The abundance of governmental and official statistics available is nicely complemented by the succinctly and accurately entitled Sources of Non-Official UK Statistics.

The book cites more than 900 non-official titles and services taken from studies conducted by a wide range of trade associations and journals, professional bodies, banks, consultancies, employer federations and periodicals.

The sixth incarnation of this title boasts an additional 180 entries, listing sources exclusively available on the web, and with a new heading for each entry that details whether the information originates from a web-based source.

Sources is aimed at librarians and information professionals in marketing departments, and is organised in a simple A to Z fashion, with indexes based on title and subject. Each record carries a brief synopsis of the type of statistical information it contains, its title, the organisation that holds the data, cost and typical contact details.

Author David Mort has a 25-year background in statistics and research. in In his brief introduction he outlines the benefits of non-official statistics. In some cases, such sources can cover commercial areas and sectors that never appear in official research, as the government agencies usually prefer a broader analysis of an overall market rather than specific end-user consumption of specific products and services. And it is the private sector rather than the public which tends to conduct more detailed research on emerging markets – such as those based on e-commerce or the mobile technology industry.

Mort points out the big drawbacks of non-official material. It is, for example, not always available in the public sphere, being restricted to members and clients of the organisation that conducted the research. There is also the question of the reliability and accuracy of data, which can vary considerably.

This simple collection of statistical sources may prove useful to researchers wishing to find alternative information to the official message.

One-third of the directory sources listed are available free of charge, typically on websites, although, as Mort points out, the statistical material can appear in all sorts of formats – books, pamphlets, databases, CD-ROMs or even magnetic tape.