Business Insight Zone

Between the annual meetings of the Special Libraries Association that Hoover’s attends and business functions around Austin, I’ve gotten to know April Kessler, a business librarian who’s a long-time user of Hoover’s. April was kind enough to field some questions about how she and the students she works with use Hoover’s.

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Tell us a little about yourself: what’s your professional background, and how long have you been at UT?

Actually I didn’t start out in libraries. I have my MBA and worked in advertising and marketing for 12 years before getting my Master’s in Information Studies in 2004. Since then I’ve done business research in corporate and academic libraries and I’ve been the Business Librarian here at UT for 2 years now.

How do you use Hoover’s in your professional role?

As the library liaison to the McCombs School of Business I work with students and faculty to fill their information needs. Since we are often looking for competitive intelligence Hoover’s is one of our favorite resources. With one search, we can link to competitors, financials, executives — it’s perfect for finding the fundamentals.

How has Hoover’s helped McCombs students land internships or other jobs? What sort of feedback have the students given you?

Working  closely with the McCombs Career Services Department I help students create lists of companies in a specific industry and also direct students to Hoover’s for background information on a particular company to help them prepare for interviews. Students are always surprised by what Hoover’s can do for them and how easy it is to use. These are pretty motivated and competitive students, so any extra edge is appreciated.

What’s your favorite aspect of Hoover’s?

Other databases let you create lists of companies, but one of the features in the Hoover’s Build A List function is that you can search executive bios by keyword. So much of business is about networking and finding a connection to someone. Being able to search via an alma mater can be the ice breaker someone needs to get in the door.

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Given that Hoover’s has been headquartered in Austin from the beginning, you can guess that many of the folks on staff here are UT alums, and we’re happy to have an informal pipeline of McCombs graduates into our ranks. Thanks to April for taking the time to field these questions — and for continuing to be one of Hoover’s biggest fans.

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Photo by ydhsu, used under a CC-Share Alike license.

Category: Hoover's