Library Research for ECON 364: Urban and Regional Economics

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Library ResearchforECON 364Urban and Regional
Economics

• Charlotte Johnson Jones
• Reference Social Sciences Librarian
• University of Mary Washington
• Fall 2006

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Information needs for this project

• Economic (industrial) and demographic data on a
  city or metropolitan region
• Background information on the economic climate
  and social and demographic characteristics of the
  area
• Models for developing an economic analysis of the
  areas problems, challenges, and opportunities

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Potential sources

• Data
• Economic Census
• Decennial Census
• American Community Survey
• Background
• Subject encyclopedias and other reference works
• Articles from newspapers, magazines, and business
  publications
• Web sites
• Interviews?
• Models
• EconLit

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U.S. Census Bureau sources
American Fact Finder http//www.factfinder.census.
gov Extensive source of clearly explained,
downloadable data from the 2000 Decennial Census
population survey 1997 and 2002 Economic
Censuses new American Community Survey and more.
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Economic Census(every five years)
These include data for states, metropolitan
areas, counties, and cities.
No 2002 reports are being published in print.
All reports will be . . . on American FactFinder.
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Decennial Censusand American Community Survey
American Community Survey (ACS)The American
Community Survey is a large, continuous
demographic survey conducted by the Census Bureau
that will eventually provide accurate and
up-to-date profiles of America's communities
every year. Questionnaires are mailed to a sample
of addresses to obtain information about
households -- that is, about each person and the
housing unit itself. The survey produces annual
and multi-year estimates of population and
housing characteristics and produces data for
small areas, including tracts and population
subgroups.
The traditional Census, taken every 10 years
A newer continually updated way of collecting
demographic and housing data. See more at
http//www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/What/What1.h
tm
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Choose your geographic area carefully
Look confusing? It is. The bottom line be
sure to choose a geographical unit for which
meaningful economic and demographic data are
available.
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Background Information
Research tools page
Find books
Choose a research guide in your discipline from
the dropdown menu.
Find articles
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Research guides list selected subject
encyclopedias and reference works
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Use LexisNexis Academic to find regional
newspaper articles
LexisNexis is an enormous database and can be
hard to search because it is divided into types
of sources, such as major newspapers, or state
newspapers. To search, you must choose a news
category and a news source.
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The news categories
Most of the categories are self-explanatory . .
. but not all. Choose General News for major
newspapers like the New York Times and Washington
Post. For breaking news/headline stories, use
Todays News. State and regional newspapers are
found under U. S. News.
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The news sources
Choose a set of sources. Notice how the category
U.S. News actually leads to regional and state
sources.
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Think about how newspaper articles are
constructed when you enter keywords to serach
Notice the dropdown menu doesnt say Keywords.
However searching in the headline and first
paragraph(s) of a news story is probably the best
way to find articles that are really about your
topic. If you search in fulltext (another
dropdown option), you will probably find many
more results that just mention your topic.
Date limits
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Interesting results
Something is happening in Huntsville with biotech.
But Huntsville was also losing some young
talent in 2004. Click on the title to read the
full text.
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Factiva is a good source for regional news with
an economic slant
Drill down through Regions and Subjects to build
a search.
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Click ONCEto add a region or subject to the
search
Notice how the region now appears at the head of
the list. This means Factiva has added this
region to the search.
Click once. Clicking twice will remove the region
from your search.
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Factiva is designed for corporate knowledge
managers. Help!
Heres the search for Economic News about
Alabama. Type Huntsville in the Free Text box to
narrow the results to that city. This
complicated looking search is the same as looking
for economic news AND Huntsville AND Alabama in
another database.
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But the results are great . . .
Report ranks Huntsville No.2 most favorable city
in nation
Standard Poors on Monday raised its
underlying rating on Huntsville . . . bonds
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Use Advanced Searchin Business Company
Resource Center
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Fewer results, and older
But worth the search. You might find a gem.
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Use Web directoriesto find authoritative Web
sites
e.g. Internet Public Library at www.ipl.org ?
Regional
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Focus Google searches by using phrases in
quotation marks
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Use JEL classificationsas descriptors to tame
EconLit
Search for U.S. as a descriptor to limit to
articles about the United States.
Change the dropdown menu to Descriptors
Just type the JEL classification in a search box.
This one is Regional Economic Activity Growth,
Development, and Changes. Find JEL descriptors
in every issue of the Journal of Economic
Literature or online at the American Economics
Association web site http//www.aeaweb.org/journal
/elclasjn_hold.html
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Add a keyword to focus the search on a particular
regional feature or variable
Here is the the word arts to be found anywhere in
the record.
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Locate Journal Article opens a pop-up with options
Make sure to allow pop-ups!!
The citation is at the top.
First choice? The article is available online
through a UMW subscription or database.
Not online? Click here and type the title of the
journal into the basic catalog search box. Or
cut and paste journal title from the citation
above.
Last resort Interlibrary Loan