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Business & Entrepreneurship
Business & Entrepreneurship Research Materials
AtoZdatabases
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Premier Reference and Marketing Database including 30 million business profiles & 220 million residents. Ideal for sales leads, mailing lists, market research, employment opportunities, or finding friends and relatives.
Business Source Complete
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Features full text and searchable cited references for top journals covering a variety of business disciplines. Includes Marketline SWOT Company Profiles and The Harvard Business Review.
CFRA
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Independent research firm offering high-quality research solutions including industry surveys, stock reports, fund reports, S&P research and The Outlook Newsletter.
The library’s subscription to this database will expire on February 28, 2025.
Gale Business: DemographicsNow
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Geographic-based demographic information perfect for business and marketing plans, including Consumer Expenditure, Simmons and Mosaic reports.
This resource is being discontinued by the vendor on March 31, 2025.
Gale Business: Insights
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Research and analyze companies, industries, and economies around the world. Featuring robust data sets, industry essays, Plunkett reports, company histories, case studies, market share reports, and SWOT reports.
Gale Directory Library
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Directories include: Ward’s Business Directory, the Encyclopedia of Associations, the Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory, the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources, and the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media.
Gale LegalForms
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Illinois Legal Forms includes thousands of business, personal, litigation and federal forms.
Guidestar by Candid
Use at Home? No
Description: Comprehensive source of nonprofit information to easily find local nonprofits to donate, work, or volunteer at, and connect those in need to resources they rely on, such as food banks or shelters
Illinois Public Records
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Source for public records in the Chicago suburbs, including real estate transfers, foreclosures, business licenses and incorporations. Check Illinois is their free background check service or choose more specific records databases if you know exactly what you’re looking for.
For best results, click the “Log In” button in the upper right-hand corner and then select “Library Patron”.
Mergent Archives
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Vast, indexed collection of back issues of corporate and industry related documents going back to the beginning of several key Mergent publications including the Million Dollar Directory, municipal manuals, and key business ratios.
Mergent Intellect
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Coupling Mergent’s expertise in developing products for the reference marketplace with D&B®’s Hoover’s™private company database, Mergent Intellect offers new and existing clients a unique opportunity to access private and public U.S and international business data, industry news, facts and figures, executive contact information, the ability to access industry profiles and much more.
Morningstar
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Find a stock or mutual fund, research current or prospective holdings, read analysts’ reports, and see ratings, financial reports, valuation ratios, and key ratios.
Regional Business News
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Regional business publications for the United States and Canadian provinces from 1990. Includes newspapers, radio and television news transcripts, trade publications, magazines, and newswires.
Small Business Source
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Covers all aspects of starting and operating a business. Includes information on accounting, human resources, management, marketing, tax, and more. State-specific information included.
Thomas Register of Manufacturers
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Lists hundreds of thousands of businesses in North America.
Value Line
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Information and advice on over 6,000 stocks, 18,000 mutual funds, 200,000 options and other securities.
Wall Street Journal
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Access The Wall Street Journal (both print and online editions), as well as WSJ: The Magazine from the Wall Street Journal
Weiss Ratings
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Online listing of the trusted Weiss guides to stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), banks, credit unions and insurance companies. Also contains the valuable Medigap tool detailing Medicare supplemental insurance options and Financial Literacy Basics guides about budgeting, paying off student loans, opening bank and investement accounts, and other key finanical skills.
Winmo
Use at Home? Yes
Description: All the great advertising resources you loved from Redbooks, with the added strength of Winmo, bringing you even more advertising industry information to improve decision making. Includes email addresses for individuals at companies with national advertising or advertising agencies.
Business & Entrepreneurship Websites
General Business Websites
- EDGAR – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Export.gov
- Small Business Administration (SBA)
Local Business Websites
- City of St. Charles Department of Community & Economic Development
- Elgin Community College Small Business Development Center
- Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO)
- Illinois DCEO First-Stop Business Information Center
- Illinois Secretary of State Business Entity Search
- SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Fox Valley
- St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce
- St. Charles Business Alliance