Resources & Reference Materials: Library & Reference Services

For a business owner, obtaining the right information is as important as finding the right location, or getting the best price.

Matthew Spirn
Matthew Spirn, a success story from the Farmingdale SBDC, made good use of research from the Research Network.

The Small Business Development Center in New York is one of only a few SBDCs in the U.S.  with a full-time library (which we call the Research Network).  Its services are available for free, but only to New York SBDC clients.

This is a fraction of what our librarians can offer:

  • Identifying local competitors
  • Ring studies providing demographic information
  • Tables and maps showing consumer spending habits
  • Finding relevant trade association or regulatory contacts
  • Locating articles written about ventures similar to yours
  • Providing financial norms and ratios for your industry
  • Conducting preliminary patent or trademark searches

And much more.  There are many free resources on the Internet, but a lot of critical information is beyond the reach of a search engine.  The Research Network has access to many databases that clients might not otherwise have. 

Recent blog posts from the

Since 1992, the Research Network has provided in-depth research for over 25,000 clients.  Here’s what some of them have had to say:

“I want to thank you for the demographic study you prepared for me. I don’t think I could have gotten a better study if I would have hired a firm to do it.”

“I wanted to personally thank you for helping with the research that went into our market analysis and marketing strategy.  You helped in our winning a business plan competition at the Brooklyn Public Library!”

“I have spent quite a bit of time with the information you sent me.  It is an enormous amount of information, and I found it extremely useful for writing my marketing plan and putting together my budget.  It looks to be a very promising year.”

“Thanks for all the tremendous market research.”

If you’re not a client of the New York SBDC, you can get a taste of what the library offers by reading its blog.  It’s been around since May 2005, and features neat material discovered by the librarians since that time:

http://sbdcrn.blogspot.com

If you’re not a client of the SBDC, but want to be, then go here:

http://www.nyssbdc.org/selector/selector.html

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In NY State (800) 732-SBDC
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Partnership Program with the SBA, administered by the State University of New York. Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.  All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. All SBA funded programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.