Tips on using SFPL.org to search for...

How to find companies in a particular field

1. Navigate to www.sfpl.org in Internet Explorer
2. Click on 'Advanced Search'
3. Enter your SFPL Library Card Number (you might want to save your nunber in a .txt file for easy access, then copy and paste)
4. Click on 'Clear All"
5. Check the 'Business' checkbox
6. Search for several companies in the line of business in which you are interested. For example:
   Zoomedia, "Evolve Media" and "Global 1 Design"
7. Wait a bit. You will start to see listings under several different resources.
8. Note which resources are called up. The reason I want you to pay attention to these resources is we eventually want to use the resources interface alone to do a more advanced and targeted search. I seem to be having the most luck with "Reference USA Business Directory". I'll use that as an example
9. If you click on 'View Details", a new browser window opens. Notice that this browser window is of the "Reference USA" Business Directory. Start Taking down the SIC number and corresponding Line of Business. For instance, by searching for the 3 companies in step 6 above I have collected the following SIC numbers:
   1. 2741-19 Multimedia (Manufacturers)
   2. 7373-11Website Design Services
10. Also take note of NAICS numbers and corresponding Line of Business. Some examples from 3 companies in step 6 are:
    1. 7375-05 Online Services
    2. 51119906 All other Publishing
11. The reason for steps 9 and 10 are so that you can search inside the resource interfaces, such as Reference USA's Business Director. You can use various different criteria such as SIC, NAICS, Number of Employees, Estimated Sales, City, State, County and Metro Regions.
12. To search from within one of the resource, for example, Reference USA, follow the necessary steps above to get to any Reference USA listing.
    1. Click on "New Search". Make sure the tab is on "Custom Search".
    2. Click on all of the Criteria you would like to use for your search, for examples check the following boxes:
       1. Primary SIC
       2. NAICS-2002
       3. City
       4. Employees
       5. Sales Volume
    3. Click on 'Create Search Form"
    4. Enter some or all of the information you want to search for. Note that some menus to select from allow you to control-click to select multiple items.
13. What I found most helpful was to either see if the companies found by the search had a URL listed. If they did, then I'd go to their site and look at their website to get a feel for what kind of company they are and whether students might like to work there. Oftentimes there were no website listed, so I'd use google to find their URL.