"A small investment-banking firm found investors for them, and, in 2001, they sold the company, Invisiband, for a "comfortable sum," she says. After closing the deal, she and her partners met in the library parking lot to celebrate.

While resources will vary across institutions, most libraries subscribe to a number of commercial databases, which can cost thousands of dollars a year. For example, ReferenceUSA(TM), a database with information on millions of businesses and households, coupled with census data and a lifestyle database, can make a powerful market-research tool. Entrepreneurs can find, for example, how many pet stores are in Brooklyn, NY, where they're located, residents' income levels, and whether they tend to own dogs.

One entrepreneur, who created a motorcycle-detailing kit, used a database of manufacturers to find motorcycle dealerships he wanted to target; then, he looked up their credit ratings, and created a mailing list targeting only those with the best scores.

"Putting the kind of information together can help people make more knowledgeable decisions," says Susan Phillis, director of the Brooklyn Public Library's Business Library.

Library patrons also have remote access to materials - including a limited number of databases - from their library Web sites. In fact, many list links to other sites and directories they have vetted and found particularly useful."

ReferenceUSA(TM), a service of infoUSA, is a premier online reference tool offering access to a proprietary database of 13 million U.S. businesses and 220 million U.S. residents. Job seekers beginning new careers, students conducting school research on companies and their corporate linkage, consumers locating out-of-town companies, and news media looking for addresses and phone numbers all search this powerful reference tool, which is available primarily in public libraries and educational institutions. "We value our relationship with public libraries because their use of ReferenceUSA(TM) introduces many small organizations to the power of infoUSA's databases," said Monica Messer, infoUSA Chief Operating Officer. "These entrepreneurs and small business owners then explore the tools we offer that are designed specifically to boost marketing efforts."

Organizations with established business plans look to infoUSA's additional products and services for accurate and comprehensive marketing information from which to build prospects and grow their sales. infoUSA.com provides complete business and consumer information, and allows users to have sales leads and mailing lists e-mailed to them in seconds. Salesgenie.com(TM), infoUSA's a revolutionary online prospecting system aimed at small businesses, gives users immediate access to all 12 of infoUSA's flagship databases. Subscribers can access unlimited sales leads, mailing lists and business credit reports for one monthly price.

Wall Street Journal Online subscribers can visit www.WSJ.com to view the entire article. For more information on infoUSA's offerings, please visit www.infoUSA.com.
 

About infoUSA

infoUSA (www.infoUSA.com), founded in 1972, is the leading provider of business and consumer information products, database marketing services, data processing services and sales and marketing solutions. Content is the essential ingredient in every marketing program, and infoUSA has the most comprehensive data in the industry, and is the only company to own a proprietary database of 250 million consumers and 14 million businesses under one roof.

The infoUSA database powers the directory services of the top Internet traffic-generating sites. Nearly 3 million customers use infoUSA's products and services to find new customers, grow their sales, and for other direct marketing, telemarketing, customer analysis and credit reference purposes. infoUSA headquarters are located at 5711 S. 86th Circle, Omaha, NE 68127 and can be contacted at (402) 593-4500. To know more about Sales Leads, click www.infousa.com. To get a 7-day free trial and 100 free sales leads, click www.salesgenie.com.