papers made available by many of these organizations at once. The dissemination of working papers, particularly in electronic form, overcomes the problem of publishing lags so common with journals in the social sciences. Another advantage of working papers is that they often elicit informal feedback for their authors. Those papers with special merit may eventually find their way into print, but by that time the information will have already been received by the researchers who need it. 

As economics has expanded in size and influence, a tremendous body of literature has grown correspondingly. Economics researchers must wade through this labyrinth of material and statistics. Trends in recent economic literature reveal both an increasing global emphasis and the interdisciplinary nature of economics. Economics is viewed as being integral to many of the sweeping concerns of the new millennium, such as environmentalism, internationalism, and the growth of the networked information society. Each new subfield established has necessitated the development of new journals and other forms of publication. This means that not only must economists be familiar with the literature of their own speciality, they also must stay abreast of techniques and theories being developed in other specialities that could be of value to them. 

The American Economic Association’s subject classification scheme, which is used to organize economics literature, is continuously reviewed and modified to reflect these trends. New classifications recently added include information and Internet services, trade and environment, alternative energy sources, technological change, choices and consequences, and economics of gender. 

Following is a selective and, of necessity, subjective list of economics reference works that could form the core of a reference collection. Because many of these sources are scholarly or heavily statistical in nature, they would be most appropriate for an academic library reference collection. They are representative of the types and variety of reference sources that today’s economists use to satisfy their information needs.

Business

Herron, Nancy L. The Social Sciences: A Cross-Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources, 3rd ed. Greenwood Village, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 2002. pp.121-125

Business
Gary W. White
ESSAY 

Business administration and closely related disciplines probably generate more information sources than any other area in the social sciences. The demand by the business community for an array of types of information has driven the publication of print and electronic business resources to an all-time high. There are several recent trends that contribute to the need for data for a variety of purposes.

The United States experienced an unprecedented economic boom during the last ten years. Beginning in 1991, the U.S. economy enjoyed continued economic growth, lower inflation, and lower employment. In fact, consumer inflation in 1999 was only 1.9 percent, the lowest in thirty-four years, 1 and unemployment in November 2000 was below 4 percent. 2 The tremendous stock market boom was at the same time a significant cause of this prosperity as well as a reflection of the economic strength of the United States. As of spring 2000, Federal Reserve data showed that nearly 50 million households, roughly one-half of the United States, now have investments in the stock market. The corresponding growth of online trading and day trading is also significant. A recent report by Forrester Research showed that 26 percent of Americans trade stock online. 3 There has been a correspondingly high demand for information related to investing and other areas of business, such as company or industry information and news, as more and more Americans entered the stock market.

The business downturn that began in late 2000 and has extended into 2002 has brought a new urgency to the demand for business information, economic intelligence, and new paradigms of management.

The rise of the Internet during the 1990s revolutionized the world. In libraries, it changed the very core of information delivery. Business-related informational sites constitute a huge portion of the Internet. In addition to “democratizing investing,” because information is now readily accessible to everyone, the Internet also allows users unlimited potential in the search for information. The myriad of resources can, however, make these searches difficult. Other technological developments, especially those dealing with networking and communicating, further change how businesses operate and the nature of the informational needs of those seeking business information. The other impact of the Internet is the rise of Web-based businesses, or electronic commerce. E-commerce related ventures have contributed to the huge increases in the stock market as well as fundamentally changing how businesses operate and generate revenues. These trends, again, affect the need for informational resources in a variety of formats, especially electronic. To illustrate the impact of the Internet, one writer suggests that things are changing so fast that one business calendar year equals seven Internet business years. 5

The other major trend of the last decade is the globalization of business. The breakdown of political systems in some countries, coupled with advances in telecommunications and the Internet, have allowed companies to enter new markets at an unforeseen pace. The downside is that the United States is now affected by events in other countries, such as the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. 6 In terms of business information needs, globalization of business has created a growing demand for country information, market research, political and economic risk, and demographic data. An awareness of these ongoing trends is important in using and interpreting business information resources. In addition, the value of information is readily apparent to companies operating in today’s global environment. The ability to obtain and apply current information is directly tied to the ability to survive and succeed. The rapid growth and changing nature of business information products reflect this demand.

Functional areas of business
A basic understanding of the major functional areas of business is important in the provision of effective business reference services. The more knowledge one has about each of these areas, the more one increases the understanding of reference queries as well as the ability to locate appropriate sources of information. A summary of the scope of each function, including examples of typical information, follows.

Accounting is the basic system used to record and report data related to the operations and events that affect a company. Accounting data can be used by the management of an organization to plan, make strategic decisions, budget, and track performance. Accounting data are also useful to outside parties, including investors, creditors, and regulatory agencies. The financial data reported by a company to provide a measure of the profitability as exemplified by the income statement, which describes earnings or profits, and the balance sheet, which summarizes assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity. Financial accounting is sometimes referred to as the branch of accounting that provides those outside the organization with information, while managerial accounting refers to accounting data used by the owners and employees of a business.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP) are the rules and procedures used to record and report financial information. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is an independent, non-profit organization that is the primary body determining financial accounting standards in the United States through the creation of new or modification of existing accounting principles. The main purpose of GAAP is to ensure that financial activities over time. Reference works related to GAAP and FASB are covered in this chapter.

