In addition to my "day job" as material selector for the neighborhood libraries, I've been a member of the Steering Committe of World Trade Week NYC for the past six years.  Ever since the tenure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States has officially declared the third full week of every May to be World Trade Week.  

In the beginning it was known as "National Foreign Trade Week" as you can see in the photograph to the left.  The current New York City Chapter of World Trade Week consists of members from a variety of non-profit commerce and educational organizations such as the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, United States Council for International Business, U.S. Department of Commerce and Baruch College as well as The New York Public Library.

Its mission is to underscore to the business community, government officials and general public the often overlooked significance of the international trade of goods and services to the economic vitality of the New York City region.  This year, World Trade Week is being observed May 16-20 with a full calendar of informational events being held around the New York Metropolitan Area.  Five of these events are being hosted in the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) on Madison Avenue at 34th Street. These include:

• Identifying and Evaluating International Trading Partners
• Social Media and International Trade
• Electronic Databases at NYPL for Current Foreign Market Research
• Basics of Export/Import Compliance and Methods of Payment
• The Venetian Variety - From Tourism to Nanotechnology: Trade and Investment Opportunities in Veneto.

However, SIBL stands at the public's beck and call year round to help with all types of business research including international trade research. Its resources include general handbooks on international business: 

• Entrepreneur Magazine's How to Start an Import/Export Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success
• A Basic Guide to Exporting: The Official Government Resource for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
• How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Import Export Business
• Import/Export: How to Take Your Business Across Borders
• Building an Import/Export Business

Among the electronic databases available in SIBL:

• Business Monitor Online - provides market research reports on over 175 global markets.
• Business Source Premier - full-text access to over 2400 scholarly business journals including detailed domestic and foreign market research reports.
• Emerging Markets - Internet Securities (ISI) - focuses on emerging national economies and provides the latest business news, company information, industry sector reports, macroeconomic research and financial market indices and analysis.
• Euromonitor - market intelligence on countries, industries and consumers.
• Reference USA - the most heavily used electronic database in SIBL contains full-text market research reports from a number of notable publishers.
• USA Trade Online - produced by the U.S. Census Department, allows the user to create detailed statistical reports of imports into or exports from the United States customized by commodity, country, time period and U.S. port.