Database of the Month: ReferenceUSA

ReferenceUSA is an essential business database for any college or university. It provides access to detailed company information on 14 million American businesses. Users can look up a specific company via the Quick Search option or generate a list of businesses by industry, geographic region, business size, or other criteria using the Custom Search option . The database includes individual stores and outlets for franchise or multi-location businesses. Records for businesses include:

• Location & contact information
• Management directory
• Business expenditures
• Current & historical sales & employment data
• Business demographics such as square footage and credit rating score
• List of competitors

Search criteria for businesses include:

• business name
• business type via SIC & NAICS codes
• sales volume
• employee size
• geographic location
• public or private company
• stock exchange & ticker symbol
• executive name

ReferenceUSA compiles its information on companies from over 5,000 public sources.  Its database specialists then make over 26 million phone calls annually to verify the data and collect additional information. For further information on this resource, take a video tutorial at the ReferenceUSA website. Please visit the ReferenceUSA database here.   A complete listing of the Bentley Library's databases is available here.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.