Finance is the field of business concerned with maximizing shareholder wealth through the effective management and use of various competing financial resources. Finance encompasses several basic components. Capital budgeting is an area of finance concerned with the cost of capital and the valuation of assets. The second area is corporate finance, which involves the study of finance as it relates to the individual firm. Included are such topics as making investments, acquiring capital, and managing daily cash flow. Money, banking and financial instruments, including stocks, bonds, and treasury securities, make up the third branch of finance.

Management refers to the coordination of all of an organization’s resources, including fixed assets such as property, financial, information resources, and human resources to meet the goals of the organization. Coordination of resources is achieved through planning, acquiring resources, organizing or allocating resources, and controlling. Over the years there have been numerous schools of thought and theories related to management. The most comprehensive definition views management as the integrative process by which individuals create, maintain, and operate an organization through the selection of a set of goals. The discipline is firmly grounded in the behavioral and social sciences, and information seeking in management reflects interest in research on topics such as strategic planning, motivation, job satisfaction, leadership and knowledge management.

Marketing is the business function concerned with getting the firm’s goods or services into the hands of the customer. It includes such activities as product life decisions (including new product information), consumer behavior, pricing, distribution, branding, selling, advertising, and public relations. The four variables that a company can control are known as the four Ps: product, place, promotion, and price. Market research may be the most information-intensive activity of the organization because it is the attempt to uncover critical factors related to new product development, target markets, competitor activities, size and characteristics of the of the market, pricing, and advertising. Most good market researchers are familiar with standard businesses reference materials that may provide information on topics ranging from the disposable income of households in a particular geographic location to the amount of money a competitor is spending on advertising. The section of this chapter entitled “Marketing, Demographics, and Advertising” covers the standard marketing reference materials.

Information is a key commodity that is crucial to the success of a company. However, it typically is not segmented into the various functional areas described above. Rather, information from these areas is integrated and viewed as a strategic resource essential to the entire organization. A single piece of information may be of use to those in various departments and levels of the organization. For example, demographic or economic data will be of interest to managers as well as those in product development and advertising.

Primary versus secondary information
We have already discussed the concept of information as a central, strategic commodity. Information can be further classified as either primary or secondary. Primary data are collected to fill a specific research need. For example, to solve a particular problem or answer some specific questions, a company may decide to collect data through a market research survey or by conducting an experiment. Secondary data consist of information that is collected for purposes other than the research need at hand. Internal secondary data are available within the organization in such sources as accounting statement, sales records, or other information on a company’s intranet. External secondary data are gathered from sources outside the organization, such as suppliers, competitors, customers, and libraries. If a company examines its sale records to gather demographic data about its customers, it is engaged in an examination of internal secondary information. If the same firm decided to conduct a literature search for information on consumers of products similar to their own, this material would also constitute external secondary data. The company is making use of data gathered by someone outside the company for reasons that are related to the company’s information need but were not specifically gathered for that company. This chapter deals exclusively with external secondary data sources available in business libraries.

Key business research concepts
Public and private companies
All companies are classified as either public or private. The differences between private and public companies have an enormous impact on the types of information that a company is required to disclose and that which is made available to the public. Privately owned companies are established either by an individual (single proprietorship), a small group of individuals (partnership), or a larger group of investors (closely held). The funds that are used to establish and operate private companies have been invested by individuals who hope to gain some profit from their investment. Because the company is wholly owned by these individuals, there are limited legal disclosure requirements. Laws governing corporations vary from state to state. Therefore, it is very difficult or impossible to find out what the earned income of the local corner store or gas station has been for the past year. The privately owned firm is simply not required to disclose any financial information to the public, so it usually does not.

Publicly owned firms are companies that are owned by shareholders. The Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 were enacted to oversee the formation and operations of publicly traded corporations, to protect the public from investor fraud, and to require that vital information be provided for public inspection. Public companies therefore publish annual and quarterly reports (among others) that contain financial statements that have been verified for accuracy by major accounting firms. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established to provide oversight and to ensure that disclosure standards are followed by each publicly owned firm. Information from publicly traded companies is available to the general public and is therefore far easier to locate. Information supplied to SEC is used to create many standard business reference sources.

When conducting company research, the first step must always be to establish whether a firm is public or private. If it is public and traded on one of the stock exchanges or over-the-counter (a computerized network of security dealers), it will always be possible to gather financial information about that company. The major stock exchange in the United States is the New York Stock Exchange and the major over-the-counter is the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system). There is also likely to be considered commentary on the company’s prospects or performance provided by analysts and the business press. Researchers can thus find information through annual reports and other SEC filings or through indexing and abstracting services covering the business literature. Sources are described more fully in this chapter under the “Company Information” and “Indexing, Abstracting, and Full-Text” sections.

On the other hand, finding information on the privately owned local company will require completely different tactics. It may be necessary to interview suppliers, competitors, or customers to begin to assess its financial health. Frequently one must rely on industry data as the only reliable secondary source of information available in published format. One other point to bear in mind is that some companies (e.g., banks, public utilities, insurance companies) belong to industries that are regulated by state or federal government agencies. Sometimes these companies are private or subsidiaries of other companies and are not selling stock on the open market. However, they are still required to disclose financial information. A number of the standard business directories listed in this chapter enable the researcher to determine the legal status of a company.

Corporate parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates
Research on public companies can be confusing because a large company can be a parent company (a company that owns or controls another company); a subsidiary (a company owned or controlled by another company, i.e., the parent company); or an affiliate (a company that has an owner at less than 50 percent). Sometimes researchers are also interested in specific divisions or internal units of a company, or joint ventures, which are businesses in which two or more companies own ownership.

