Team Librarian Consultation

Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, these Web 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. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook:   This Bureau of Labor Statistics' site offers information on 250 occupations, including a brief section for each occupation on earnings. A print copy of this publication is also available in the Foster Business Library reference collection, call number HF5381.A1 O36. See Photographers.

• Bplans.com:   Maintained by Palo Alto Software, a company that sells business plan software, books and newsletters, this site offers an extensive amount of free information on business and marketing plans for small business including sample plans for startups and for established businesses. The plans were developed by existing companies or new business start-ups as research instruments to determine market viability or funding availability but names, locations and numbers may have been changed, and substantial portions of text may have been omitted. Look for the sample plan for the one photographic business—for a firm called Adorable Pet Photography.

• American Society of Media Photographers:   Professional and trade associations are often good sources for industry statistics and information. This association is "the leading trade association for photographers who photograph primarily for publication" and was formerly the American Society of Magazine Photographers, with over 5,000 members and 40 chapters nationwide, including one for the Seattle/Northwest. A search for photographers who are members of this association and based in Seattle retrieved 70 listings. See also their Industry Links.

• Professional Photographers of America:   This organization, founded in 1880, is "the world’s largest not-for- profit association for professional photographers, with more than 14,000 members in 64 countries. " A search for photographers in Seattle turned up a long list. Their Industry Resources are "coming soon;" in the meantime, see their Press Room and their tips for Selecting a Photographer.

• Photo Marketing Association International:   This international organization, founded in over 75 years ago, now counts over 18,000 members in over 100 countries, with  any firm involved in the processing, service or retail marketing of photographic or related goods eligible for membership. The organization maintains an impressive online collection of useful industry and Marketing Research information (though some information is available to members only).

• Wedding and Portrait Photographers International:   This organization, of 4,000 members, consists of "wedding portrait and digital photographers and photographers employed at general photography studios." See their Event Photographer section; a search for Seattle produced 11 photographers. See also their monthly Newsletter.

The Foster Reference Collection is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster.
• Seattle metro yellow pages.
  An excellent and easy to use source for local business information, this directory is also a link to resources often more valuable than web and print resources: people working in business and industry.
  Foster Business Library Reference Desk

  See the listings under Photographers--Commercial and Photographers—Portrait, both with very long lists of photographers. Ads for photographers in both listings mention event photography.

• The million dollar directory.
  This annual multi-volume set is a Dun & Bradstreet directory of larger businesses in the U.S., with indexes by SIC code and geography, covering both public and private companies, with 180 or more employees or more than $9 million in annual sales. Since most photographic businesses are much smaller than these criteria, inclusion in this reference work is limited just to the largest companies.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC102 .D8 2003.

  See volume five, Series Cross-Reference Industrial Classification, for SIC code 7221, on page 9504, with no listings for Washington state, and for SIC code 7335, on page 9521, with just one firm in Washington state, Corbis.

• The business plans handbook.
  This multi-volume set is a compilation of actual business plans developed by entrepreneurs seeking small business funding. See the Cumulative Index in the latest volume to locate business plans by type of business.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD62.7 B865

  See an event photography business, Brightroom, Inc., in volume ten, pages 55 to 64.

• Financial studies of the small business..
  This annual compilation covers small businesses under one million dollars in capitalization, in retail, wholesale, services, contracting, professional services and manufacturing. Data is available for total assets, sales volume, 25% most profitable and five year trends.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2346.U5.F55a

  This compilation provides the equivalent of industry operating ratios for some but not all kinds of small business—and none for photographers.

• Small business sourcebook.
  This massive two volume set is a good starting point for information about nearly 350 small businesses. For each business, there is information on startups, business associations and groups, reference works, trade periodicals, consultants, franchises, databases, etc.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2346 .U5 .S66 1999.

  See Photographer, Commercial, on pages 1178 to 1183, and Photographic Studio, on pages 1184 to 1188.

• Service industries USA: industry analyses, statistics, and leading organizations.
  Comprehensive guide to 151 service industries, with analyses of government statistics and details on industry activity in 370 metropolitan areas. SIC code coverage is from 7011 through 8999.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD9981.3 .S47 1999.

  See pages 42 and 43 for Photographic Studios, Portrait and pages 87 and 88 for Commercial Photography.

• The Washington services directory.
  This large paperback is a directory of services companies in Washington state, published by Harris Infosource, with an analysis of employment in services in this state, companies listed by city in alphabetic order, companies sorted by Standard Industrial Codes, an alphabetic index of companies, a services index and companies sorted by 3,000 service classifications, from Academic Tutoring Services to Youth Hostels.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD9981.7 .W2 .H37 2002.

