“I need to find information on trends in the animation industry for the United States and the United Kingdom from 2008 to 2012.” Questions like these send many librarians into a blind panic. It is difficult even to know where to start. Making Sense of Business Reference provides guidance that will ease the all-too-common fear of business-related questions.

The author, Celia Ross, teaches ALA’s popular online course, Business Reference 101. In this book, she shares her extensive practical experience in teaching business reference skills and working as a business librarian in corporate, public, and academic libraries. Ross distills business reference questions into four main types: company information; industry information; investing and financial information; and consumer information and business statistics. By dividing the overwhelming mountain of business and financial intelligence into manageable chunks, she helps librarians calm the panic and find a way to approach even the most daunting business reference questions.

In the chapters on these “Core Four” categories, Ross provides a framework for thinking about these different types of questions. She emphasizes the fact that business research is very much like detective work—it is necessary to gather clues and follow hunches to possible sources. The answers often are not found in traditional reference resources. Answering a single question can involve searching a database, searching the Internet, and then investigating industry association websites. For guidance, each chapter provides an exhaustive list of paid and free resources with short annotations on the sources’ strengths and weaknesses.

This book is targeted mainly to the accidental or occasional business librarian. The author includes a very helpful section on collection development for business, which outlines the main sources of reviews and core resources in this area. Other chapters are devoted to international business—a growing topic area in many business schools—and small business, which will be especially useful to public librarians helping potential entrepreneurs.

The book ends with a chapter of “stumpers,” real-life business questions that might cause many readers to relive painful reference encounters. These practical examples demonstrate how the resources covered in the book can be applied and show the brainstorming process that can lead to the answer—or not. Significantly, the author makes it clear that not every business question has an answer, and, furthermore, that some questions are answerable only by consulting very specialized (and expensive) market research reports that generally are not available in libraries. For those who are nervous about providing business reference services, these are particularly reassuring revelations.

With its clear language, highly readable approach, and comprehensive contents, Making Sense of Business Reference will earn a place on the reference desk as the go-to guide for calming business-question-induced panic.