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ReferenceUSA

What's included in ReferenceUSA?

ReferenceUSA is made up of two databases, a Business database and a Residential database.

Business Database

• Information on 14 million businesses in the United States
• Built from telephone directories and is confirmed by contacting the businesses listed
• Listings are updated regularly -- once a year for the smallest businesses, several times a year for the largest.
• Can be searched on a national scale, or can be limited by state, county, metropolitan area, city, or other geographical areas.
• Can be searched by company name, size, and yellow page heading or SIC code.
• Searches can also be narrowed to retrieve only headquarters or subsidiaries for companies.

Residential database

• Listings for 140 million United States households.
• Listings include directory information and some census tract profile information.

How to Search

Business Database | Residential Database

Business Database

In the Business database, there are two ways to search, Quick Search and Custom Search

Quick Search

For a Quick Search, enter any combination of company name, city, state, or telephone number and click on Search Now. This will take you directly to a search results screen listing businesses that match your criteria.

If there are no matching results, click Revise My Criteria or New Search to return to the search screen.

Custom Search

In a custom search, multiple criteria or combinations of criteria can be used to retrieve results. Click on the Custom Search tab to see categories and fields that can searched. Categories include:

Company Name - Company Name, Executive Name or Ticker Symbol

Yellow Pages - Yellow Page Heading or SIC, Major Industry, NAICS-2002, Primary SIC

Geography - State, County, City, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), Area Code, ZIP Code, Address

Phone - Business Telephone Number

Business Size - Employee Size, Sales Volume

Special Selects - Headquarters/Branch, Government Offices, Title of Executive, Stock Exchange/Public Companies, Yellow Pages Ad Size/Years in Database, Web Address, Foreign Parent

Sample custom search:

For this example, let us say you want to open a coffee shop at the corner of Lexington Parkway and University Avenue in St. Paul. You want to use ReferenceUSA to see what sort of competition is already in the area. Checking a ZIP code map, you learn that the area is in the 55104 ZIP code, and that the 55105 ZIP code is also close by.

Step 1 - Creating a Search Form

The first thing you need to do is create your search form by telling ReferenceUSA what criteria you will be using to search. For this example, we will be searching for a particular kind of business in specified ZIP codes, so click the check boxes in front of YP Heading or SIC and Zip Code.

Click Create Search Form.

Step 2 - Specifying Search Criteria

In the box under Yellow Page Heading, type coffee.

In two of the boxes in the Geography Selects area, type 55104 and 55105.

Click Search Now.

Step 3 - Search Refinement

You will see a list of exact matches (all headings containing the word "coffee") and a list of related matches (headings that may have something to do with coffee).

Click on the headings that most apply to the search. In this case, from the Exact Matches box, select:

coffee & tea

coffee shops

and from the Related Matches box, select:

cafes

espresso & espresso bars

tea rooms.

Headings you select will appear in the box marked Selected Choices. If you wish to remove any headings from the selected choices, simply click on the heading in the Selected Choices box.

Click Search Now.

Step 4 - List of Matching Businesses

The next page will display the results of your search and directory information for the businesses found. The screen displays the first 20 matches. If you have more than more than 20 matches, you can page through the matches using the Next and Previous buttons at the top and bottom of the screen.

Step 5 - Detailed Information Listing

To get detailed information on any of the businesses listed, click on the name of the business.

For example, click the company name for Ginkgo Coffeehouse. Detailed information, such as owner, number of employees, estimated sales, etc. will be displayed. To print this information, click the browser’s print button. To return to the list, click the back button.

You can map the location of the selected company by clicking the Map It link near the bottom of the screen. The map will open up in a separate window.

To get back to the detailed listing, close the map window.

Following Linkages

Arrows pointing up or down provide linkage to headquarters, branches, or subsidiaries of companies. In this example, you will see upward-pointing arrows next to the entries for Caribou Coffee and Starbuck’s Coffee. Click the arrow for either of these companies and you will retrieve a display for that company’s headquarters.

If you click the down arrow from the headquarters' display, you will retrieve a listing all the Caribou or Starbuck's coffee shops nationwide.

To modify your search, click Revise My Criteria from the results screen.

To clear the slate and begin a new search, click New Search.

See below for information on printing and downloading results.

Residential Database

Quick Search

For a Quick Search, enter any combination of last name, first name, city, state, or telephone number and click on Search Now. This will take you directly to a search results of listings that match your criteria.

If there are no matching results, click Revise My Criteria, New Search, or Back to return to the search screen.

Custom Search

In a custom search, multiple criteria or combinations of criteria can be used to retrieve results. Click on the Custom Search tab to see categories and fields that can searched. Categories include:

Name - Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial, Phone Number

Geography - Address, ZIP Code, Area Code, City, State, County, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

Sample custom search:

For this example, let us say you want to find all the households with the last name Anderson in the 55105 ZIP code.

Step 1 - Creating a Search Form

The first thing you need to do is create your search form by telling ReferenceUSA what criteria you will be using to search. For this example, we will be searching for a specific last name in a specified ZIP code, so click the check boxes in front of Last Name and Zip Code.

Click Create Search Form.

Step 2 - Specifying Search Criteria

In the box next to Last Name, type Anderson.

In one of the boxes in the Geography Selects area, type 55105.

Click Search Now.

Step 3 - List of Matches

The next page will display the results of your search and directory information for the households found. The screen displays the first 20 matches. If you have more than more than 20 matches, you can page through the matches using the Next and Previous buttons at the top and bottom of the screen.

Step 4 - Detailed Information Listing

To get detailed information on any of the households listed, click the last name.

The detailed information will include directory information as well as some census tract average figures for household income and home value.

You can map the location of the selected household by clicking the Map It link near the bottom of the screen. The map will open up in a separate window.

To get back to the detailed listing, close the map window.

To modify your search, click Revise My Criteria from the results screen.

To clear the slate and begin a new search, click New Search.

See below for information on printing and downloading results.

Printing and Downloading Results

Printing

To print out search results, select individual locations by clicking their check boxes, or click the ALL button to select all the locations displayed on the screen.

(Note: The library's license allows users to select and print 50 records at a time. Selecting more than 50 will result in only the first 50 records being printed.)

Once you have selected the locations to be printed, click the Print button at the top or the bottom of the list. Select either a summary (name, address, and phone number information only) or a detailed report and click Print.

The selected locations will display in a new table, and the browser's print menu will launch. Choose the desired settings, then click Back to return to the list.

Downloading

Up to 50 records may be selected and downloaded to a floppy disk by clicking the Download button. Records are in a delimited format that will require setting up a file into which they can be merged in your database or word-processing software.

Start searching ReferenceUSA.

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