The morning session focused on NAICS (North American Industry Classification System), its history, development, structure, and the implementation schedule. Mr. Bruce Goldhirsch, U. S. Bureau of the Census, presented a thorough background of this new schedule that will eventually replace the Standard Industrial Classification Manual. The new schedule will focus on areas such as the creation of information sector, reorganization of the 'services' area, establishment of computer and electronic product manufacturing subsector, expanding the restaurant and accommodation areas, etc. The international nature of the scheme will allow comparability with Canada and Mexico. Mr. Doug Doremus, Dun & Bradstreet continued on the same subject but presented from a publisher's point of view. He talked about their plans for developing a "crosswalk" that will simplify the transition from their 8 digit SIC code to the NAICS system, and their intention to support both systems simultaneously.

The morning sessions ended with a demonstration of STAT-USA (http:/www.stat-usa.gov). Mr. Forrest Willliams, U. S. Dept. of Commerce, talked about the redesigned version of the database that is available through the Internet. Items have been grouped under two broad categories, namely, State of the Nation, and GLOBUS & NTDB. The former covers economic information on a national level while the latter focuses on international trade.

In the afternoon the focus shifted from national and international to local information. Mr. David Joye, New Jersey State Data Center (NJSDC) highlighted some key sources from the Labor Market Information Web site. Created by the NJSDC staff, this important site features the both current and historical demographic and economic data for the state of New Jersey, its counties and municipalities. Key data such as the unemployment rate, income, wages by occupation, or population estimates can be located by topic or a keyword search. The site is located at http://www.wnjpin.state.nj.us/OneStopCareerCenter/LaborMarketInformation/lmilist.htm.

In the final session Uncle Sam to the Rescue: Answers to Business Questions for Federal Government Sources Ka-Neng Au, Dana Library, Rutgers University presented a wonderful Web page (http://newark.rutgers.edu/~au/danj.htm) that he has created to answer specific reference questions concerning companies, industries, economic & demographic data and international trade. The site is unique in that it lists actual questions with hotlinks to the Internet source that provides the answer. For example: Question--Are business bankruptcy filings on the decline? Answer--Bankruptcy Statistics (US Courts via the ABI) (hot linked).