The large numbers of mergers and acquisitions over the past decade has had a major impact on the strategy a researcher must use to locate information on a firm. The concept of parent and subsidiary is important with regard to public companies because such companies are legally required to disclose financial information at the parent level. This means that it is sometimes difficult to determine the exact financial status of a subsidiary corporation or to determine how subsidiary performance is affecting the corporation’s overall performance.

Although parent companies are not required to report the segment income of their subsidiaries, many frequently do. The important point to bear in mind is that the information search must initially focus on the parent company if one is attempting to find information about a company that is a subsidiary of another. This chapter presents a number of reference tools that can assist in determining parent and subsidiary relationships as well as other business relationships between companies.

Industries
An industry is a group of companies that are involved in the same type of business. For example, American Airlines and United Airlines are both companies that operate in the air transportation industry. When conducting research on a company, it is also important to gather information on the industry in which it operates. Industry research provides insight into the performance of the specific company in relation to the other companies in the industry. Until recently, industries were classified by a system known as the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. This system, developed by the Office of Management and Budget of the U.S. federal government, assigns four-digit codes to each industry. This system, in place for over fifty years, has recently been replaced with the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). The six-digit NAICS code will provide more specific industry classifications. In addition, NAICS includes over 350 industries, including many service and technology industries, not classified by SIC. The “Industry” section of this chapter covers the SIC and NAICS systems in more detail and covers the standard reference sources for conducting industry research.

Business periodical literature
For those conducting research, it is critical to have an understanding of the distinctions among trade, popular, and scholarly journals. Trade journals are typically published for a specific industry and are produced primarily for practitioners in that industry. Many trade journals are published by professional trade associations for a particular industry. Examples are Advertising Age, Air Transport World, Supermarket News, and Chemical Week. Many of these journals publish important information about the industry that may be difficult to locate elsewhere.

Popular business titles are those titles available at newsstands. They are aimed at a mass audience and are typically distributed on a national basis. These titles provide coverage of the major events and trends affecting businesses, as well as articles on specific companies or individuals. Examples are Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., and Money. Many of these titles publish reference information, such as the Fortune 500 or Business Week’s ranking of business schools.

Timeliness of information is essential to meet the needs of researchers and those in the business community. An awareness of the scope and structure of the business periodical literature is necessary to have a good overview of how to conduct research and find information. The indexing and abstracting services section of this chapter are important tools to navigate the business periodical literature.

In organizing and outlining the most important guides, handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference sources, arrangement can be either by format (e.g., handbook) or by type (e.g. company information). However, business information sources generally fall into both types of categories. Thus, this chapter is arranged by dual fashion. The result is that users will have a good overview of major business reference sources by type and by format. However, sources are not duplicated.

The sources presented in this chapter will provide the business researcher with a good overview of the basic business reference sources that are found in most libraries. A familiarity with these sources and the information they provide will aid any librarian serving those with business-related questions.

Finding numeric data

Finding Numeric Data
http://web.archive.org/web/20040925080339/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/Learn/eManual/chapter.cfm?fldChapterID=11&fldHeading=41

Finding Numeric Data:Stats Can
http://web.archive.org/web/20040516153141/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/Learn/eManual/chapter.cfm?fldChapterID=11&fldHeading=39

Education

From: Herron, Nancy L. The Social Sciences: A Cross Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources, 3rd ed. Greenwood Village, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 2002. pp. 289-295
Education
Justina O. Osa
ESSAY

Nature of the Discipline 

Education, broadly defined, involves the instruction and training by which people learn to use their physical, moral, and cognitive powers. It can also be defined “as the deliberate, systematic and sustained effort to transmit, evoke, or acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, skills and sensibilities, and any learning that results from the effort, intended or unintended.” 1 Although much of the human learning occurs informally and even unconsciously, most societies have institutionalized some aspects of education. The discipline of education, as a profession and as a scholarly enterprise, is concerned primarily with formal human learning. In this light, Page and Thomas define education as the “process in which one achieves social competence and individual growth, carried on in a selected, controlled setting which can be institutionalized as a school or college.”

Each of the many participants involved in formalizing education carries out different roles. Teachers used to practice the art and science of imparting “to each generation the organized knowledge of the past.” 3 Today the passive acceptance of information that leads to knowledge is passé. Currently teachers are being called upon to package learning materials in such a way that students are stimulated to put their own personal stamp, as it were, on what they are learning. The voice of advocates of active, self-initiated learning is loud and clear. The theory of constructivism is gaining ground and is being applied to instructional activities. 

Constructivism is a theory, based on research from constructive psychology, that advocates that people learn by constructing their own knowledge through an active learning process, rather than by simply absorbing knowledge directly from another source. 4 Teachers are now being expected to assume the role of facilitator, coach, and guide in the teaching and learning process. In an effort to increase their knowledge, students make a serious study of subjects while actively constructing knowledge based on their individual personal context of prior knowledge, skills, dispositions, and feelings. Policy makers influence the conditions under which education occurs by being responsible for the authoritative educational decisions that guide other decisions. 5 

As a result of society demanding change and accountability in the educational arena, policy makers and leaders are faced with complex and multifaceted questions about educational policy making, finance, governance, and management. Scholars of education study the institutionalized process of education in its various settings. At the present time, scholars are being called upon to conduct research that will help devise creative and effective strategies to bring about the changes and reform that are desperately needed to create a fulfilling educational experience. 

