Special Issues Index: A Free Research Goldmine

Here at the Hill Library we subscribe to hundreds and hundreds of highly specialized industry trade journals. There are few better tools for learning more about a specific industry.

Every time we get a new issue of one of these trade journals, we browse through it, looking for so-called special issues. A special issue can be a state of the industry report, a trend analysis, a buyer’s guide, a top company listing... Basically any kind of special report.

We keep track of these special reports in the Special Issues Index. This tool can help folks here at the library get access to our trade journal collection. But what if you’re not here in St. Paul?

There is a document delivery option (free for HillSearch members), but we’ve also gone through and looked for online editions of these reports at trade journal Web sites. If they exist, we’ve linked to them.

In addition, we regularly scour the Web for free special reports from government and trade sources. These are labeled in the Special Issues Index as “Online Only.” We just dumped a couple dozen new Online Only reports into the Index, including:

• Life Insurance Industry 2008 Outlook
  
• The “Average” 62-Year Old Boomer
  
• Effects of Gasoline Prices on Driving Behavior and Vehicle Markets 
  
• Pet Ownership Statistics
  
• American Wind Energy Association 2007 Market Report
  
• Geographic Trends Among Same-Sex Couples
  
• Future Trends in Animal Agriculture
  
• What’s Hot & What’s Not: Chef Survey
  
• Networked Nation: Broadband in America 2007