As everyone knows, we’re in the information age. Or the digital age. Or Web 2.0. Or 3.0. Whatever you call it, there’s a lot of information out there. This information can help you monitor industry trends, business news and much more. However, for many of us, it would be easy to argue that there’s too much – too much to effectively keep track of, at any rate. Sometimes, there may be a particular web page (or several) that you’re interested in. This page may be updated anywhere from once a month to several times a day. Or even an hour. You can check it constantly, but you may miss something. Or, if it isn’t updated very often, you’re spending time looking for changes that aren’t there.

Here’s where a product from Google can help. As you probably know, Google is much more than a search engine. There’s Google Maps, Google News, Google+, etc. etc. etc. One extremely useful tool is Google Reader. Google Reader enables you to keep track of updates to web pages you’re interested in, all with one easy-to-use tool. Google Reader isn’t new – it has been available for a few years – but it’s still one of the most useful tools out there if you have lots of web content to monitor. Or even a little.

You can access Google Reader using your Google/Gmail account. Once signed in, just choose ‘Reader’ to get started. Click on the red ‘subscribe’ button and add the URLs of the sites you’re interested in. As your sites are updated with new content, Reader will show you updates to your sites so you can monitor everything from one place. It’s that simple!

Reader works best with sites that have RSS (Really Simple Syndication), but if the site you’re watching doesn’t have it, you can use a service like Page2RSS. Page2 lets you get a feed from any page, whether it has RSS or not. Simply enter the URL into Page2. It will create a URL for you to enter into Google Reader and voila, you can see when the page is updated.

Here’s a video explaining Google Reader in plain English. And here’s a second video on Page 2 RSS.

As always, the end of the year brings out the ‘top ____ of 2011′ lists. Business books are no exception. Harvey Schachter of the Globe and Mail has produced his own top 10 list of the Best Business Books of 2011. We have seven of the ten in our collection right now, one on order and the other two will be ordered ASAP. Here’s the list:

• The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement and Creativity at Work by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. We don’t have this one yet, but have added it to our ‘to order’ list.
• Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. We’ve ordered this one and we’re waiting for it to be shipped.
• Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen. Collins, author of Good to Great and other titles has released a new book on managing for success.
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. This biography on the late Steve Jobs is extremely popular right now. We have eleven copies in the system, but several holds. Place a reserve now and we’ll let you know when it’s available.
• Why Are We Bad At Picking Good Leaders? by Jeffrey Cohn and Jay Moran. Again, we don’t have this one yet, but have added it to our ‘to order’ list.
• Brainsteering by Kevin Coyne and Shawn Coyne. These brothers suggest new techniques to improve the brainstorming process.
• Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud. Clinical psychologist Dr. Cloud asks why we cling to things that are no longer working or effective, and talks about the need to face up to necessary endings.
• Change Anything by Kerry Patterson (and others). This book is catalogued more under the personal self-help section, but is definitely applicable to business. It looks at six sources of influence that affect our daily decision making and ways to make them work for us instead of against us.
• Onward: How Starbucks Fought for its Life Instead of Losing its Soul by Howard Schultz. Schultz, former CEO, wrote an earlier book about Starbucks. This new title tells of his return to a troubled Starbucks in 2008 and his efforts to rebuild it.
• Fixing the Game by Roger Martin. Martin, the dean of the Rotman School of Business at U of T, compares capitalism today with the NFL and proposes solutions to the cycle of bubbles and crashes.

Check out these and thousands of other business books at your library!

Our Social Media Marketing for Small Business series is back for an encore! Due to the overwhelming popularity of the previous series, we’ve decided to offer these five sessions one more time, starting in January. Here are the dates:

January 16 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) – Social Media Marketing for Small Business
February 13 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) – Beginner Facebook for Small Business
March 19 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) – Advanced Facebook for Small Business
April 16 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) – Twitter & LinkedIn for Small Business
May 28 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) – Search Engine Optimization, Google Analytics and Blogging for Small Business

Robert Fraser from oogled has been kind enough to share his expertise again and will be leading the sessions.  And again, these seminars are offered thanks to a partnership with the good people at Town of WhitbyEconomic Development.

Registration is required.  To register online, please visit our program page. You can also send us an email at askreference@whitbylibrary.on.ca or phone 905-668-6531, ext. 2020. And act soon! Even though some of these sessions are months away, they’re starting to fill up!

If you’re looking for information on meeting the standards of the Accessibiity for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, the Whitby Chamber of Commerce has assembled a great list of resources on business accessibility. It has links to applicable government websites, videos, funding, consultants and articles - all to help you ensure that you’re accessible to all segments of the community.

Over the last few months, I’ve really enjoyed catching up on old episodes of CBC’s Dragon’s Den. It’s a business reality show with a straightforward concept – entrepreneurs pitch to five ‘dragons’ who then decide whether or not they want to invest their own money. Under the rules of the show, the entrepreneur has to leave the den with the amount of money they’re asking for (or more).

