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Business

Business Resources and Services

Barrie Public Library offers a wide variety of business resources to help you grow and strengthen your business. Our goal is to enhance community growth and promote local business success.

Discover all we offer for businesses, with a video overview.

Digital Library

View our Digital Library to check out our business resources and see how they can help you with your business. From researching your target market to mapping out your competition, searching census statistics to learning how to write a business plan, our databases can help you take your business to the next level.

Online Business Programs

Check out our online calendar for our free virtual business programs, including Starting Your Business Basics, and Business Plan Basics. 

Access self-directed business programs through the Program Portal.

Community Information Directory

A community directory of information about non-profit agencies, government offices, clubs, special interest organizations and more. Useful to research competition, for B2B research or local business association, networking and service searches. 

Online Business Resources

Companies

  • Canadian Public Company Filings – Contains all filings by Canadian public companies. You can search the database or go straight to company profiles. Also known as SEDAR (Securities Electronic Document Analysis & Retrieval).
  • Charity Intelligence Canada's A-Z Charity Listing –Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities for donors to be informed and give intelligently. Their website posts free reports on more than 750 Canadian charities, as well as in-depth primers on philanthropic sectors like Canada's environment, cancer and homelessness.
  • Charity Village's Organization Directory – A directory of Canadian charitable and nonprofit organizations, organized by category.
  • City of Barrie. Business and Employer Data Directory – This annual survey is important as it provides the City of Barrie with comprehensive data, including: business or employer name; location; employment numbers (both full-time and part-time); and industry classifications.Need to add your Organization? Complete the Barrie Business & Employer Data Survey. Download complete Barrie Business & Employer Directory Here.
  • Community Information Database, an Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, bilingual Business Registry organized by industry NAICS codes, listing number of businesses in Canadian communities and number of employees sorted by small, medium and large companies. Select 'Reports' > 'Business and Organizations' > then 'Define Areas' by entering your location in the search box for Ontario or Canada.
  • Directories of Canadian Companies (Government of Canada) – Find suppliers, research competitors, check a company's incorporation status and more. Search or browse the directories or register your own company. Includes: Canada's Business Registries; Canadian Importers Database; & Federal Corporation Search.
  • Hockeystick.co – Free open-source database for Canadian startup information in your city/town. Includes basic data – company name, industry, principals, number of employees and funding sources – on startups, as well as listings for VC firms, angel groups, accelerators and government programs. No account necessary to search database.
  • Indigenous Business Directory – Search companies registered in or register a business in the Indigenous Business Directory. Create a procurement profile to gain access to the federal procurement process for Aboriginal businesses through the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB).
  • Ontario Business Registry – Allows businesses and not-for-profit corporations to complete over 90 transactions online, including registering, incorporating, and updating their information.
  • Open Corporates – The largest open database of companies in the world.
  • Seontario – Access and register a business in the social enterprise directory by region or category searches.

Local Resources

Marketing and News Sources

  • Canada Post Precision Targeter – Direct Marketing tools. Plan a targeted mailing or use the Delivery Area Counts and Maps data to select delivery routes.
  • Free Map Tools – Generate a list of postal codes from an area selected on a map.
  • Media Smarts : Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy – Canadian non-profit with a focus on educating and providing information tools on how media works.
  • Statistics Canada - Industry classifications – Includes the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for Canada and the US, Sistema de Clasificación Industrial de América del Norte (SCIAN), Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE), International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).

Research and Statistics

  • BPL Digital Library Academy – Find tutorials like SimplyAnalytics: Demographic, Consumer & Business Data, 'Research Essentials: Better Search Techniques', Academic OneFile - Access to Millions of Scholarly Articles, Explora -Research Made Easy and more.
  • Canadian Trade Commissioner, Market Reports – Search reports by region or country and industry sector. Research current business opportunities in specific countries, or browse by sector to find new markets and growth possibilities. Registration required for access to some reports.
  • Community Information Database (bilingual) by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, – Create free custom interactive Maps, reports and tables from a range of social, demographic, physical and economic Census data. Generate a Community Profile with tables and graphs based on population, employment, education and income Census indicators for your community.
  • Data - Statistics Canada – Statistics Canada's key socioeconomic database. Of note: the bi-annual Business Register (BR), reports on Canadian Business Counts, and creates infographics of business trends and demographic data based on Stats Can survey data.
  • FedDev Ontario's Secondary Market Research Service Request – Can provide you with free information on: contacts for industry associations and suppliers; business trends and local competitors; demographic data about potential customers in a specific geographic location, and sample business plans.
  • Fraser's Industry Search Engine – Industrial search engine for products manufactured in Canada.
  • Government of Canada Research and Business Intelligence – Includes Canadian industry sector data, financial benchmarks (compare your business' financial data with industry averages), labour trends and business statistics.
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Together with governments, policy makers and citizens, they work on establishing evidence-based international standards and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges.
  • Simcoe Muskoka Workforce Development Board annual Local Labour Market Plan Report (Trends, Opportunities and Priorities).
  • Statistics Canada : Census Profiles – The Census Program provides a statistical portrait of the country every five years. The 2016 Census Program includes the Census of Population and the Census of Agriculture.
  • Statistics Canada:The Daily – Provides latest daily statistics and analysis released by Statistics Canada covering demographic, social and economic topics. Feature articles include excerpts from publications as they are released. Searchable archive of past issues. Search ‘Releases by Subject’, there are two business subject searches: Business and Consumer Services and Culture and, Business Performance and Ownership. Subscribe for customized alerts
  • World Economic Outlook (multilingual) – Economic analysis and projections for a number of countries, as well as at the global level. Includes access to tables and figures for many types of data.

Small Business and Business Plans

  • Government of Canada Business and Industry – Business taxes, permits and regulations, intellectual property, business support and how to sell to government.
  • FedDev Ontario Small Business Services – Free access to government business information including business plans; how-to, business guide and multilingual collections; marketing outlines and more.
  • Canada Revenue Agency - Information for Canadian Small Businesses
  • Futurepreneur Canada – Provides financing, mentoring and support tools to aspiring business owners aged 18-39.
  • Government of Canada - Innovation Canada Support for your Business - Don't know where to start? A single access point for help navigating government resources to receive a tailored list of Government programs and services. Share details about your business using a fillable form to find your best matches.
  • MaRS - Offers early stage services which include a Startup Toolkit, a magazine, market intelligence research, and workshops both instructor-led and self-guided - such as Entrepreneurship 101 and ability to apply to qualify for Growth or Momentum services. Also can help with funding a business through the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) with a focus on Cleantech, IT, and health sectors.
  • Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade – Find the resources you need to do business, work and invest in Ontario.
  • Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) – A collaborative network built to help your business succeed.
  • Ontario Small Business: Advice, support services, regulations – How new or existing small businesses can get advice, support and information on government regulations.
  • Seontario – Resources include suggested enterprise tools, marketplaces, policy, regional, research, social enterprise communities and social financing.
  • Supply Ontario – Supply Ontario is currently a start-up organization, establishing a foundation for a multi-year transformation of the province’s supply chain. Sign up to receive updates and learn more about our progress. At this time, there are no changes to working with the Ontario government for buyers or organizations looking to become a vendor of record.
  • ventureLAB – ventureLAB is a leading technology hub located in York Region, Canada’s densest tech cluster. ventureLAb supports tech companies in key sectors: hardware, enterprise sofware and health, with capital, customers, talent and tech.