How the Library Can Help Your Small Business

It's National Small Business Week, so we wanted to show you how the Lake Forest Library can help your small business.

We have a plethora of databases that can be helpful in running your small business from instructional video subscriptions to directories and more. Learn more about some of our favorite services below. In order to access these databases from home, you'll have to have your Lake Forest Library card number.

Business Source Elite: This database provides access to full-text coverage of top business, management and economics journals and periodicals. These valuable publications cover topics such as accounting, banking, finance, international business, marketing, sales and more. You can access this database from your computer at home or by downloading the EBSCOhost Mobile app.

Lexis Nexis: Use Lexis Nexis to access company and investment information, and business insights. Search through legal cases (in library only), and see news stories from hundreds of major sources, both foreign and domestic. 

Lynda.com: Access online tutorials from the industry leader in technology training from any computer with an internet connection. Topics range from Microsoft Office to Adobe Creative Cloud. You can even learn to build a website using HTML 5 and CSS in Lynda.com's built in web developer environment. 

 Reference USA: A business directory searchable by company name, executive name, business type, sales volume, number of employees, year established, geographic area, and more. Most company profiles include executive lists, links to subsidiaries/parent companies, a list of competitors, links to recent news articles about the company, and links to stock information and SEC reports. Search criteria can be combined to create company lists in either full or brief format.

Regional Business News: A database of business journals, newspapers and news-wires covering metropolitan and rural areas of the United States. Full text of most titles, but abstracts for some.

Sorkins Directory of Business and Government: Profiles of companies and organizations in the Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City metropolitan areas. Searchable by company, person’s name, industry, location, phone number, or a combination of terms. Includes titles and names of company executives, industry codes, and narrative descriptions. Mini-profiles called “Prospects” are also available.

Wall Street Journal: Editions from 1984- present. Search by keywords and dates or select entire issues by date for browsing. 

Many people who work from home find the Library to be a beautiful space to get away from home for the day and work in another location. The Library is a free, open, and stimulating place to work. The Friends Reading Room is a great place to work if you need complete silence, while the computer area on the west side is nice if you need to speak quietly or work in a small group. We do ask that patrons take phone calls in the Lobby, but only to keep the noise level down for other patrons working in the Library.

The Media Lab could be a very useful space for your business needs. With access to the full Adobe suite, Garage Band, Final Cut Pro, Blendr, Sketchup, photo scanners, iMovie and more the possibilities are endless. Learn more about the Media Lab here.


Here are a few examples of how the Media Lab could help your small business:

• Create 3D models with Blender and SketchUp
• Use inDesign to design a new business card
• Edit photos for marketing purposes using Photoshop
• Use Adobe Premiere or iMovie to create promotional videos
• Create motion graphics and visual effects using Adobe After Effects.

The Library has been doing a lot more adult programming lately with some workshops that could help you with your small business. We recently had classes on writing and a workshop on publishing. There's a photography class this Saturday that could help you take better images for marketing. We also have new technology classes every quarter. This quarter we are teaching Digitizing Video and Organizing Files. In the summer we will have classes on Google Drive and iPhone Photography. We are also planning a series of small business workshops for Winter 2017-2018.