Formerly available only by subscription, Alacra Industry Spotlights offer encapsulated information on a variety of industries ranging from Aerospace & Defence to Telecommunications to Waste Management. Each entry acts as a guide to further research and offers links to recommended sources. Although US focused, Alacra Industry Spotlights does provide relevant Canadian information. Using Baked Goods as an example, (Hey--it's *almost* Christmas!), Alacra suggests looking at an industry-specific portal like Bakery Net and points out that good, freely available statistics can be had through associations like The American Institute of Baking. And for Canadian content, they recommend looking into The Bakers Journal.

If coal is your bag (still carrying on with that Christmas theme), the AIS is a really good place to start. Someone here really, really likes coal. Not only do you get a brief overview of the coal industry, but you also get scads of really good resources to branch out into such as:

• United Nations Division of Technology, Industry and Economics which has an 80 page report devoted to coal
• International Energy Agency which has a section dedicated to coal
• Coal Association of Canada which provides coal production statistics by province, domestic consumption and exports by destination among others

There's lots of great information on this site. If you're doing industry specific research, this is a good place to either start at or check back with to ensure you're not missing anything.