Business Librarianship and Entrepreneurship Outreach

The changing landscape of business information has created opportunities for business librarians to move beyond being reactive to business information needs to become proactive participants in business development and entrepreneurship instruction. Libraries are no longer only repositories of books but information –rich sources of business and economic data. The case studies presented within this book highlight a variety of examples on entrepreneurship education and local economic development. The examples presented serve as a catalyst for further entrepreneurial endeavours and highlight the growing need for effective value-added support in finding business information. Business librarians play a critical role in promoting the effective use of business information and in providing significant value-added services within university and community settings.
This book was published as a special double issue of the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship.

Karen MacDonald is a Business Librarian at Georgia State University and is active in the Special Libraries Association. She earned both her MBA and MLIS degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. Her research interests include entrepreneurship, economic development and the role of the subject-specialist in academic librarianship.
Hal Kirkwood is Associate Professor of Library Science and Associate Head of the Management & Economics Library at Purdue University. He has served as chair of the Business & Finance Division of the Special Libraries Association. Prof. Kirkwood’s research interests include usability testing of academic business library websites, concept mapping, and innovative instruction methods.

Editor's Note Part 1 - Entrepreneurship Outreach Programs 1. Introduction - Entrepreneurship Outreach: A New Role for the Academic Business Librarian 2. Relationship Building in Entrepreneurship Liaison Work: One Business Librarian's Experience at North Carolina State University 3. An Experiential Market Research Analysis: A Partnership between Teaching and Library Faculty 4. How Information School Students Helped Local Displaced Homemakers Become Entrepreneurs Through Technology: The BOOST Initiative 5. Embedded Librarians Promote an Innovation Agenda: University of Toronto Libraries and the MaRS Discovery District 6. Library Outreach to the Alabama Black Belt: The Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network 7. An Economic Gardening Pilot Project in Michigan: Libraries and Economic Development Agencies Collaborating to Promote Entrepreneurship Part 2 - Information Resources for Entrepreneurs 8. Introduction - Challenges in Collection Development for Entrepreneurship 9. Student Consultants' Resource Use in Small Business Deliverables: A Case Study from the Illinois Business Consulting Program at the University of Illinois 10. Private Equity and the Entrepreneur 11. A Case Study of Academic Library and Economic Development Center Collaboration at the University of Toledo 12. Challenges and Solutions for Libraries in Serving Entrepreneurship Needs: Findings from ProQuest Research