Finding business resources Through the State Library of WA website

A note on using this presentation… All links were working as of 12 July 2004 It is recommended you shut your browser after viewing each link, as the back button doesn’t always return you to the correct part of the presentation Click to begin!

SLWA website – a gateway to business information… Information Gateways and hot topics Search the catalogue Search other knowledge bases …links to other libraries’ catalogues.

Information gateways Gateways provide a guide to the resources in the Alexander Library Building as well as links to external websites. A gateway will get you started in an unfamiliar subject area as well as providing quick links to frequently used websites.

Doing business in WA Law Government

Hot topics in business

Hot topics provide more focused guides to library resources and websites. Business hot topics include: Australian company information Exporting/importing Goods & Service Tax Overseas companies Starting a Business Telephone no.s and postcodes Unclaimed Money Business of Art Identify a scam Finding career information

Finding business information with the State Library Catalogue Don’t be afraid to start with “quick and dirty” searches   Use a keyword search to begin and move to a subject seach if necessary E.g china commerce directories

Some useful business keywords… For keyword searching or limiting by words in subject (you can combine them for greater effect!)  Directories      Statistics Rankings Periodicals Newspapers Commerce e.g. korea statistics e.g. corporations rankings e.g. accounting periodicals e.g. melbourne newspapers

Narrowing your search… Alexander Library versus Public Library Stock   E.g HIH collapse Search on “Alexander Library Building” and then “Public Library Stock” from the drop down menu that currently says “Entire Collection” and compare results!

Narrowing your search…cont.

Limit/Sort search   Try limiting or sorting each of the following searches… Monograph/serial/index e.g. search for and limit by serial fortune    Words in:    TITLE AUTHOR SUBJECT e.g. ireland limited by statistics Year / Sort by year e.g. most recent books on accounting Publisher e.g. beauty items published by entrepreneur business centre.

Widening your search… Truncation e.g. export* Boolean operators, the default is AND but you can also use:   OR NOT Be cautious!

Reading catalogue records Look at the differences between the following records … Monographs e.g. Top stocks Serials Note that public libraries tend to have monograph records for items that the State Library records as a serial…e.g. Australian writers marketplace Index records e.g. BRW fast 100

Using the catalogue to link to external sites Directories   Kompass Hoovers Buyers guide issues of journals  VM+SD  Power Reports and other publications  SBDC annual report  Role of auctions / Productivity Commission Note that content may not be identical, just related Please report broken links!

What you won’t find in the catalogue… ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) publications are NOT currently on the catalogue Use the ABS website to identify Library Extension Program items – we hold them all!

Searching other library catalogues… Search Other Knowledge Bases universities) useful for students!

provides links to other library catalogues (mostly National Bibliographic Database (Kinetica), more useful for non students, searched by ALB reference staff.

Need to take it further?

Ask a (a fellow) librarian     Phone the business reference desk (08) 9427 3222 Email AskUs [email protected]

Visit us at the Alexander Library Building Live reference at AskNow (suitable for short questions that can be answered on the internet)

Thankyou!

Slides Prepared by Frances Hammond Reference Librarian Business & Management State Library of Western Australia Updated 12 July 2004