Education and the social sciences
Education comprises the formal and informal educational practices from infancy through adulthood, as well as all the knowledge from scholarly disciplines associated with education. A wide range of social science and humanities disciplines form the “foundations” of knowledge in education: psychology, sociology, history, philosophy, economics, anthropology, political science, and law.  

Education is not, precisely speaking, a science but rather a profession that uses virtually all of the social science methods, concepts, and theories. 6 For this reason, educational research has a definite interdisciplinary flavour. For example, much research is done in the history of education. The sociology of education concentrates on education as a social enterprise, examining the behavior and processes of groups in social institutions. The anthropology of education studies the educational functions within “primitive” societies and also anthropological methodologies such as ethnography to the study of education in modern settings. 

Researchers in the economics of education study the production and utilization of resources in society, drawing on related concepts from business administration, political science, and management. Educational policy analysts study matters such as federal, state, and local influence on education; school and university governance; educational law; and other issues derived from the general area of political economy. As a final example, educational psychology studies individual students and teachers in educational settings, focusing on such aspects as human development, attitudes, values, learning theory, metacognition, and learning models. 

Academic subdisciplines of education
Like most academic subjects, education is actually a loosely conjoined group of subspecialities. Although not all educational researchers would necessarily agree with the details of the discussion presented here, it is offered as one way to conceptualize the discipline of education. Another way to become familiar with educational specialities and methodological perspectives is to read relevant encyclopedia articles. 7 

Education as rational activity
The philosophy of education can be divided into two areas: normative, which is concerned with assessing educational aims and purposes, and analytical, which is concerned with explaining and clarifying basic educational terminology and concepts. 8 According to Watson, the philosophy of education tries to interpret the meaning of educational processes by showing its relationship to other human activities. 9 Philosophy of education specialists try to make educators aware of assumptions by asking questions such as, “Who should be educated?” “How should they be educated?” “To what extent does a particular educational system perpetrate injustice?” and “What is the proper way to teach ethical concepts?” 10 Philosophy of education also stimulates reflection on basic issues and concepts that are cardinal to education. Some of these include teaching, learning, knowledge, being educated, and the construct of a “good life”. The major philosophies that have influenced education in America are realism, idealism, pragmatism, progressivism, perennialism, essentialism, and existentialism. 

Educational research uses the same methods as researchers in the social, behavioral, biological, and physical sciences. 11 It is a systematic study of the field of education. The educational researcher uses many research methods and designs such as experimental, survey, historical, ethnographic, literary, and program evaluation. The literature of this academic area frequently addresses questions of validity and reliability. 

Educational specialists
Some educational practitioners and researchers specialize in a particular level of institutionalized education, roughly defined by age cohort. Early childhood education (birth to age eight) concentrates on the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of very young children. Infant education (birth to age three), a subset of early childhood education, has an added emphasis on parent/child relationships. These two fields draw heavily on the literatures of child psychology, developmental psychology, and human ecology (also known as family consumer sciences, child and family studies, or home economics). 

Other level-based educational specialities include elementary (grades 1-8), secondary (grades 9-12), and higher or postsecondary education. Professional educators and scholars in all three areas can concentrate on different subspecialities, such as instruction and curriculum development; administration; program evaluation; educational psychology; educational technology; and bilingual, multicultural, or special education. 

Educational inquiry also can center on non-traditional delivery systems—that is, institutionalized systems not necessarily associated with particular age cohorts. Adult and continuous education, sometimes referred to as “lifelong,” “recurrent,” or “informal” education, is an increasingly popular field. Education has become not just a period of formal schooling in students’ lives but life-long engagement. Many types of programs can be offered on a continuing education basis, such as literacy training, career development, vocational/technical training, equivalency education, professional development, and education for personal enhancement. Distance education, which includes independent study and correspondence or home study, is delivery of education for non-traditional students who are unable to attend in normal settings due to geographic isolation, job obligations, physical condition, or other limitations. Advances in new technologies now provide a broad range of technological options to those involved in distance education. Distance education increasingly uses such modern mass communication technology as interactive videoconferencing and electronic instructional audio tools, video tools, electronic data, computer-assisted instruction, computer-managed instruction, and computer-meditated education. Print materials are also used in distance learning. They include study guides, handouts, workbooks, textbooks, and course syllabi. 

Management of educational systems
Educational administration “is concerned… with directing and managing human energy in order to accomplish educational objects which have been formulated by governmental authority and expressed in written policies.” 12 Most people in this field focus on the management or leadership of schools and school systems. Educational administrators often assume many roles in the discharge of their duties. They are leaders, managers, initiators, crisis managers, facilitators, coaches, guides, dispensers of rewards and punishments, mediators, judges, counselors, and comforters. For these activities they need to be well grounded in administrative theory and techniques, politics, school, school law, finance, personnel, psychology, human relations, and other related areas. 

Teaching
Specialists in curriculum and instruction used to concentrate on the systematic transmission of information. The emphasis in teaching has moved away from a model of expert delivery of knowledge from the custodian of knowledge, the teacher, to the student, the empty glass coming to the class to be filled. Teaching has moved to a model in which the classroom becomes a community of learners. Those involved in curriculum and instruction analyze particular subjects—political science, economics, foreign language, science—to design developmentally appropriate instructional activities. Educational media technologists specialize in the creation of materials and procedures for individual students through the use of a variety of multimedia delivery systems, such as computer-assisted learning and interactive television. The marriage between teaching and technology is gaining increased attention as a current trend and issue in education. When one looks into the crystal ball that holds the future of technology in teaching, one finds that the image is clear in places, cloudy in others, but surely a presence is observable. Many in the field of education would prefer that pedagogy drive the use of technology and that technology remain a tool to enhance teaching and learning. 

