If you have any business-related questions, Lone Star College-CyFair has the answers with a new business resource partnership between the library and Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
The LSC-CyFair Library offers a variety of electronic, database, software and book resources providing a wealth of information to business owners and entrepreneurs, home-based and corporate, and those in management, human resources, marketing or even continuing education.
Among the electronic business resources are online links such as Business Source Complete, Business and Company Resource Center, Reference USA and Regional Business News, to name a few, as well as article or subject database searches with Lone Star College System’s A to Z list of Electronic Journals.
The Business Source Complete link provides industry profiles, market and research reports, trade journals and more. The Business and Company Resource Center link provides company profiles, industry rankings and recent articles about specific companies. The Reference USA link provides access to more than 12 million businesses with searches by ZIP codes, telephone numbers, city and states. The Regional Business News link provides industry-specific, daily international newswires and regional business publications.
The library also offers software resources such as Quickbooks, Business Plan Pro, Market Plan Pro and Turbo Tax as well as book resources such as “Small Business Sourcebook” and “AMA Handbook of Business Letters.”
While the library also hosts free Microsoft Office computer workshops, the Small Business Development Center provides a variety of low-cost workshops and seminars that range from “marketing on a dime” and “getting started in business” to tips for increasing sales and visibility.
Plans are under way to offer spring seminars on “how to start a restaurant business” and “The Entrepreneurial Venture: Facts You Need to Know to Start and Operate Your Own Business.”
Among the center’s free business management and consulting services are assistance with business plan and marketing plan development; market research, analysis and strategy; Small Business Administration and conventional loan assistance; cash flow management and budgeting; doing business with the government; exporting and more. Assistance is also available to owners of existing businesses to develop or update their business plans and cash flow projections, to get turnaround assistance, or a “business check-up” to see how well their financial ratios compare with those of their industry.
For Small Business Development Center information or an appointment with Gail Lorber, senior consultant, call 832-482-1057 or stop by her second floor office in the library, room 208. For information on the library business resources, contact Anthony McMillan, reference librarian, at 281-290-5997, stop by the first floor reference desk.