INLS 227 Business Information Sources and Services
Spring 2005
Instructor: Susan Wolf Neilson

Course Assignments/Projects | Calendar | Readings

Thursdays, 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Manning Hall 214
Office Hours: 5pm-6pm Thursdays and by appointment
(919) 856-6718 days (Raleigh - work)
(919) 266-5040 evenings (Raleigh - home)
susan.neilson@co.wake.nc.us

Brief Course Description:

An introduction to basic business information sources and business librarianship.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course you should be able to:

1. Understand the nature of business information.
2. Learn to use major resources of business information offered in a variety of formats.
3. Evaluate information resources for better service and for developing collections.
4. Anticipate and understand needs of clients who need business information.
5. Understand career opportunities and the different library environments available to you.

Deliverables:

By the end of this course you will have:

developed a web presentation, a PowerPoint presentation, had experience in working with groups, met and talked with librarians from different library environments, participated in an active and enriching listserv, become familiar and be able to use the many critical databases available, and participated in, hopefully, lively discussions with colleagues about important topics in business librarianship and the world of business.

Attendance and Participation Policy:

Participation in class discussions is important to succeeding in this class and has been included as a component in your overall grade. You should be prepared to discuss any assigned readings, your particular company/industry readings, or other insightful news relating to business. Because participation is so important, class attendance is essential. Attendance is also important to support your classmates during presentations and most appropriate whenever a speaker is invited.

Honor Code

I expect that the honor code of UNC will be adhered to and followed at all times. Most of your work will be done individually, not in groups, unless assigned. If you are to work in groups, you will be told directly either in class or in the written assignment. All work shall be your own and others that you may quote from should be cited as such. If you have any questions, are not sure, you should ask me. Please familiarize yourself with the honor code at UNC, found at http://honor.unc.edu

Grades:

Grades will be based on the charts below. Be sure to note that class attendance and participation is part of your final grade and is critical to achieve an H. If you have any questions about grades and grading, please see me. Don't wait until the end of the semester for clarification. Exercises, projects and other required assignments are due on time. Grading will be affected if assigned work is turned in late. There is no final exam for this class.

All assignments must be completed for a grade.

95 - 100% = High
90 - 94% = P+
80 - 89% = P
75 - 79% = P-
70 - 74% = L
69% and below = F

PERCENT OF GRADES BY ASSIGNMENT including class participation

Journal	10%
Buslib-L Listserv	5%
"Doing Business in..." web presentation - group project	15%
Business Topic Presentation - group project	15%
Business Plan Summary	10%
Company Strategic Analysis	10%
Industry Analysis	20%
Exercises	10%
Attendance & Participation ( must get all 5% to get H grade)	5%
Total	100%

Textbooks and Readings:

There are no textbooks assigned for this course. Assigned readings should be completed prior to class time. It is expected that you will read all readings and participate in the class discussions.

Description of Course Assignments/Projects

Keeping a Journal (10%)

You will track an industry (one chosen for your Industry Analysis) weekly throughout the semester by keeping a journal. You should read at least two articles per week, using current magazines, trade journals, news reports on radio or TV. Write short summaries (two paragraphs maximum) each week and discuss what is happening with the company and industry. Consider, too, how this information is reported. You can use any angle, take any position, give opinions, etc. Your sources must be varied, giving you possible different viewpoints. Talk about this as you write as well. Be prepared to discuss your findings during class. This assignment is intended to help you track information over an extended time and familiarize you with current news sources. The journal entries should be informal: citations are required but this is not an annotated bibliography. Journals will be collected mid-semester for review and finally on the next to last class meeting.

Grades will be based on content, variety of sources (limit your WWW resources!), knowledge of the goings on in your industry (for discussion), and summary.

Join BUSLIB-L Listserv (5%)

You will be asked to join the most popular business information listserv for a one month period (longer if you'd like). Then you will write and submit a one-page summary of your findings about how this site would or would not be valuable to you. Join BUSLIB-L by going to: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=buslib-l&A=1 .

