1. 3/15/2013
Overview of Business & Career Library’s Business Programs and Services
Data for City Hall Testimony on April 16, 2012
Brooklyn Public Library's Business & Career Library plays a pivotal role in the economic
life of the borough. In recognition of the ever more important issues of economic
development and to support the ever increasing needs of Brooklyn’s residents seeking
either employment or self- employment, BPL recently merged its job and education
services with it business resources to establish the Business & Career Library (B&CL).
All materials, staff and programming are now housed under one roof at 280 Cadman
Plaza West, site of the Business Library for the last 50 years. Entrepreneurs and job
seekers can now easily access, in one place, an array of information and services which
give them the tools they need to succeed.
Business program statistics, FY 2011, including one on one consultations, workshops,
and seminars
• 501 Sessions
• 6967 Attendance
Sample Program Series for Business Owners and Aspiring Entrepreneurs (figures in
parentheses indicate number served).
• Marketing with New Technology Series: Email Marketing, Blogging,
Crowdsourcing, Marketing with Mobile Apps, (198)
• Start Smart Series: How to Start a Specialty Food Business; How to Start a
Fashion Business; How to Start Day Care Business (185)
• You Can Do It Too Entrepreneur Series: Success Stories from Brooklyn
Business Owners (157)
• Entrepreneur Expo: Meet & greet with business service and assistance
providers; meet with business mentors. (175)
• Legal Ease Series: Hiring Employees, Keeping Records, Paying Taxes (189)
• Using Google Tools to Grow your Business (160)
• Start Up Series: How to Start a Business, How to Start a Non-Profit (261)
• Tech Essentials with Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (115)
• Financial Empowerment Fair 90
• Money Matters Series: Lenders’ Roundtable; Crowd Funding for Start Ups (90)
• Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs with Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law
Project (87)
Ongoing Consultation Services and Library Tours in Partnership with Other
Organizations (figures indicate number served).
• One on one business counseling with SCORE (233)
• One on one legal counseling for entrepreneurs offered quarterly through the
Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (88)
• One on one financial counseling in partnership with Bedford Stuyvesant
Restoration Corp. Financial Empowerment Center - started FY 2012, no
statistics
• One on one computer coaching and classes (194)

2. 3/15/2013
• Department of Labor Self Employment Assistance Program Orientations with
introductions to Library resources (605)
• Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce New Member Orientations and introduction to
Library resources (239)
 Testimonials from PowerUP! business owners regarding BPL excerpted from
magazine articles.
“Start-Up Help at Your Local Library”
Inc. Magazine.com June 3, 2010
Stacey Toussaint, President and CEO of Inside Out Tours, Inc. won $15,000 for having
a first place plan to launch a 'cultural tourism company, offering bus and walking tours of
NYC, specializing in Brooklyn.' Toussaint said 'The goal of entering and winning the
business plan competition gave us an incentive to take classes at BPL's Business
Library and utilize Brooklyn's small business centers rather than just rely on our own
resources. We received training in marketing, creating financial statements, and writing a
business plan. We also made valuable connections with other competition participants
that have resulted in strategic relationships.'
Runner up Elissa Olin, Founder & Owner of Green in BKLYN , an eco-friendly home
goods & gift shop in Clinton Hill said 'The prize money was the most visible and
recognized resource…. But an even longer lasting influence on the success of the
business has been the media support and coverage. It gave us a leg up and created not
only a buzz, but momentum, which has been instrumental in the success of the business
in its first and, typically, most difficult year.' Sales [are] up…. more than 60% higher
year-to-year.
"The Library Helped Me Start My Business"
Women’s Day March 15, 2008
The great thing about the Brooklyn Public Library Business Library is they not only
sponsor this contest, but also give valuable workshops on how to write your business
plan, a workshop on the resources at the library, and provide lists of outside resources to
help start your business. It is a one-stop shop….. The resources I found most helpful at
the library were the ability to reserve business books online and conduct industry-
specific research through the library's database, which also can be accessed from home
with a library card and a pin code; the numerous workshops offered by professionals in
subjects such as marketing, accounting, organization, time management, business plan
basics; and last but not least, the valuable advice of the librarians.