By james art Are you a budding entrepreneur in the early stages of starting your own business? Already created a successful company, but want to expand it? Perhaps you are a business leader who realizes that your team needs training in certain areas, such as AI, customer service or communications.
Regardless of your place in the business world, the East Baton Rouge Parish Library has a wealth of resources designed specifically to help business owners and leaders build and grow their companies. These include access to informational databases and tools for creating and updating business plans, one-on-one consultation sessions with small business experts and regular events that offer networking and growth opportunities.
“The main resources we have are definitely our small business librarians. They can help with research as well as help people navigate the library website and find more information,” said Austin Langley, Librarian II – Small Business Services. “Most of the people who come to us have reached a point where they’re kind of stuck. They are trying to figure out where to go with their business idea or need a certain type of information. We can talk to them about where they are, where they want to go, and how we can find solutions to their problems.
Some of the primary small business resources available at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library include:
- Gale Business: Plan Builder, a step-by-step online planning tool for starting, managing, and optimizing a business or nonprofit.
- Entrepreneurial Mindset Training, a free, self-paced program that addresses topics such as opportunity recognition, networking, and overcoming self-imposed limitations.
- Legal GPS, an interactive platform that provides personalized guidance for completing more than 50 legal essentials.
- Data Axle Reference Solutions, the ultimate source of information for reference and research, marketing, job hunting and more.
Mary Stein, assistant library director, said EBRPL also provides access to online courses that can help business owners looking for information on a specific topic, whether they want a quick overview or in-depth tutorials.
In addition, Langley said people can sign up for personal consultations with small business librarians to discuss their specific needs and the tools available to help them. Stein noted that the EBRPL team is particularly adept at “asking the question behind the question” to determine the current state of a business and where the owner wants to take it, allowing them to find the specific resources that best suit their needs.
Scan this QR code to schedule a consultation with Small Business Services at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library.
“We schedule our consultations for an hour to give them enough time to give them an overview of all the available databases and what they can do,” Langley said. “We also email them after each consultation with a detailed document about the tools that can help them and any community organizations that can be of use to them. The one thing I hear most often after a consultation is, “You’ve given me a lot to work on, but I feel much more confident moving forward.”
Stein said people are often surprised to learn that EBRPL offers so much help to entrepreneurs and business owners, perhaps because they tend to associate libraries with personal use.
“Sometimes people don’t look at the library through the lens of a business resource,” she said. “However, once people learn about it, they embrace it. These resources are free. They save people money and time. Entrepreneurs have great ideas, but often don’t know how to run a business and how to bring their service or product to the public. Our team helps them fill those gaps.”
The East Baton Rouge Parish Library on Goodwood Boulevard.
Stein said EBRPL also partners with area business organizations to organize events. These can include anything from presentations to large groups to in-house training and seminars for specific companies.
“One great thing is that these workshops and presentations can be customized,” Stein said. “Our team even put something together for me because I had 30 minutes to speak at a project manager training. They found library resources specifically for people in the field, so I was able to talk to them about topics that were relevant to their work. They can put together something similar for anyone in the community who needs it.
For more information about small business resources at EBRPL, visit To set up a consultation or ask a question, [email protected] or call 225-231-3750.