It all makes for great TV. As with any TV show (especially a reality show), you have to remember that entertainment is #1, and that with clever editing, there is a lot of stuff that we don’t get to see. Each pitch may be an hour, but we’ll only see five minutes. And we only see about half of the pitches given. Regardless, it’s an enjoyable display of entrepreneurial passion, tempered by necessary business reality.

If you like the show, you may want to check out these recent books from three of the Dragons:

• Robert Herjavec was the first out of the gate with Driven: How to Succeed in Business and in Life in 2010. The book is written around 50 work and life principles that Mr. Herjavec lives by, leavened by anecdotes and tidbits from the Den (as well as the American version Shark Tank, where he also appears) and his own rags-to-riches story.
• Kevin O’Leary released Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life last month.  This book is very popular and has a long holds list – we’ve just purchased four more copies to meet demand. Mr. O’Leary, known as the ‘mean dragon’ for telling-it-like-it-is (no matter how brutal the assessment) and tough negotiating skills, outlines his philosophy in the book, along with his life story.
• Finally, the newest book is Arlene Dickinson’s Persuasion: A New Approach to Changing Minds.  Ms. Dickinson, a marketing guru, tells of the role persuasion (connecting and cultivating positive relationships) played in her journey to the top of her profession and to the Den. This one is also popular and also has a lengthy hold list.

Don’t let those hold lists deter you! Just click on the next available copy button on the catalogue and we’ll let you know by phone or email as soon as it’s available.

Hopefully, this won’t be the last of the Dragon-penned books. Jim Treliving started as a cop in the 1960s and helped build Boston Pizza into one of the biggest chains in the country. His career could probably fill a book or two. And former Dragon Brett Wilson (whose new show Risky Business appears on the Slice Network) is a prolific Twitterer and commentator. New Dragon Bruce Croxon is still in his first season, but after a few years, who knows?

Having trouble finding something online? Google is great for searches on virtually everything, but sometimes, we hit a wall. Sometimes it’s a pay wall, other times there just isn’t anything available.  And when we’re used to finding everything we need with a few quick keystrokes, elusive searches can get frustrating very quickly.

If you’re having trouble (or to save yourself the trouble) finding information you need for your business, head on over to our database page. Our database collection includes articles from thousands of magazines and journals, known and obscure.  We have a specific list of business databases, but our general article databases contain lots of information too.

There are a couple of business-related events coming up this month.

Durham Region is hosting a Supplier Information Night at Regional HQ (605 Rossland Rd. East in Whitby) on Monday, October 17 from 6 to 9 PM.  They’ll go through the bidding and acquisition process used by the Region and other local governments.  We did a post about a year ago on the billions of dollars of contracts available to companies large and small for goods and services bought by the government.  It’s a large field, so if you have a product or service to provide to the Region, check it out.

On Tuesday, October 25, the Whitby Chamber of Commerce is holding their bi-annual Business Showcase at the Whitby Centennial Building at 416 Centre St. South.  Join the Chamber for seminars, exhibits by local businesses and networking.  We plan on being there with a laptop running PCensus, so drop by and see what it can do for you!

Our Social Media Marketing for Small Business series continues! The good people from oogled.ca will join us at the Central Library on October 17th from 7 to 9 PM to talk about Twitter and LinkedIn. 

We’ll review Twitter basics and learn how it can be used to communicate with customers and potential customers. We will also look at programs like Hootsuite that help you manage multiple Twitter accounts.

We will also cover the fundamentals of LinkedIn, a social media application that caters more to the business environment. Which businesses should use LinkedIn?  How does it fit within the overall scope of a Social Media strategy for your business?

The Whitby Public Library, in partnership with the Town of Whitby Economic Development department is hosting a series of Social Media Marketing programs for small businesses. This in depth review is the third in our series.  Registration is required. To register, please contact the Reference Desk at 905-668-6531 ext. 2020 or by email at askreference@whitbylibrary.on.ca .  You can also register online!

Looking to serve Whitby’s business community?  If you’re a member, consider joining the Board of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce.  They’re accepting nominations until the 29th of September.  Check out the information package for more details.

Last June, we ran a very popular beginner Facebook for Small Business program.  We’re pleased to announce that Robert Fraser of oogled.ca is joining us again in September for part II – Advanced Facebook. 

Join us on Monday, September 19th, 2011 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.  Mr. Fraser will discuss:

• How to set up an advertisement in Facebook
• Setting up a Facebook Group
• How you can use YouTube/Flickr with Facebook
• How to create and set up Facebook Pages
• Advanced Facebook Pages with iframe

 Please note - a basic understanding of Facebook is required.

The Whitby Public Library, in partnership with the Town of Whitby Economic Development is hosting a series of Social Media Marketing programs for small businesses. This in depth review is the third in our series.  Registration is required. To register, please contact the Reference Desk at 905-668-6531 ext. 2020 or by email at askreference@whitbylibrary.on.ca .  You can also register online!