  See Photography Svcs: Commercial on page 508, and Photography Svcs: Special Event, also on page 508, for a total of four businesses, only three of which are in King or Snohomish County. There are other photography listings as well, on this page.

• The lifestyle market analyst.
  Market analysis information including demographic, geographic and lifestyle information to identify who customers are, where they live, how they spend their time and money and how to reach them.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5415.33 .U6 .L54 2002.

  See Seattle-Tacoma, on pages 572 to 573; see Photography under High Tech Activities, where Seattle-Tacoma ranks well above the national average.

• The portfolio of accounting systems for small and medium-sized businesses.
  This comprehensive one-volume work, from the National Society of Public Accountants, offers profiles of 60 types of firms and the accounting systems specific to each type of firm.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5635. P86 1992.

  See pages 941 through 948 for Photographers.

• Media Inc.'s masterlists: a guide to Northwest media, marketing and creative services.
  This annual paperback is a directory of advertising, marketing, public relations, design, printers, prepress, photography and illustration, film, video, audio and talent, print media, radio and television and multimedia and internet firms in Washington and Oregon. The most recent edition is usually in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library Career Book collection.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: P88.8 .M38 2001.

  See pages 94 through 111 for Photographers:   stock footage, digital photography, and American Society of Media Photographers in Washington and Oregon.

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics, including many books useful for country research. To identify relevant books, go to the UW Libraries Catalog on the Foster Business Library homepage (under Business Databases). Try searching by keyword. Use the Limit/Sort feature to create a list of books in the Foster Business Library and in order from newest book to oldest. To do so, use the pulldown menu under WHERE item is located to specify Foster Business Library and click on the box near the bottom Sort results by year. Then click on Limit/sort items retrieved using above data. Clicking on the titles in the resulting list will bring up the full catalog record, indicating which Foster area has the book (general stacks, reference, reserve, etc.), the call number and the circulation status.

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.

The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

A search in the UW Libraries Catalog for the subject Photography—Business Methods produced just one record, published in 1940. Repeating this search in Summit produced a list of more than 30 records.

Because books on this subject are not very common in academic libraries, try a search of a public library catalog such as the Seattle Public Library where you can find books such as:

• How to start a home-based photography business / Oberrecht, Kenn.   Globe Pequot Press, c2003.
• Sell & re-sell your photos: learn how to sell your pictures worldwide / Engh, Rohn.   Writer's Digest Books, c2003.
• Shooting & selling your photos / Zuckerman, Jim.   Writer's Digest Books, c2003.
• Business and legal forms for photographers / Crawford, Tad, 1946-   Allworth Press, c2002.
• ASMP: professional business practices in photography / Allworth Press, c2001.
• Big bucks selling your photography / Hollenbeck, Cliff.   Amherst Media, c2001.
• The photographer's guide to marketing and self-promotion / Piscopo, Maria, 1953-   Allworth Press, c2001.
• Photos that sell: the art of successful freelance photography / Frost, Lee.   Amphoto Books, 2001.
• How to start a home-based photography business / Oberrecht, Kenn.   Globe Pequot Press, c2000.
• How to operate a successful photo portrait studio / Giolas, John.   Amherst Media, c1999.
• How to shoot and sell sports photography / Arndt, David.   Amherst Media, c1999.
• Corporate & location photography / Gladstone, Gary.   Silver Pixel Press, c1998.

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 Universe. 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 on all of the databases.

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

  A search in Washington State Newstand for local articles on the Photography Business produced a list of just 23 articles.

  Expanding this search through more databases produced a list of over 300 articles, none of them very relevant.

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed nearly all of the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find business research tools and resources, exploit business databases to the fullest or advise on research strategies. 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 Course/Program Index      (BPOL Consultations)
• Team Consultation Industry Index      (Retail)
• Team Consultation Quarter Index
• Team Consultation Title Index
• Team Consultation and Research Guide Index      (Business Plan Resources)      (Small Business Resources)

Need help with writing or revising the written part of your assignment? The Business Writing Center, in Lewis Hall 304, provides consultations on business class writing assignments (as well as cover letters, and resumes) with an advanced business student trained in critiquing drafts and coaching writers. Need help citing sources? Try our guide to Citing Sources.

John Castle's webpage        (Castle's Faculty Webpage)