In This Guide:

Industry Information: Encyclopedias...

Online reference collections

I suggest starting with these online reference collections. But below there are titles of individual encyclopedias and dictionaries ... and links to some of them.

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Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of American Industries
Call Number: Ref HC 102 .E53 2001

More recent edition available online within the database Business Insights - Essentials. Use the "Search Within Results" box to refine your search.
Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries
Call Number: HD 2324 .E527

The current edition is online via Business Insights - Essentials. Use the "Search Within Results" box (upper left corner) to refine your search.
In print, we have a couple of older editions (1998 and 2000).
Extractives, manufacturing, and services: a historiographical and bibliographical guide by David O. Whitten and Bessie E. Whitten, editors
Call Number: Ref HC 103 .H19 1990 v.2
Infrastructure and services: a historiographical and bibliographical guide by David O. Whitten and Bessie E. Whitten, editors
Call Number: Ref HC 103 .H19 1990 v.3
Manufacturing: a historiographical and bibliographical guide by David O. Whitten and Bessie E. Whitten, editors
Call Number: Ref HC 103 .H19 1990 v.1

ISBN: 0313251983

A guide to the history of business in the US and sources about it ... Although this 3-volume set was begun in 1990, the latest volume is from 2000. See next two entries ...
Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys
Call Number: Ref HC 106.6 .S74

A classic reference source ...

Dictionaries

Understanding American business jargon: a dictionary by W. Davis Folsom
Call Number: Raynor Ref HF 1001 .F65 2005