The Core Business Web: A Guide to Key Information Resources

Citation

Reid, C.D. (2005), "The Core Business Web: A Guide to Key Information Resources", Library Review, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 69-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530510574192

The explosive growth of the internet has resulted in an ever‐increasing number of web sites that offer potentially useful business information to researchers. However finding the most appropriate sites for your needs does not get any easier. The aim of this volume is to identify, evaluate and summarise key authoritative business sites and thus reduce the many wasted hours we all spend trawling through unproductive web sites. The idea for the volume arose out of the “Best of the best business web sites” (www.ala.org/rusa/brass/besthome.html), a web site created and maintained by members of the Education Committee of the Business Reference and Services Section of the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association.

A total of 25 business areas are dealt with, each in a separate chapter. These are:

1. 1.

   accounting;

2. 2.

   banking;

3. 3.

   business ethics;

4. 4.

   business law;

5. 5.

   academic business library web sites;

6. 6.

   business statistics;

7. 7.

   career information and salary surveys;

8. 8.

   company information;

9. 9.

   consumer information;

10. 10.

    demographic data;

11. 11.

    economics;

12. 12.

    e‐commerce;

13. 13.

    finance and investment;

14. 14.

    hospitality and tourism;

15. 15.

    human resources and organizational behaviour;

16. 16.

    industry information;

17. 17.

    insurance;

18. 18.

    knowledge management;

19. 19.

    labour and collective bargaining;

20. 20.

    management;

21. 21.

    marketing and advertising;

22. 22.

    operations management;

23. 23.

    real estate;

24. 24.

    small business and entrepreneurship; and

25. 25.

    taxation.

Each chapter begins with a useful introduction before listing the “best” sites for the area being covered. Sites have been chosen based on timeliness, relevance and reliability of content, ease of navigation and use, and the authority of the compiler. Where the topic permits, metasites, portals and international sites are identified. The descriptive paragraphs accompanying each listed web site are extremely valuable. As the chapters are written in the main by academic business librarians, we are given the benefits of their first hand, practical experiences of the subject area.

The sites listed in most chapters are a mix of free and fee based. Reading the description of sites, it is not always apparent into which category a site fits. Jen Venable, who considers industry information, is however very clear – “I believe the ‘best of the web’ are resources that are both high in quality and free of charge”. Descriptions also do not always include the name of the compiler, eg there is no indication that BUBL Link is produced and maintained at the University of Strathclyde. Some standardisation of entries would considerably enhance this collection.

A 34 page index completes the volume. This however is perhaps the weakest part of this compilation as I spotted several errors, e.g. the World Bank is indexed under the business statistics chapter but not under banking; the FedStats site merits three separate entries dependent on how it has been referred to in the different chapters. Better editing would have removed these niggles.

This volume has been written by American librarians and the main focus of each chapter does tend to be US resources. This is most obvious in the Academic Business Library web sites chapter. The focus here is solely US business schools ignoring the excellent sites of INSEAD and London Business School. There is scope for a companion volume focussing on international sites.

These comments aside, this volume overall is a useful and handy guide to business web sites. It is well structured and easy to read. I was also amazed to discover some excellent web resources I had not previously encountered. It will be as useful for the experienced business researcher as for those who only occasionally need to retrieve business information.