Subscription & Internet Resources

There are many databases and data sources produced by many different organizations or companies, but this section covers only what the Library of Congress subscribes to and a few other things to aid in discovery. Some are very industry-focused while others that contain articles can be used for industry research but aren't specific to any industry or group of industries. The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Census Bureau Publications
The publications area of the Census web pages does include digital versions of older Census publications going back to the first Census. Many of the decennial Census included information that may be important for someone looking for historical information particularly as it relates to agriculture. Newer digital publications are also included.
Census (data platform)
As of early 2019 data.census.gov prototype data dissemination capabilities and receive customer feedback on improvements and are moving away from delivering data through many individual tools (e.g., American FactFinder). They plan to continue releasing periodic Beta versions until June 2019. Includes Economic Census US Basic Data, County Business Patterns, Non-Employer Statistics, Survey of Business Owners Company Summary, Survey of Business Owners, and Characteristics of Business Owners.
Country Statistical Office External
This is a list maintained by the UN for official statistical agencies of the various countries.
Data.gov
Open data portal of the federal government where you can find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. Includes data from state and county entities. Browse by topic, filter by location, organization, topic, format, etc. The data comes from the United States government as well as state, city, and county resources.
Doing Consumer Research: A Resource Guide
This guide specifically focuses on resources useful for the business to consumer (B2C) industry, where individuals are the end users of a product or service. While this guide does not cover every resource, it does highlight commonly used sources and publishers of population and consumer data.
Export.gov (by industry)
This site is produced by the International Trade Administration and are in somewhat broad groups and not all industries are treated equal. Those industries where export/trade are important (ex. Aerospace & Defense) have more information than those that aren't (ex Finance). The information in them leans heavily toward trade information.

First Research External This link opens in a new window
First Research industry profiles contain critical analysis, statistics and forecasts to help engage key prospects, coach key clients, and deepen customer relationships. First Research's knowledge tools, listed below, are essential for call preparation, enhancing presentations, underwriting credit, and for quickly learning a company's key business issues.
- Industry Profiles on up to 900 industry segments are updated monthly. These in-depth summaries are carefully organized and simple to customize, so current information about your target markets challenges, opportunities, and important industry statistics is always on hand.
- Call Prep Sheets help you understand the important talking points before you pick up the telephone. These one-page industry overviews allow you to quickly demonstrate authority, build rapport, and refine your sales message.
- Industry Prospector gives you the power to select and rank industries based on industry drivers and key economic metrics, so you can identify business opportunities and reduce risk.
- State & Province Profiles help you bring regional insight to prospects and clients. Updated monthly, they offer a concise view of shifting economic and business issues using state and province specific employment data, real estate information, business news updates, and Web resources. .
GlobalData: Oil & Gas External This link opens in a new window
GlobalData: Oil & Gas covers the full breadth of the oil & gas industry, from well-site and pipeline issues, to upstream, midstream and downstream. Sections include: Upstream Economics Upstream Analytics Midstream Analytics Downstream Analytics Petrochemicals Analytics Equipmen & Services Analytics and Deals Analytics.
GlobalData: Power External This link opens in a new window
The GlobalData: Power portfolio brings users intelligence on the power sector like never before and all in a single, real-time, online platform. The platform provides fully integrated databases, tools, analyses, news, companies and deals. It has three strands of intelligence: Market intelligence coverage includes market outlook, power plants across technologies and upcoming projects, a capacity and generation database, a power consumption database and research reports Equipment intelligence provides users with a database of power components, along with a tenders and contracts database, and research reports on key equipment and Corporate intelligence, the company database which includes over 66,000 companies and also provides benchmarking reports and analysis on around 3,000 deals annually, along with news and events.
Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Collection External This link opens in a new window
With current and relevant content from industry journals, travel guides and magazines this collection provides well-rounded coverage of both the historical and current state of affairs in the hospitality and tourism field, while also allowing for focused study of specialized aspects of the industry - including cultural aspects of travel, leisure activities, economic aspects of tourism, and more.
IBISWorld External This link opens in a new window
Detailed market research reports and analysis on over 700 U.S. industries. The Library’s subscription also includes U.S. Specialized Industries and U.S. Business Environment Profiles. Onsite public users cannot download the reports, but limited printing of report sections is available.
Reading Room patrons have read-only access without downloads to the licenses product.
Janes Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis External This link opens in a new window
Provides full text access to Janes research in defense, terrorism, market intelligence, national security and transportation. Includes: Defense Equipment Library Defense Magazine Library Market Intelligence Library Security Library Sentinel Security Assessment Library Special Reports Library, Transport Library Air Launched Weapons Image Library Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. Also included is access to IHS Jane's Navigating the Emerging Markets reports, a series of more than 50 country reports focusing on the critical aspects of defence industry, such as budgets, procurement trends and offset regulations. The site also contains exclusive reports exploring trends in strategy, tactics and operations of the main global terrorist groups, frequently accompanied by maps, charts and photos and Daily News Digest, a daily feed of news from around the world provided by NewsEdge.

Access is provided to all users, public researchers and staff, using their Registered Reader account. The database will timeout after 60 minutes of inactivity and cannot be reauthenicated, through the Janes platform. If a timeout occurs, users will need to start a new database session

Marketresearch.com External
This is an aggregator of market research reports so it is good for finding specific reports and firms that specialize. It is a subscription resource that the Library does not subscribe to.

