Team Librarian Consultation

Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of business databases on its homepage; see under Business Databases; see also the four folders at the top of that list for lists of Foster databases by topic:  books, articles—full text, articles--citations and abstracts, and company and industry.   For more information on the three dozen Foster business databases, click here.   For more information about which of the three dozen Foster business databases to use, click here.   For more information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, click here. For answers to some frequently-asked questions about connecting to UW library databases from off-campus, click here. And, finally, see the UW Libraries' Database Usage Guidelines.
• Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 14,000 public and private companies worldwide, with links to company homepages and annual reports, charts, company capsule, competitors, divisions, earnings, financials, Fortune and Forbes rankings, history, industry information, insider trading, mission statements, news links, press releases, officers, patents, products, SEC filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc. Most information on this site is free and available on the Web (not just through the Foster Business Library homepage) but, via the Foster homepage, you can access the more detailed Premium Content.

  See the Hoovers Online lists of companies in the Executive Search and Online Staffing & Recruitment Services industries, and, as an example, one such company in New York City, Heidrick & Struggles International. Hoovers also offers a list of over 3,000 companies in its database that are headquartered in the New York City area.

• ReferenceUSA:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases; also listed under Company and Industry. Directory information for 12 million companies in the U.S.  Companies can be searched for by name, business activity, size and location. With this database, it is possible to identify businesses by geographic area and type of business, as well as by number of employees and gross annual sales. (This database is available widely on campus and may be accessed from home via the U.W. connectivity kit or via the Libraries' proxy server.)

  A custom search in this database for the SIC code 7361-05, for Executive Search Consultants, limited to New York City, retrieved a list of 339 firms in this business category. Narrowing this search to companies with more than 100 employees cut the list to just four firms.

Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, these online resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the UW Connectivity Kit or the UW Libraries Proxy Server for authentication. For links to business websites by topic, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage. Good sources for business topics include trade associations (which often provide industry data unavailable elsewhere) and government regulatory and oversight agencies (which are also a good source for industry data). When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources.
• Industry Profiles (Wetfeet.Com):   This job hunting site offers profiles of 31 industries, with an industry overview, trends, industry organization, job prospects, what's great and what's to hate in the industry, from the viewpoint of a jobseeker, major companies in the industry, and example job descriptions and tips on how to get hired in the industry. There are also links to industry associations and a profile of an individual working in the industry. The amount of industry information makes up for annoying popups.

  See Human Resources (which includes executive search firms).

• National Association of Executive Recruiters:   Trade and professional organizations often are good sources for industry information and for member directories. "Founded in 1984 by a group of the nation's leading search professionals, the National Association of Executive Recruiters (NAER) represents a membership dedicated to the highest level of ethical standards and practices. United with this commitment to excellence, NAER members set the standards for the industry, Our goal is to continually enhance our quality and methods through education, interaction, and professional competence." This site includes a member directory, allowing a search by state and/or by specialization.

  A member search for all of New York State produced just two companies.

• International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruitment:   "The International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruitment (IACPR) is an international group of senior level human resource executives, retained search professionals and consultants working on key issues in our field." This association website offers a member directory.

  The member directory is by company name but there is a Find the Experts menu item; a search for New York in this area retrieves 95 matching member individuals, with their company affiliations.

Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

The Foster Business Library reference collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in the center of the library's first floor. The reference works listed below are arranged according to call number and, since none of these books circulate, they should always be available--except when in use by a library user.
• The directory of executive recruiters.
  This oversized up-to-date annual paperback publication lists over 7,000 search firm locations and firms, including 13,000 recruiters, in a wide variety of functional and industry specializations. There are indexes by management function, by geography (by state and city), and by industry. Listings include name, address, phone, fax, e-mail and web contact information, as well as contact names, salary minimums, specializations, and branch locations.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5549.5 .R44 .D58 2001.

  See New York City on pages 1,280 to 1,281.

• The global 200 executive recruiters.
  This older reference work focuses on the top two hundred executive recruiters in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with one to two page listings of individual recruiters, with contact and personal information, specializations, and indexes by industry, and by country (but not by city). There is also some general information about executive recruiting.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5549.5 .J462 1998.

  See index pages 331 to 332 for about 70 listings for U.S. recruiters.

This collection is located on the south side of the library, through the two pass-throughs to the Balmer basement. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

The Foster Business Library General Stacks collection contains 70,000 business-related books. These books may be found by searching the UW Libraries Catalog. The UW Libraries Catalog may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases or at the top of the left menu under FIND IT).

Look under Keywords for the company of your choice; limit by library Location to the Foster Business Library when doing a B>Keyword search for business topics. For help in searching the UW Libraries Catalog, click HELP.

Circulation status is indicated in the box in the middle of each online catalog record, on the right. Check Shelf indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. Due and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated. Books that are already checked out to someone else, or books at the Bothell or Tacoma campus libraries (or elsewhere on the Seattle campus) may be reserved for your use and sent here to Foster by using the Request button on the upper menu. Books unavailable in any of the University of Washington Libraries may be available in the collections of Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, The Evergreen State College, Washington State University, or Western Washington University (among 27 colleges and universities in Washington and Oregon) through the Cascade online catalog. To search Cascade's online catalog, called Summit, use the menu button for Repeat Search in Summit. It can take from a few days to a week or more to obtain books from other libraries and to have them sent to Foster for you to pick up so use this option only if you can afford to wait.

A keyword search for Executive Recruiters, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved just the two reference titles listed above. A subject search for Executives--Recruiting--United States retrieved just the online HeadHunter.Net, now called CareerBuilder.

Foster Business Library Articles:

In addition to the 800 journals in the Foster Business Library Periodicals Collection, the Foster Business Library offers access to 11,000 full text periodical articles through its full text article databases such as: ABI/Inform Global, Factiva, and Lexis-Nexis Academic. These article databases may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed alphabetically under Business Databases or in the Articles: Full Text folder.

Of these three main sources, all but Factiva are available from any computer on the campus network (as well as from home) via the UW Connectivity Kit or via the Libraries' proxy server. The easiest of these databases to use is ABI/Inform Global. For more information about accessing Foster Business Library databases from off campus, click here. For more information about business databases, click here.

• ABI/Inform Global:

  This database offers full text articles for over 800 journals. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box. ABI/Inform Global includes journals but not national or Washington state newspapers (though the Wall Street Journal is included). It also does not include valuable trade and industry and other periodicals. Your searches will span the widest possible array of publications by expanding your search to all databases in ABI/Inform. To expand your search to include all collections in this database, click on Select multiple databases, to the right of the search box. Click then on Select all databases.

  Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article. For tips on searching this database, click here.

  For example, a search in this database, in all collections, for Headhunters and New York City, for articles published since 1999, produced a list of ten articles, when searching in citations and abstracts (most or all of which did not appear to be very relevant). Expanding the search for this term throughout the full text of all articles produced a list of 35 articles (few of which appeared to be relevant).

  A search in all collections for SUB(Professional Recruitment) and GEO(New York City) produced a list of 105 articles, few if any of which appeared to be relevant.

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed nearly all the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find research tools on any business subject. For e-mail questions, direct your query to balib@u.washington.edu. For assistance by telephone, dial (206) 543-8012 during library hours.

For research guides on a wide variety of industries, products, companies, issues and topics, see the Team Librarian Consultation archives.

• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by class or program)
• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by industry)
• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by title of assignment)
• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by academic quarter)
• Index to all Team Consultations and Research Guides