At the end of the period, submit both your "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" printouts with the summary attached after your two weeks are up. If you are going to remain on the listserv, turn in pages on the last day of class or whenever you are finished. This exercise will familiarize you with types of questions you may receive and broaden your networking capabilities in the business world.

Your grade will be based on content of your summaries.

" Doing Business in ..." Web Presentations - GROUP Project (15%)

International business transactions take place all the time in business. Whether your patron runs a multinational corporation or a small business with plans to expand in Germany, it is essential to know resources for the global community. This assignment requires you to develop a web site/guide for finding information on doing business in a particular country. The country will be chosen randomly on the first night of class. Your output as a group is a 20 minute presentation with all members participating in some part of your program.

The presentation should include a factual introduction to the country, both general and economic, your resources (using multiple formats), include etiquette dos and don'ts, proper protocols. Don't forget any special problems or issues that relate to the country's business or political environment. You should include where to find legal issues.

The group presentation is not intended to be all encompassing, but as an overview of the important facts and resources your patron would need to know about when making decisions about doing business in that country. as well as letting the patron know about what sources are available for his or her own research. You are not expected to know all about your country's business doings, but enough to give us, in class, an overview and make the presentation interesting. Pretend your audience is a Chamber of Commerce program audience you have been invited to participate in. You are a librarian and want to show how and what you can help these people with as a librarian.

At some point in your career, no matter where you work, you will be asked to give a presentation on some topic for some type of audience. This project will give you experience using materials, designing web sites, explaining how something works, and in speaking in front of an audience.

Your grade will be based on creativity, content, and delivery (can we understand you, not just can you make us laugh). Be sure that all group members have a part in the presentation as well as the development of the content. Working in groups is sometimes a challenge.

If you are having trouble with a particular group member, it is up to the group to address the problem either directly or by requesting a meeting with me. If you personally are having trouble with the group, it is again, up to you to try to work out issues yourself or request a meeting with me, which is fine. This should all occur prior to any presentation time.

Business Topic Presentation - GROUP Project (15%)

In groups, you will develop a lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation on a business topic chosen at the beginning of the semester. This session will include an overview of the topic, its relevancy to business librarians, the important facts and information about the topic, key terms, key resources for finding information, challenges, and any relationship to other business topics, such as human resources to management.

The presentation will be between 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, not including a question period, which we will do after each presentation. As a group, you will be expected to turn in a one page summary of this teaching experience, including the steps taken to find information on your topic Also include a brief discussion of the resources found for your topic, were there adequate sources - were the sources current - online access available. etc.

Group grades will be based on organization, clarity, content, creativity (don't let us fall asleep!) and resourcefulness. Since we are under time constraints, point will be deducted for going over time allotted. So practice! If you are having trouble with a particular group member, it is up to the group to address the problem either directly or with a meeting with me. If you are having trouble with the group, it is again, up to you to try to work out issues yourself or request a meeting with me, which is fine. This should all occur prior to any presentation time.

Business Plan Executive Summary (10%)

The Business Plan is one of the essential work plans that companies or potential business people will create. It is a topic that will come up in all types of library environments. The Executive Summary is one of the most important parts of the plan and it is usually recommended that this part be written after all other parts are completed. For this project, you will complete the business plan for a company (given to you) by developing the Executive Summary section. You will be given the entire business plan, minus the Summary to read and review. Reading the business plan, looking at other sources about Executive Summaries and business plans outlines in general, you will submit a one page Executive Summary of your company.

Your grade will be based on content, coverage of information needed, and style. Be sure to include a sheet of all references used.

Company Strategic Analysis - 2 parts (10%)

Being able to analyze a company strategically is critical for businesses. What do all the numbers and events mean to a company? How do you plan for long term direction? Many times, a strategic analysis is done when a company is thinking of buying another company, or when a company is trying to decide to expand or change management, develop new products, services or make market changes. Choose one leading company from your Industry sector (make it a public one, if you can). You will need to find information on this company in two separate parts for this assignment. Each assignment should only be one page in length. Be sure to include components below and list all resources used. Include any charts and graphs.