Mergent Online External This link opens in a new window
Provides global detailed financial data for over 35,000 active and inactive companies. Contains business ratios, historical information, SEC filings and US annual reports for over 15,000 public U.S. companies, as well as international company data for approximately 17,000 companies, including international annual reports, FactSheets, and country information. U.S. Company Archives Data holds the full business descriptions, histories and financial statements for companies that were acquired, went bankrupt, liquidated or merged out of existence from 1996 onward. Users can also determine the 25 largest institutional holders for every U.S. company, as well as examine aggregate institutional buyers and sellers data. Search by company name or ticker symbol, or search across all global boundaries to find companies that match specific financial and/or textual search criteria. The D&B 20 Million Plus Private Company Database is now part of Mergent Online. Supply Chain provides comprehensive coverage of companies, including their products, major customers, suppliers, partners, and industries.
Also included are the Ford Equity Research Reports (aka: Mergent Equity Investment Research Reports) - Mergent Online offers the current issues of multi-page equity research reports released weekly for over 5500 U.S. companies. The reports provide ratings, recommendations, sector analysis, and company financial information. For the previous 3 years of this title please see the Mergent Archives database.

Freedonia / Packaged Facts External
Market Research reports for a fee on many different industries.

Plunkett Research External This link opens in a new window
Provides industry sector analysis and research, as well as information on industry trends, industry statistics, top companies in the industry, export companies, market research, and trade and export associations. The database covers a diverse spectrum of areas energy and utilities, finance and investment, health care and biotechnology, and engineering and research - providing competitive intelligence, market research, vertical industry marketing data, and industry trends analysis.

Profound External
This is a service that allows someone to create customized, industry reports by allowing the purchase of specific information/parts of research reports and not necessarily the complete report.

SimplyAnalytics External This link opens in a new window
SimplyAnalytics has data which answers key business research questions, provides small businesses with a tool for making sound business decisions, and helps users understand the socio-demographic and economic conditions of any geographic area in the United States. There are thousands of data variables related to demographics, employment, housing, market segments, businesses, consumer spending and brand preference. This geographic information resource allows for extraction and comparison of data for specific geographic areas as small as a zip code or Census block. It also provides colored maps and spreadsheets for business plans.
SimplyAnalytics offers the following data for the U.S.:
- Nielsen PRIZM: Make comprehensive and precise insights when using lifestyle and consumer behavior segmentation. PRIZM by Nielsen defines every U.S. household in terms of 66 demographic and behavior types or segments. Helps discern consumer preferences, consumer spending, consumer behavior and lifestyles.
- Dun &Bradstreet Company Data: Access detailed profiles of more than 30 million U.S. businesses provided by D&B, the world's leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses. Add business points to your map to find the best place to locate your business, manage the competition, or identify services. Also export the data to a spreadsheet for additional functionality.
- Mediamark Research (MRI): Extract current estimates of usage and consumption (propensity) for thousands of very specific and detailed products, including actual brand data.
- Historical Census Data: View 1980, 1990 and 2000 data to learn how geographic regions have changed over time.
- Accurate and up-to-date Street Data. Perform highly accurate location analysis to support critical business/social decisions. Create high quality presentation maps.
- Shapefiles & Data Export .SHP files into advanced Geographic Information (GIS) software.
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Statista External This link opens in a new window
Statista is an online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal. It provides access to data from market and opinion research institutions, as well as from business organizations and government institutions in English, French, German and Spanish.
ThomasNet.com External This link opens in a new window

ThomasNet.com is a comprehensive online resource designed for sourcing components, equipment, MRO products, raw materials and custom manufacturing services in North America. Users can place orders online view and download millions of computer aided design (CAD) drawings view thousands of online company catalogs and websites. Search by: Product or service, company name, or brand name, and limit by geographic location. The print version of ThomasNet ceased publication in 2006.
Trade Data Monitor (TDM) External This link opens in a new window
Trade Data Monitor is a database of international trade statistics, analysis, and reporting for data-driven answers to crucial questions in any industry, around the globe.

TradeStats Express
This is a products from the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce. Country import/export data, state export data from 2014.

UN Comtrade External This link opens in a new window
The United Nations Commodity Statistics Trade Database provides data for over 140 reporting countries, in some cases, spanning the last 40 years. The database is the UN official source for imports, exports and re-exports, for 90% of world trade. Users can select countries, products, years and measurements (values are in US dollars and quantities in net weight). Commodities are arranged by both Harmonized System (HS) and Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). Also includes textual information on countries and customs areas. Updated monthly and annually.
This site also offers:
- International Trade Statistics Yearbook, current year
  https://comtradeplus.un.org/Publication/ITSY
- Historical international merchandise trade statistics 1900-1960
  http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/imts/historical_data.htm

UN Data External
brings international statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single-entry point. Users can search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies. The numerous databases or tables collectively known as "datamarts" contain over 60 million data points and cover a wide range of statistical themes including agriculture, crime, communication, development assistance, education, energy, environment, finance, gender, health, labor market, manufacturing, national accounts, population and migration, science and technology, tourism, transport and trade.
United Nations - Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) External
Includes data from various publications and data collection activities including: World Manufacturing Production, Competitive Industrial Performance Report, International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, World Statistics on Mining and Utilities, etc.

Doing Industry Research: A Resource Guide

Subscription & Internet Resources