Learning
Educational psychologists, interested in both cognitive and affective differences among individual students, design and administer tests that measure levels of achievement, aptitude, intelligence, and other personal characteristics. They also carry out research on the psychology of the learning process. The study of multiple intelligence is influencing the theory of how people learn. Howard Gardner, the father of multiple intelligence, asserts that there is not a single intelligence, but rather seven. His view is that multiple intelligences are seven different ways to demonstrate intellectual ability. The seven types of multiple intelligences are visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, bodily/kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. 13 

Guidance and counseling specialists use knowledge about normal human growth and development to help students solve personal problems or make career and educational choices. In recent years experts in the field have written extensively about redesigning school counseling programs into a comprehensive format. Integral to the Comprehensive School Counseling Model is the developmental approach. It is an attempt to identify certain life skills and experiences that students need to have as part of going to school and preparing for adulthood. They learn more about themselves and others in advance of problem moments in their lives. The eight strands included in the Comprehensive Developmental Guidance Program (pre-K through 12) are (1) self-knowledge and acceptance, (2) interpersonal and communication skills, (3) responsible behavior, (4) conflict resolution, (5) decision making/problem solving, (6) motivation to achieve, (7) goal setting, and (8) career planning. 14 

Educational occupations
Some educators concentrate on preparing students for particular occupations. Professional pedagogies (e.g. music education, art education, physical education) prepare students to teach in these areas. Professional education prepares students to be competent practitioners of specialized occupations such as medicine, nursing, or law. Vocational, cooperative, or distributive education is part of the baccalaureate degree. 15 Teacher education transmits to future teachers the “body of knowledge and skills surrounding the process of learning and teaching.” 16 It also provides continuing educational training for practicing teachers and can be formal or informal courses, seminars, or workshops. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) monitors how effectively teacher education programs prepare students to teach. NCATE is the only national body charged with the responsibility for maintaining standards and ensuring accountability and continuous improvement in teacher preparation in all teacher education programs. NCATE develops standards and design strategies and processes to ensure and maintain quality in teacher preparation through the initial and continuing accreditation of teacher education professional units at all levels. The new NCATE standards are performance based and have moved from “know what” to “know how”. 

Special cohorts
Other areas of educational practice and research focus on specific groups within society. “Multicultural education is an educational process or strategy involving more than one culture, as defined by national, linguistic, ethnic, or racial criteria.” 17 The aim of multicultural education is to recognize the integrity, contributions, strengths, and viability of people from different backgrounds, while helping students adjust to a modern pluralistic society. 18 The changing demographic characteristics of the American population, and consequently American schools, is a major ongoing phenomenon that characterizes the social fabric of American society and schools. Multicultural education aspires to help all students develop positive cross-cultural attitudes, values, dispositions, perceptions, and behaviors. Multicultural educators believe that identity and positive self-esteem are based on the pride that each child has in his or her cultural group’s history, achievements, solidarity, and loyalty. This belief drives the mandate that the school curriculum, instructional materials and activities, school personnel and school services reflect the multicultural nature of the student body. 

Special education provides educational services designed for exceptional students. Exceptional students are defined as those who have physical, mental, or behavioral disabilities. Special education law and practices have greatly increased access to activities and opportunities that used to be withheld from these students. The inclusion movement promotes the integration of students with disabilities into the regular classroom as opposed to putting students with disabilities in separate schools or classes. Supporters of full inclusion argue that that the practice of segregated education for students with disabilities is a violation of their rights to receive an education as good as that being offered to “regular” students. Both advocates and opponents of inclusion use budgetary reasons to defend their stands. A genuine cooperation between the special education and general education teachers is a crucial variable in the success of inclusion policy. Gifted and talented students are often considered part of this population. 

At-risk education is targeted for a more specific population than either urban or multicultural education and is designed to help students who are likely to fail or be failed by the educational system. It is designed for students who have a high probability of dropping out of school or not achieving in school. The issue of at-risk students has generated a major concern for educators. There is an increase in studies and developmental activities designed to improve the education of students at risk. Some of the predicaments of this group of learners are due to disadvantaged background, low socioeconomic status of their families, geographical location, and weak language and numerical skills. At-risk education includes early intervention programs, specialized curricula, and development of retention and reentry programs. 19 

Urban education is concerned primarily with education that occurs in, and is affected by, the various factors generated by an urban environment. Urban educational specialists can be challenged by having to deal with such problems as a diverse student population, racial segregation, violence, poor housing and living conditions, and significant teacher turnover. Diane Ravitch strongly believes that the new wave of school reform now underway rejects the idea that the failure of a huge proportion of poor children in the inner cities is inevitable. The rescue of urban schools entails dismantling entrenched and patronage-driven school board bureaucracies, holding schools accountable for their performance, and encouraging well-planned experimentation with charter and contract schools and vouchers. 20 

Comparative and international education
As we move into the early part of the twenty-first century, we find a growing set of international economic and social imperatives that are stimulating the globalization of education. Because schooling serves as a strategic instrument for promoting national economic development, globalization of educational policy and reform leads to a significant increase in the emphasis on global awareness. 21 Arnove observed that comparative and international education is enjoying a renaissance. Globalization has infused the ever-present need to learn about each other with an unprecedented urgency and emphasis. 22 

