Collaboration Brings Business Resource to Community
8/23/2016
Decatur, Illinois, August 23, 2016 – The Decatur Public Library, Forsyth Public Library, and Mt. Zion Public Library have joined forces to offer DemographicsNow: Business & People, an online business and residential reference tool that provides detailed demographic data on more than 20 million active and 12 million inactive businesses, and 206 million consumers. Designed with an intuitive interface, interactive mapping tools and comprehensive data, this new resource makes it easy for all types of researchers to collect, analyze and act upon information, all from a single location.
“Libraries are hot spots for small business owners and entrepreneurs,” said Rick Meyer, the City Librarian for Decatur Public Library. “Entrepreneurs can use DemographicsNow to create a business plan or to do a location analysis; small business owners can rely on it to identify competitors in their area or help relocate their business. We’re excited to offer this to the community.”
DemographicsNow: Business & People will serve a variety of needs and will be used by all types of users – from small business owners, entrepreneurs and sales people, to jobseekers, students, community leaders and non-profit organizations. Marketing and sales people can develop targeted, accurate customer leads and mailing lists for campaigns; students can research companies and regions for assignments; and jobseekers can find information on a company before a job interview.
Residents of Decatur, Forsyth, and Mt. Zion may use DemographicsNow: Business & People at all three libraries or from any computer by going to the libraries websites and accessing the product using their library card number.
“Bringing this resource to the community was truly a collaborative effort,” said Meyer. “The Decatur Public Library, Forsyth Public Library, Mt. Zion Public Library, Economic Development Corporation of Decatur – Macon County, City of Decatur, Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce, Millikin University, Richland Community College, Village of Mt. Zion, Mt. Zion Chamber of Commerce, and Mt. Zion Economic Development Corporation all assisted in financial or technical support of this effort.”
Richland Community College will also host training sessions for those interested in using DemographicsNow. Training dates will be released in the near future.