Who Buys Your Product?

Who is the typical consumer for your product?

Lotta different ways to research this one. (update: watch the overall training video here. )

There is a great series called Who's Buying (just about anything). Most of these are located behind the reference desk.

Can't miss the Best Customers book.

Library Databases:

Local Market Analyst is a good source.

Simply Map is a good source for seeing how consumers in your geographic area behave. Tutorial here.

MRI+ breaks this down. Watch the training video. This is a way to get some online data from a reliable source.

Another Thing:

Don't forget to get the macropicture of your industry with industry surveys.

Weblink to Niall Ferguson Explaining Financial Crisis Background

Niall Ferguson is a popular historian that's hosting an excellent series on PBS entitled The Ascent of Money.

Lotsa cool stuff about the role of money and credit in shaping society and Niall makes it easy to follow. Recommended for you to get a sense of how this stuff works in real life.

You can watch the entire 4 part series on the official PBS web site here.

Part Four is dedicated to the current financialization crisis.

Thinktanks: Learn How Reality is Made

Thinktanks are research institutions that produce analyses of current or future societal issues. Housing policy, income taxes, debt, credit and international trade are just some of the issues you'll see covered by these research institutions.

Some thinktanks have a political agenda while others are nonpolitical.

I have collected a list of some of the best-regarded thinktanks here. Usually, there's an emphasis on economics.

Learn how to use statistics and make arguments. Or learn to criticize their use in an argument!

Can you use thinktank papers in your project? It depends on the professor. The real point, as stated above, is to get you to see how arguments on contemporary issues are constructed.

Review of David Einhorn's Fooling Some of the People All of The Time

This is the start of a new feature for me. I'll pick a business related book and post a short review.

David Einhorn: Fooling Some of the People All Of The Time (2008)

David Einhorn is a very well-regarded hedge fund manager. After finding irregularities in a company called Allied Capital's financial statements, Einhorn went short the stock. Einhorn discussed his position that Allied Capital was in trouble at public forums. Then the nightmare began. Allied Capital waged a personal war against Einhorn that involves issues of Einhorn's free speech and the perception of short selling as wrong and injurious to capitalism (it's nothing of the kind IMO).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) eventually caught up to Allied Capital (which has still not admitted to wrongdoing). This book is about the right to be unpopular and the integrity of the financial system.

Einhorn gives many colorful examples of his thought process in identifying accounting sleights of hand. The examples range over several different companies and decades. It's an eye opener for most of us.

Federal Reserve Websites Are A Good Source of Information

One interesting place to find economic data and thought pieces with an economic slant are the websites of the Federal Reserve regional banks. I've learned about Texas exports, infrastructure, economic dimensions of social policy and of course, the housing crisis.

So there's always a lot about forecasting and analysis of current conditions on these sites, but also some interesting, learned papers about various topics. Keep your eyes peeled for economists writing about cutting edge issues that haven't received a lot of information yet.

Introduction to This Blog

A library is a thing of wonder and extremely powerful - if you know how to use it and where to find information.

Periodically, I like to remind readers what this blog is about and how to use it. The Chockablog blog is here to walk you through business reference questions, answer FAQ's about your business questions, and show you some ideas and sources you might not have known about.

We use text, links and video to get all these points across.

Scroll down on the main page and use the subject tags to read blog entries on your topic. The blogging format makes the posts appear in chronological order, but all the entries are up to date and are revised from time to time.

A lot of our databases are wonderful, but not intuitive - so use this blog. We have tons of books on subjects you might not think exist - so use this blog! I've already found the correct web addresses for those government economic statistics. So check that out too.

Welcome to Texas State and the Alkek Library....

Reference Online

I read somewhere that the number one college students use Wikipedia is to get background information. Sometimes it is hard to find our reference resources on the library webpage.

We have reference sources electronically and in dead tree format. It is really important to get the most out of what you are reading instead of scratching your head or feeling a big hollow void of noncomprehension swirl up in your mind. That's where reference - and not just for business - comes in handy. They will provide context and the big picture.

First of all, check out our Credo Reference Collection. Another good idea is Gale reference, which includes business and management encyclopedias. We also have Oxford Reference Online which has some economics and business titles.

Here is our print reference collection. This link just shows you what titles are on the shelves - it's like walking up and down the bookcases.

I think this will make your academic life a lot more rewarding!