Ottawa Public Library resources, services and programs help to ensure that local businesses have the information they need to be successful and stay competitive.
Get started
To learn how to start a business and how to do market research for your business, explore the two guides below:
Guide to Starting a Business in Ontario
To get support in starting a business, consult the following directory of services in Ottawa
Directory of Business Services in Ottawa
For general business research, consult these hand-picked resources:
Explore resource lists of books and websites on business topics
Online Resources
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Canada’s Information Resource Centre now provides online access to four titles that we currently have in our collection:
- Canadian Almanac and Directory
The Almanac section has its own pages and is searchable along with the directory.
- Associations Canada
Introductory material is only available in PDF, the other content is searchable from the search fields.
- Canadian Parliamentary Guide
Introductory material is only available in PDF, the other content can be searched by various fields.
- Canadian Who’s Who
It has its own search screen. Please just click on the title and it will take you to the search screen.
Since all those four printed titles are for in-library use only, this online remote access will provide a convenient option to access a diverse array of virtual who’s who and what’s where in Canada
This online access is for a single-user license. If you have trouble logging on you may wish to try again later
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ConsumerReports.org provides unbiased ratings and reviews, recommendations and buying advice from expert Consumer Reports’ testers for thousands of products and services such as cars, electronics, appliances, and more. Frequently updated articles, blogs and video content allow consumers to find the latest consumer news — such as product recalls.
Articles from the CR current issue, archives from 2012 to 2022, and a five-year Index are all available.
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This collection of reference eBooks -- the kind of reliable, in-depth material once in a printed reference collection -- gives full-text access to thousands of articles on a wide variety of topics. Users can search topics within a single reference book or within the entire collection of books. Some sample titles are: Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, Encyclopedia of World Biography, Business Plans Handbooks (44 volumes of full-text business plans), World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems, Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Encyclopaedia Judaica, and Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, & Addictive Behavior.
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Gale OneFile: Business provides full-text coverage of all business disciplines including accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, and strategy, as well as business theory and practice. Users will understand the activities of companies and industries worldwide through nearly 4,000 leading business and trade publications, updated daily. Complementing these titles is a selection of international, U.S., and regional news publications, all available on the state-of-the-art Gale OneFile platform.
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Ideal for business schools and entrepreneurs, Gale OneFile: Entrepreneurship is updated daily and provides insights, tips, strategies, and success stories. Users find more than 600 subject-appropriate, active, full-text periodicals on general topics and specific business & Economics and Small Business topics, including Beverage Industry, Black Enterprise, Economist, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, HR Magazine, Real Estate Weekly, Restaurant Business, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, and more.
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Grant Connect is a fundraising platform that connects charities with funders who share their cause. Find new prospects by searching comprehensive data managed by the expert research team.With Grant Connect, you have access to:
- Over 11,000 Canadian foundations, 560 corporate giving programs, 370 government grant programs, 120 American foundations, and 200 other kinds of grant opportunities.
- Funder profiles that offer insights on specific grant programs, application preferences, financial summaries, and key decision-makers, and more.
- Data on billions of dollars in past donations, categorized by size, cause, population, and region.
- Targeted search filters that help you quickly find the right funder for your charity by gift size, deadline, type of support, and more.”
Grant ConnectAvailable for in-library use onlyUsage info
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LinkedIn Learning for Library is an upgrade to the previous Lynda Library product, providing continued lifelong learning opportunities for all of you.
Over 16,000 video tutorial courses led by experts in Business, Creative, and Technology.Some tutorials are available in English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Customers will now have access to the following:
- Engaging content for every customer, with over 16,000 courses in 7 different languages
- A simple, time-saving login flow for customers that only requires a library card number and PIN, without the need for a LinkedIn profile
- An updated, easy-to-use, intuitive interface
- Your previous course history from Lynda.com
Library Apps
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Reference Solutions is a provider of business and consumer research.
There are several databases to search:
Canadian Businesses: A directory of 2.3 million Canadian businesses
U.S.Jobs/Internships: 2.5 Million Job Postings
Canadian White Pages: 11 million Canadian households. Records are 100% publicly sourced to comply with Canadian privacy laws.
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The Value Line Investment Survey and Small & Midcap Survey offers access to over 3,500 stocks across 100 industries. This includes analysts’ reports, statistics and forecasts of stock performance.
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Worxica, a curated job vacancy archive, is Canada's first free big data job market research tool. It's built specifically for job seekers and recruiters. The tools is a curated, online archive of two million Canadian job vacancies advertised over the past year. It includes salaries, skills, and certification requirements and current job search data.
Note: Once you’ve accessed the content, there is a limit of five to six searches for unregistered users. You will need to create a free account or login via social media and agree to Worxica’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue browsing beyond the first five or six searches.
