Cost-Effective Searching:Online strategies & practices to get the most for your search dollar and your time

Searchers Academy

Marcy PhelpsPhelps Research

www.PhelpsResearch.com

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Presentation linksphelpsresearch.com/speakingSlideshare.net/marcyphelps

Twitter:#InternetLibrarian

@marcyphelps

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What’s cost-effective?

COST-EFFECTIVE ≠ FREETIME = MONEY

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Value

Time + Expense

Strategyand

Resources

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Be Prepared!

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Take control

Reference/client interviewOngoing communication w/client

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Manage expectations

Narrow scopePhase projectPilot project

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Set your budget and stick to it!

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SEARCHING ON A BUDGET

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Make Google your friend

site:

filetype:

Autocomplete

Country-specific

Images

Practice for database searching

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“your topic” (“market research” OR “research report” OR “market study”)

“your topic” (forecast OR trends OR outlook OR statistics)

“person’s name” (bio OR biography OR resume OR CV)

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Know when to pick up the phone

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“Only human sources can provide commentary, opinion, feelings, intuition,

emotions, and commitment.”-- Dr. Ben Gilad

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Use appropriatefree alternatives

What’s your area of expertise?

Who are your clients?

How specialized is the request?

What’s your time frame?

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Government databases

USPTO.govGeneral patent info for researching competitors/markets

ERIC - Education Resource Information Center (www.eric.ed.gov)

Education + psychology sociology, group dynamics, and other topics

15#IL2011

National Library of Medicinenlm.nih.gov

PubMedncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

TOXMAP – environmental health mappedtoxmap.nlm.nih.gov

National Network of Libraries of Medicine nnlm.gov

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USA.gov

Search or use specialized portals:

Data and Statisticsusa.gov/Topics/Reference-Shelf/Data.shtml

U.S. Government Information, by Topicusa.gov/Citizen/Topics/All-Topics.shtml

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A .gov for any topic

Directory of U.S. Govt. Portals

snipurl.com/256np9

Also includes:Portals for government employeesSpanish-language portals2 portals that don’t exist anymore

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Scirus.com “Scirus is set to retire in early 2014”

Journal content, scientists’ home pages, courseware, pre-prints, institutions, patents

The Public Library of Law (www.plol.org)Case law, statutes, regulations, court rules, constitutions, legal forms

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MarketsAndMarkets: Press Releases

http://snipurl.com/27vnybn

Press releases & summaries of reports

Snippets of data about market size, shipments, projections, new technologies, key companies and more

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Reportlinker.com

Search for 1.2 million public documents covering 450 industries, 220 countries

Market research reports, business news articles

1990s – present

Also tryReportBuyer.comMarket Research Library (snipurl.com/254de7f)

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bizologie: Free Research Reportshttp://snipurl.com/253p0aq

KnowThis.com: Secondary Research - Low Cost Sourceshttp://snipurl.com/27vo00f

MarketingCharts.com

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Know when to pay

Specialized content

Authoritative sources

Pro search tools

Search multiple

sources

Variety of formats

Customer service

Copyright compliance

Added

analysis/opinions

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Transactional pricing

Short-term subscriptions

Free trials

AIIP & other association discounts

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Low-cost options

Moody’s Analytics: Economy.com

First Research Industry Reportshttp://snipurl.com/256skj

Claritas Marketplacehttp://snipurl.com/256sakDemographic reports/good for local areasCall account rep!

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Alacra Store

www.alacrastore.com

100 million+ reports, company snapshots, market profiles

From 120+ premium business information sources

Pay per document

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NewsLibrary.comPer article, monthly & annual subscriptions

APA PsycNETsnipurl.com/25cw9dSearch PsycARTICLES and PsycBOOKS free; purchase articles or book chapters.

Purchase a 24-hour pass to search PsycINFO, PsycEXTRA, and PsycCRITIQUES; downloads free

Skyminder.comwww.PhelpsResearch.com 27

TIME-SAVERS

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Create a report toolkit

Templates – Word, PPWord Styles

Chart galleryMap galleryBranded!

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Formatted results

World Bank eAtlas of Global Developmenthttp://snipurl.com/xskgi

Maps/graphs for more than 175 thematically-organized indicators for > 200 countries

Data Visualization Galleryhttp://census.gov/dataviz

Federal IT Dashboardhttps://www.itdashboard.gov/

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American FactFinder

http://factfinder2.census.gov

Mapped U.S. demographic data from Decennial Census, American Community Survey, & other Census Bureau products

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Map it yourselfBatchGeo.com

Paste list of addresses

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Evernote.com

Save search results, emails, Twitter messagesSearch/share saved notesUse on all devices

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It’s all about balance

Combine strategy and tools that match your expertise/time/project

Always balance time costs vs. search costs

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