After the 18th annual South Carolina Industry Appreciation Week last week, we spent some time thinking about our local industries.
Facts about Charleston’s Business Community:
- Charleston County has 11,959 business establishments as of 20061
- 179,971 workers were employed by these establishments in 20061
- Gross sales by Charleston County businesses were $12,880,870,684 during fiscal year 2005-061
- The top 5 industries in Charleston County by number of establishments are: Retail, Other Services (except public administration), Construction, and Professional, Scientific & Technical Services.2
I took some time to reflect on what we’ve done so far this year in the Business Center to help support entrepreneurs in our area. Here’s what I discovered:
- SORE Counselors have helped at least 38 people in 12 visits to the Business Center in 2008
- The Business Center has helped 54 individuals with involved business questions and helped answer 18 questions from patrons at other library branches.
- The Business Notes email newsletter has 217 subscribers as of this week.
- 200 people have attended the 14 business reference events held so far in 2008 at the Main Library
- I’ve had the opportunity to tell 67 people about our resources at 4 speaking engagements this year. (Two more chances for me to talk to folks are on the way next week!)
- 57 volumes were added to the Business Center reference collection in August alone.
- CCPL had added three online business resources in 2008: the DemographicsNow database, the Everyday Finance ebook, and the Small Business Resource Center, courtesy of the SC State Library’s DISCUS project.
We’re thrilled to have made a difference in the lives of everyone we’ve helped so far this year, and I look forward to working with even more of you in the months to come!
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12008 South Carolina Statistical Abstract
2 2006 County Business Patterns, US Census Bureau
