Be a Small Business Advocate

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), nearly half of all U.S. workers are employed by small business owners.1 That means 61.2 million workers, their families, and the local economy depend on the success of small businesses.2

Under ordinary conditions, the SBA reports that the survival rate for small businesses after five years is only 48 percent and decreases significantly over time.3 In extraordinary times of economic crisis, like the one we’re facing now with the coronavirus pandemic, small businesses are hit the hardest. For Black- and immigrant-owned businesses, the chance of recovery from a natural or economic disaster is even smaller.

Your local community needs the benefit of industry expertise and timely small business resources and services to bolster economic recovery.

The Gale Business Suite answers the call, with streamlined access to business-planning tools, national and state legal forms, targeted marketing data, nearly 1,000 sample business plans, and more.  

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1. U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 2021 Small Business Profile.
2. See note 1.
3. U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions, October 2020.

Gale Business: Entrepreneurship

Equip entrepreneurs with an online resource mapped to four key business stages—plan, fund, start, and manage—to fit the entrepreneur’s research needs at any point in the business’s development. Topics cover accounting, human resources, marketing, taxes, and more. Also included is the entire Business Plans Handbook series, which contains nearly 1,000 sample business plans created by real-life entrepreneurs.

Gale LegalForms

This database provides access to a wide selection of essential, state-specific, customizable forms for supporting legal tasks relevant to business owners, such as filing for copyrights, patents and trademarks, articles of incorporation, licensing, developing leases, creating bills of sale, labor laws regarding employees, and more. It builds an understanding of key areas of law, with tools like legal definition, a law digest, and legal Q & A.

Gale Business: Plan Builder

Offer your patrons step-by-step guidance to starting, managing, and optimizing a business. Complete with an intuitive dashboard, users can explore five areas of business planning to learn about options, evaluate readiness, and develop a business plan and other foundational documents. Better yet, it can be integrated with three key business-planning and legal resources to help entrepreneurs at each stage of the business development life cycle.

Up Your Business Acumen

A New Guide

NO MBA REQUIRED: A Library Action Plan for Engaging with the Business Community

This action plan offers real-world suggestions, sources, and program ideas for public libraries that want to connect with their local business community. There are no trade secrets when it comes to helping entrepreneurs, and there’s a wide network of service and information providers who volunteer help along the way. Let’s get started!

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On-demand Webcast

Broaden Your Business Services

View this webcast, led by two librarians who have made supporting small businesses a priority. They’ll guide you through the process of creating innovative programming, strengthening outreach efforts, and fostering partnerships with business service providers.

Learn the Business Lingo

You don’t need to be a business librarian to support entrepreneurs, but it helps if you speak their language. Get familiar with basic business terminologies, like EBIT, Lean Canvas, operating costs, and others, with this small business glossary for public librarians.