Education and technology
It is expected that a high proportion of jobs in our nation in the future will require some level of computing skills. Positions in education will certainly be affected by the use of computer technology. In educational situations, computers mediate the flow of information, communications, and instructional materials. 23 It is not surprising, therefore, to find that advances in electronic technology are transforming education, causing the educational process to be redesigned, and changing the way students, both young and old, are learning. Technology is promoting the effectiveness of school reform. It enhances the development of new methods of teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom. There are online resources such as lesson plans, simulations, course materials, and research sources to assist both students and teachers in the teaching and learning process. Data, picture, video, and sound bytes are used to revolutionize education. Technology is removing classroom walls as students and teachers interact with colleagues and experts through chat rooms, live video conference, e-mail, and fax machines. Students, teachers, administrators, educational researchers, educational psychologists, educational media technologists, educational specialists, and others involved in the educational process are finding dramatic changes occurring in how they define and carry out their roles. 

In the computer-based learning environment, students are becoming more active learners and better prepared for the digital economy they will function in as adults, and teachers are becoming facilitators. Administrators at all levels are dealing with the cost of providing new resources, as well as using the capabilities of the technologies to improve their work environment. Educational researchers are finding that the Internet and e-mail are having a dramatic effect by facilitating cooperative efforts between participants who are widely separated geographically. Educational psychologists are seeing an effect on learner thinking and the entire learning process. Educational media technologists are facilitating the use of interactive videoconferencing, which is particularly useful in the delivery of distance education. The new technologies are opening up significantly increased educational possibilities for the at-risk student and the disabled. 

Electronic formats will continue to expand and enrich learning experiences. The challenge to education is to integrate the new technology into the instructional programs and to use it to improve learning, reduce costs, and increase accessibility to information. 

The reference environment
Many different types of people use the educational resources in the library. Members of the community are often involved on school boards or in parent-teacher organizations, or are simply concerned about current educational issues. High school students and their parents need information about colleges and the financing of a college education. Professional educators are interested in current developments in curriculum, education technology, and management. These people may either be searching for how-to literature or need scholarly materials. Educational policy makers at all levels of government seek data and opinions on the current status and possible future directions of education. Finally, educational scholars need access to the full range of bibliographic sources and research literature. 

As is always true in a reference situation, the librarian should identify resources appropriate to the needs of the individual in terms of subject, purpose, level of research, and format. For example, the needs of members of the community interested in current educational issues may well be met by popular, nonscholarly sources such as current magazines and newspapers. High school students and their parents, as well as undergraduates seeking information related to college selection, can find the answers to many of their questions in institutional and financial aid directories. 

Professional educators need to ground their practice in the best theories of the day, but they do not always have the time to read the primarily literature. Therefore, professional or trade journals, handbooks, and other meditating sources may meet their needs. A good professional should be aware of the important periodicals and major organizations that produce practitioner-oriented literature in the field. 24 Two of the most important tools for the busy practitioner are ERIC (I-68), a vast database maintained by the Educational Resources Information Center, and Educational Index (I-65).  

The needs of policy makers and scholars, including education students, are more complex and involve the whole range of material from primary to tertiary and from popular to theoretical. One important source of primary information in education is a series of national data-gathering programs largely financed by federal funds, listed in the biography current edition of 2001 edition of The Condition of Education (I-147) as NCES surveys. 25 Examples of educational datasets generated by these programs are the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), a yearly survey of postsecondary educational institutions in the United States, and the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. These information-gathering programs result in large numerical databases that can be manipulated by the individual researcher. 

Other sources of information potentially useful to the policy maker, scholar, student, or general citizen are listed in this chapter. Titles have been chosen according to their importance to the field. This list is necessarily selective and not comprehensive, and with the exception of a few retrospective titles and some classics in the field, titles included in this chapter represent basic education reference tools. Three books listed in the section on guides are particularly good for information on educational reference books omitted from the present discussion: Nancy O’Brien’s Core List of Books and Journals in Education (I-3), Dorothea Berry’s Bibliographic Guide to Education Research (I-4), and Peter Olevnik’s American Higher Education: A Guide to Reference Sources (I-2).

Given education’s close relationship to virtually all of the social sciences, the researcher must be cautioned not to limit inquiry to sources specifically identified as “educational.” Education is by nature an interdisciplinary field, and researchers and librarians should keep in mind that there may be vital materials located in other areas of the collection than in the obvious (Library of Congress) L class and the (Dewey) 300s. 

The librarian must be prepared to draw on any source listed in this book when dealing with an educational reference question. A major case in point is educational psychology, where much of the primary source material is covered by sources identified as “psychological” rather than “educational”. For this reason, only one educational psychology title is included in this chapter, The Handbook of School Psychology (J-66). Readers should refer to chapter 10 for important educational psychology sources, especially the “Works on Tests and Measurements” section.

Business

“Business is like oil. It won’t mix with anything but business.”

-J. Graham.

“In business, when things aren’t working it’s time to mix it up.”

-Donald Trump, The Apprentice

“When you work your own business, you only have to work half a day. You can do anything you want with the other twelve hours.”

-Anonymous

“Business administration and closely related disciplines probably generate more information sources than any other area in the social sciences.”

-Gary W. White. “Business.” in Herron, Nancy L. Social Sciences: A Cross-Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources. 3d ed.