Company Analysis Part A (one page)
Brief overview of company - business description, history, key employees, basic financials (annual sales, employees, etc.), major competitors

Company Analysis Part B (one page)
Brief Stock Analysis - chart company's stock for any one three-month period in the last two years. Find any stock surges up or down and try to find any internal or external event that may have caused a change. If no change, still look for events that may or should have affected this company and its industry.

Industry Analysis Report - Final Project (20%) example

You will analyze an industry and submit an Industry Analysis Report. On the first day of class, to make it fair, you will get your industry by drawing an industry name. Your journal assignment will be related to this particular industry and information gathered from your journal should be included in your report. You also can define how broad or narrow your industry (Health - choose "medical devises") will be.

Your report is to include:

• A description of the industry, profile
• The industry's SIC and NAICS code
• An industry history noting events, historical and recent, that have shaped or impacted the industry
• Major companies within the industry
• Relationship of your industry to the overall economy
• Industry statistics: number of companies operating in the industry in US; number of people employed, outputs or shipments (production annually); GDP relationship, significant ratios to the industry; exports. Charts and tables and other visuals are encouraged as long as they don't take up too many pages.
• Current events and news that affects your industry; laws and regulations that have impact
• Forecasts, trends, projections.
• Organizations and trade associations
• Useful web links
• References and citations of all sources, using a consistent citation style of your choice
• Final page is for subjective impressions of your experiences with the assignment. Based on the assignment, is this industry a difficult or easy one to research, are the resources adequate, too much or too little out there for you? What were the most helpful resources? Compare the web resources with print or databases. Can you say that you can now help someone with finding sources for an industry analysis?

You Industry Analysis should be between 10-15 pages and should be submitted on the last day of class in paper format with a copy sent to me through e-mail. This project is to be completed individually, of course, but assistance on sources from classmates is acceptable and encouraged. Sample Industry Analyses will be available on our course page. Be careful about copying and paraphrasing anything without citing sources. Be careful of excessive quoting and citing. Note on the bottom of your report if you are willing to share your report online for future classes. This project is designed to help you understand the components of industry analysis because you will likely be asked to create, develop, or assist in writing one in any library setting, even if you are not going to be a business subject specialist. Doing the research yourself also gives you an understanding of the challenges of finding information, extracting it, analyzing it.

Your grade will be based on organization, content, variety of sources.

Calendar - Spring 2005

Class /Date	CLASS TOPICS*	DUE IN CLASS**
#1 January 13	Introductions, Overview of Business Information Class 1 ppt
#2 January 20	Business Info/Company Information, Databases Class 2 ppt	Exercise #1
#3 January 27	Investments (guest) class 3 ppt	Company Analysis A
#4 February 3	Industry Information class 4 ppt	Company Analysis B
#5 February 10	Economic Indicators, Statistics class 5 ppt census products
#6 February 17	Marketing, Demographics class 6 ppt	Exercise #2
#7 February 24	Collection Management (guest)marketing
#8 March 3	Group Presentations (2) economics ppt accounting ppt
#9 March 10	Group Presentations (2) management ppt	Turn in Journal
March 17	SPRING BREAK
#10 March 24	Careers in Business Librarianship (guests)	Journals returned
#11 March 31	Dialog Presentation, Databases (guest)	Exercise #3
#12 April 7	Tour of Duke Business School Library
#13 April 14	GIS for Business (guest)	Executive Summary
#14 April 21	Group Presentations - "Doing Business in..."	Turn in Journals
#15 April 28	Group Presentations - "Doing Business in..."
May 3	EXAM DAY - NO EXAM	Final paper due by 8:30pm
* Database review included most weeks **Journal entries will be due each week and discussed