Pursuing future.com:

I went after the electronic sources first. 

Being a populist, most interested in free sites accessible from patron's home:

**Good Ones** 

MSN Money, Yahoo Finance, NYSE, etc. 

**Some had to be fact-checked**

WikiPedia--great encyclopedia, information lacking in some respects. 

Investorwords.com--great dictionary, information lacking in some respects.

**Some stinkers**

Business.Com--kind of useless. 

barchart.com--gave me 4832 as SIC, when needed additionally 7310, 4833, 6719--changed from Hoover's proprietary.

Usually, the information was correct. But when buyandhold.com told me that L. Lowry Mays had done no insider trading, I knew that had to be wrong.  I double-checked it on the Business and Company Resource Center and looks like he did the deed February of 2005. 

Why was information wrong?

Out of date--insufficient resources to keep non-uploaded data current and correct.  Insider trading happened too recently.

Omission Due to Lack of authority--"Uncle Ted's Business F.U.N!" type sites are good, but while he may know how to make a site look great from Internet Design Fundamentals, he doesn't really know how to BEST and CAREFULLY collect the right data.

The Best Things in Life Ain't Free:

S&P NetAdvantage, Mergent, Hoover's, Business & Company Resource Center are a pain to use but have the best information.

S u r p r i s e s:

The Center for Public Integrity cited sources like Clear Channel’s 10-K and Fortune while collecting data—something like stating facts rather than name-calling in this case. 

but most surprising...

Rebuilding the Log Cabin or Back to the Basics:

November 30, 2005:

Chicago Public Library, took me 15 minutes before class to collect information from a couple of sources.  Walker's Corporate Directory, for example, had all information for CCU in a non-counterintuitive column and a half vs. the 62 confusingly circuitous webpages of NetAdvantage.  I found Advertising Redbook comparitively simple.

December 1, 2005:

Holy cow!  4:30 and I don't know a thing about the donors.  I also could not get to print resources.  Ask a Librarian through CPL (312) 747-4300 quickly and courteously gave me the answer...underscoring importance of networking--especially in a pinch.

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Our Goals as the Future:

Improve knowledge of good, free sites and a patron's open access to us!  Amping up equity of access for ordinary folks who simply need to get a business on track—what we should, ideally, be supporting as business reference professionals—makes the job worthwhile.