Considerable overlap between economics and business
Major functional areas

• Accounting
• Finance
• Management
• Marketing

Business research concepts

• Public company
• Public(ly held) companies are companies whose ownership is publicly traded. These companies are legally required by government agencies to disclose certain financial information to their shareholders. In Canada, public companies are subject to federal and provincial laws.
• Private company
• is owned by one or a few owners. Share ownership is not traded on an open market. Some private companies may require approval of sale/purchase of shares by a board of directors.
• not required to make their financial information public
• Parent company, subsidiaries, affiliates
• Industries
• Group of companies involved in the same type of business http://www.statcan.ca/english/Subjects/Standard/

Types of business periodicals

• Trade journals
• Typically for practitioners in a specific industry, often published by professional trade associations, e.g. Foodservice and Hospitatlity.
• Popular
• Available at newsstands, e.g. Canadian Business, Forbes
• Scholarly
• Aimed at academic users, e.g. Business Quarterly

Characteristics of business reference

• Rapid change
• Complicated
• Hidden information
• Fragmentation
• Bad information (important to use more than one source to confirm data)
• Lack of analysis or interpretation of data
• Poorly prepared users

Business information libraries

• Some public libraries have provided services to the business community for many years, tend to be in major population centres, e.g. Vancouver Public Library
• Divisions in businesses
• Canada/Manitoba Business Service Centre Library http://v1.canadabusiness.mb.ca//home_page/research__our_library/
• Over country, co-operative between federal and provincial governments, focus on entrepreneurs
• Local businesses

Business information specialist

• Current awareness essential
• Local, national, international
• Need to network with others in the business library field
• emails
• listservs
• Must keep up with current business terminology
• Must be comfortable working with numbers
• Online searching more important for business/economics than any other social science
• Online sources typically more current and comprehensive
• Average person will use Google to search, businesses may want money to provide information

Popular search topics

• Company information
• Competitive intelligence
• Know the competition and what they are doing so one can incorporate and gain
• Industry/trade information
• NAICS or SICS codes
• Management theory/best practice
• e.g. TQM total quality management – associated with Japan, came out of US with a band wagon effect, varieties include team building
• Business climate
• Is it a good time to start? Is it a good time to expand?
• Legal and regulatory
• How to begin and maintain a small business
• Popular product service
• Career and jobs
• Looking for positions instead of businesses to run

Business information sources and formats

• Company product catalogs and price lists
• e.g. Thomas Register
• Annual reports, especially financial reports
• House organs (internal magazines/newspapers)
• Company and market studies by investment firms and banks
• Weigh pros and cons
• Working papers (discussion drafts of studies), especially regulatory agencies, financial and stock analysts, and trade associations (not all of these will be formally published). Finding aids include
• Economic Literature (known as EconLit)
• Social Science Research Network
• free links to working papers http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/DisplayAbstractSearch.cfm
• Directories especially important
• Local newspapers may have information not found elsewhere especially on smaller businesses
• Standards
• Business statics
• Governments especially prone to releasing as pdf files which are harder to manipulate

Statistical sources

• Statistics Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html
• Bank of Canada http://www.bankofcanada.ca/
• FedStats [U.S.] http://www.fedstats.gov/
• Stat-USA http://www.stat-usa.gov/
• World Bank Data and Statistics http://data.worldbank.org/

Information users

• Business persons
• Middle and senior management rarely use library personally, prefer personal networking
• When library used often dealing with a proxy, e.g. admin assistant, secretary
• Increased chance of miscommunication of actual want
• Post secondary instructors
• Current information about changing global business climate
• Reference sources on variety of firms, industries, markets, e.g. annual reports
• New approaches to management
• Post secondary business students
• Often work in groups or teams researching a particular company, product, or market
• Trendy management literature popular
• Preference for Internet sources
• Non business post secondary students
• Career and job market information
• K-12 students and teachers
• Current career information
• Laypersons
• Job material (hot, high paying, jobs of the future)
• How to locate job listings
• Resume writing, interviewing
• Starting a small business
• Financial management/planning
• Retirement planning
• “Suspect” titles abound, items should be popular yet authoritative
• Beware of American (U.S.) titles in areas where Canadian legislation differs
• Never give advice

Economics

If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion. 

George Bernard Shaw 

There are only two problems in my life. The political ones are insoluble and the economic ones are incomprehensible.

Alexander Douglas Horne

 What is economics?

• Economics is the study of how human beings coordinate their wants and desires, given the decision-making mechanisms, social customs, and political realities of the society.
• Economics is the study of how individuals and societies choose to use the scarce resources that nature and previous generations have provided.

Economics is…

• The science of wealth. – Adam Smith (Father of Economics)
• The study of men in the ordinary business of life. – Alfred Marshall
• The study of how society uses its scarce resources. – Economics A-Z (Economist.com)
• A study of supply and demand.
• The term economics was coined around 1870 and popularized by Alfred Marshall, as a substitute for the earlier term political economy which had been used through the 18-19th centuries, with Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx as its main thinkers and which today is frequently referred to as the “classical” economic theory. Both economy and economics are derived from the Greek oikos- for “house” or “settlement”, and nomos for “laws” or “norms”.

