What are Directories?
Directories are organized listings of contact information. The amount of information provided for each entry can range from brief to detailed. Directories can be organized in different ways, including alphabetically, geographically, or by subject. Though directories are often available both in print and electronically, the resources referenced in this tutorial are available online.
There are two types of directories: general and specialized.
General directories:
General directories provide brief contact information. For example, yellow and white page telephone books list contact names and addresses. You may be familiar with some, such as Canpages.ca, or The Yellow Pages.
Specialized directories:
Specialized directories provide more detailed information than general directories. For example, some business directories may list addresses, size, number of employees, scope of business or service, annual revenues and in some cases, much more. Scott’s Directories is an example of an electronic directory available through Seneca Libraries.
What are Trade Magazines?
Trade magazines cover information about a specific industry and are written by industry experts, and are not intended for the general public. Instead, they are written for people working or studying in a respective field. Every industry usually has at least one trade magazine.
For example:
Magazines like Maclean’s and Time are NOT trade magazines. These magazines contain articles that are written for the general public and have articles covering topics that are not specific to one industry or profession.
Trade magazines include industry-specific research, reports, and articles. The language used in the trade magazines may include industry terms, as the articles are written for people working or studying in the industry or profession.
Trade magazines keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry. They alert you to upcoming trade shows and conferences. The advertisements are industry-specific, so you can sometimes use them as job opportunities.
Selected Resource:
You can find trade magazines in the library's electronic magazine collection.
Serials Directory is a great place to find a trade magazine. It is an electronic directory of more than 250,000 publication titles, many of which are trade magazines.
Search for your industry or job title to retrieve a specific publication about your industry.
Serials Directory lists subscription information and includes a link to the websites of the magazines. Sometimes magazines have “back” or “archived” issues available for free on their websites. They may also have additional features such as blogs, top stories, video clips, reports, and more.
What is Career Cruising?
Career Cruising is a library database. It profiles over 450 occupations with Canadian information.
How do I search for an occupation?
Follow these steps for searching the Career Cruising database:
- Go to the Career Cruising database (you’ll need to enter your username and password)
- Type your career in the top search box
- Click the link for the career
Career Cruising offers the following categories of information:
- At a Glance
- Job Description
- Working Conditions
- Earnings
- Education
- Sample Career Path
- Related Careers
- Other Resources
- Interviews
- Job Postings