Reference at Newman Library

Tag: Statista

Federal Government Shutdown Cuts Access to Data

Thanks to the ineptitude of our federal government, many public datasets have ceased to be available until further notice. These are just a few that we use pretty heavily, but it’s likely that access to data from many agencies will be effected:

  • The Census – their website Census.gov and the American Factfinder are ENTIRELY UNAVAILABLE (see this notice)
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics – their website is still up but it (and their datasets) will not be updated
  • The SEC – EDGAR is still up and running, as the SEC funds many of its programs through license and user fees.

For alternatives to the Census you can steer students to the NYC Dept City Planning for local data and to our databases (Social Explorer, Infoshare, Statista) and the NHGIS for local or national data.

New Database – Statista

Statista is a portal for business, government and demographic statistics and reports.  What sets this database apart from others is that it features data as infographics, samples of which can be seen at their free “Chart of the Day.” All graphs/tables can be downloaded, saved or e-mailed.

Statista gathers statistical information from over 10,000 different sources in 23 major industry sectors. Their sources include reports from market researchers, trade and scientific organizations, and government sources.  Some sources come free from the web like World Bank data and reports from the EIA and FCC and other federal agencies. Others are subscription-based sources like Gartner, IDC, and ComScore. Reports from accounting firms Deloitte and PwC are included as are analyst reports from Credit Suisse, Jeffries, Deutsche Bank and others.

Geographic coverage is worldwide with excellent resources covering the U.S. and Europe (Statista is based in Germany) and expanding content for Asia and Latin America especially Brazil, India, and China.

Statista also aggregates data from multiple sources in company and industry Dossiers.  These are lengthy reports (some are 70 or more pages) in PPT and are free for download. They cover both U.S. and international companies and markets. Have a look at the company dossier on Apple  or the industry dossier on Beer Production and Distribution for example.

All graphs/tables come with “Reading Support” that explains the numbers, cites the source, and links directly to the source where available. Data can be downloaded to Excel, in JPG format or as a Powerpoint.

The big Goggle-like search box works well. Search results can be filtered by region or type of data (for example, rankings, forecasts or time series). Results can be sorted by date or by relevance. Browsing by category or keyword is available by clicking on the “Markets” tab. Opening up a “Category” will give direct access to data and reports on that industry category as well as a search box for searching within that category.

I’d especially recommend this database for students doing industry research because of its wide coverage of specialized industry research sources.

Trial to Statista

We have a short trial (until May 3rd) to Statista. It is available on-campus only for the trial.

Statista is a statistical portal that integrates over 60,000 topics from over 10,000 sources onto a single platform. It has been reviewed favorably by Library Journal in their January 1, 2012 issue and by the Center for Research Libraries.

Please take a look and let me know what you think of the interface, search capabilities and its usefulness to supporting the curriculum at Baruch.