Definitions
Definitions of economics on the Web: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&lr&cr=countryCA&oi=defmore&q=define:economics

Dept. of Economics. U of Manitoba. https://web.archive.org/web/20071129220541/http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/departments/economics/index.html 

Economics

• Since failures of economic systems have lead to famines, depressions and pressures that lead to war and revolution, economics has been referred to as “the dismal science.
• http://www.bized.co.uk/sites/bized/files/images/econintromap.gif

Two main branches

• Microeconomics is the branch of economics that examines the functioning of individual industries and the behavior of individual decision-making units—that is, business firms and households.
• Macroeconomics is the branch of economics that examines the economic behaviour of aggregates—income, output, employment and so on—on a national scale.

Microeconomics

• Microeconomics is the study of individual choice, and how that choice is influenced by economic forces.
• Microeconomics studies such things as:
• The pricing policy of firms
• Households’ decisions on what to buy
• How markets allocate resources among alternative ends

Macroeconomics

• Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole.
• It considers the problems of inflation, unemployment, business cycles, and economic growth.
• Studies the entire economy in terms of the total amount of goods and services produced, total income earned, the level of employment of productive resources, and the general behavior of prices
• Can be used to analyze how best to influence policy goals such as economic growth, price stability, full employment and the attainment of a sustainable balance of payments

Two main branches

• Microeconomics
• concerned with the small economic unit e.g. the household, a commodity, or an industry
• dedicated to study of resource allocation (“making ends meet’)
• Macroeconomics
• economic relationships on the large scale
  (John Maynard Keynes. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. 1936)
• Microecomics
• impact of a plant closing on buying behaviour of employees' households
• Macroeconomics
• effect of plant closings on the unemployment rate of a province or country

Examples of Micro/Macro concerns

	Production	Prices	Income	Employment
Micro- economics	Production output in individual  industries & businesses How much steel How many offices How many cars	Price of individual Goods & Services Price of medical care Price of gasoline Food prices Apartment rents	Distribution of Income & Wealth Wages in the auto industry Minimum wages Executive salary Poverty	Employment by Individual Businesses Industries Jobs in the steel industry Number of employees in a firm
Macro-economics	National Production Output Total Industrial Output Gross Domestic Product Growth Output	Aggregate Price Level Consumer prices Producer prices Rate of Inflation	National Income Total wages & salaries Total corporate profits	Employment &  Unemployment in the Economy Total number of jobs Unemployment rate

Classical economics

• Dates from publication of Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of the Nations in 1776
• conflict versus growth; can’t count on everything in times of crisis and revolutions
• Smith established the school of “political economy” [early name for economics]
• Classical economics attempted to derive laws that would explain and predict production, distribution and consumption
• things were changing, needed to record
• Other noted political economists: David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Jean Baptiste Say, Thomas Malthus
• Malthus noted that there were too many people in the world

Neoclassical

• Focused on supply and demand and saw economic activity as the outcome of choice
• Microeconomic orientation
• Neoclassical theory holds that individuals, households, and companies rationally serve their best interests and that competition sorts out prices, wages, and the markets for goods and labor as the economy moved toward equilibrium.
• Noted figure: Alfred Marshall.

Keysian economics

• Based on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, as put forward in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936 in response to the Great Depression of the 1930s
• Keynes believed market forces will not guarantee full employment so government intervention is needed
• Macroeconomic is in focus

To understand my state of mind, however, you have to know that I believe myself to be writing a book on economic theory which will largely revolutionize—not, I suppose, at once but in the course of the next ten years—the way the world thinks about economic problems. When my new theory has been duly assimilated and mixed with politics and feelings and passions I can’t predict what the upshot will be in its effects on action and affairs. But there will be a great change…

-John Maynard Keynes

Economics

• A mathematically based discipline
• consists of charts and graphics
• Econometrics (application of statistics to economics) fastest growing field
• Era of the global economy
• NAFTA, WTO, EEC
• Economists advise business, insurance companies, banks, securities firms, industry and trade associations, labor unions, and government agencies. They frequently prepare detailed, quantitative reports about business and economical and financial states.

Sources for economic data

The most important include:

• National government agencies
• Trade associations
• Stock and commodity exchanges
• Banks, other financial institutions
• Newspapers, business periodicals
• Credit institutions
• Insurance companies
• Mutual fund managers
• Stock brokers

Problems and trends

• decline in the number of undergraduate students majoring in economics

Enrolement 92/93	11,299	Enrolement 96/97	8,437	-25.3
Degrees granted 92/93	4,446	Degrees granted 96/97	3,179	-28.5

[Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences http://web.archive.org/web/20040201043108/http://www.fedcan.ca/english/policyandadvocacy/researchprojects/policycontexts.cfm]

• Much research done outside universities
• Difficult to understand – jargon
• Requires competency in mathematics
• Intertwining with politics
• Neglected in typical K-12 curriculum
• Increasing specialization

Economics

• Access to stats critical
• Government publications
• International organizations esp. UN
• Economic indicators (housing stats, inflation, business loans, retail sales, etc.) see http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/indi02a-eng.htm
• Working papers (gray literature)
• Many available over the Internet e.g. EconWPA http://128.118.178.162/

Information users

• University/college teachers
• Heavy reliance on textbooks
• Current issues + economic history & thought
• Methodology at undergrad level; how do you teach?
• K-12 teachers
• Clear popular treatments of basic issues
• Topical issues, e.g. home financing planning
• Adults
• Investment information, RRSPs, RESPs, state of the economy and predictions about future that are clear and easy to understand
• Children/teens
• Material to support school curriculum
• Saving for university
• Economic aspects of marriage and family