How A Library Is Like A Mutual Fund

Ok, so maybe not so high school.  But on the other hand, very high school.  We have, from time to time, offered Investing 101 courses during short term, and it's likely to come around again.

Teachers across the country, in independent schools and universities, have their retirement savings invested with TIAA-CREF.  I've worked in two independent schools, for over 25 years (requisite YIKES!! here) and TIAA-CREF has billions of my savings for the "twilight years."  Point being, I'm beginning to pay attention, and trying to understand fully where all that money is and how it's supposed to grow to support me, my adult children, goats, bees, chickens and cats in, say, 20 years from now.  I kind of think that TIAA-CREF is a mutual fund company that works almost exclusively within the world of academia, and exclusively toward long-term retirement goals. Please help me out if I'm woefully off base here.

As I understand it, a mutual fund is a big collection of individual stocks (and other things), managed by a professional understanding-stock-investments person, who buys and sells holdings within the ever-changing collection, in order to meet the financial goals stated in the prospectus.

My grandmother was
a university librarian,
and collected owls.

A library is a big collection of individual sources of information, managed by a professional understanding-information-sources person, who buys and weeds holdings within the ever-changing collection, in order to meet the information needs of the community, as outlined in the library's 'prospectus,' (aka "collection purpose and goals.")

Mutual fund managers spend their days reading the latest information and evaluating the worth of each stock, bond or real estate investment -- not just in abstract money terms, but also in terms of how that investment can meet the stated goals of the fund.  Then they act on that information, buying and selling, to keep the collection relevant to the shareholders' goals.

I spend (part of) my days reading reviews, researching sources of information for a variety of teacher and student needs, and identifying the best in terms of our community. Then I add the best and delete the outdated, books, weblinks and databases to the library collection to keep it relevant and useful to the Paideia community's needs and goals.

If a mutual fund doesn't keep up with, or exceed, the market's index, the fund manager has failed to meet goals.

If the Paideia Library doesn't keep up with, or anticipate, the community's information and reading needs, then I'm not serving my peeps as you should be served.

Everyone in the Paideia community is an investor in the libraries -- as a student working to learn, as a tuition-paying parent, as a teacher of students, as a staff member keeping the place running.   As a fund manager, I encourage you to read the prospectus, come see what your investment has provided, and use it to increase your wealth of knowledge and understanding.

You owe it to yourself to use your investments wisely.  The door is open -- come on in!

Random Summer Post:Harry Potter Author NOT A Billionaire

Holy kittycats!  The shame . . .

Forbes Billionaire List: JK Rowling Drops from Billionaire to Millionaire Due to Charitable Giving

Amazing, astonishing, and faith-renewing. She gave away too much to stay in the Big Leagues.  Would that we all had this opportunity, and seized it.  You go, Joanne!

Linking & Thinking: A Week of Brain Fodder (3/18/2012)

A weekly collection of annotated links to blog posts, articles and websites about information, school and teaching.

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• PLA - The E-Book Experiment | Public Libraries Online

  This is by a librarian in the Douglas County, CO system that went DIY with their ebook delivery, and is now a model for other systems wanting to bypass the restrictive and expensive main ebook vendors (OverDrive is the biggest). The article explains why the current model doesn't let libraries serve patrons well, and how they believe their system will work better.
  
  Of note, though, is that they've not yet signed contracts with any of the major mainstream publishers -- the ones publishing books on best-seller lists and that patrons want to read.

  
  

• AU librarians tell students: ‘Don’t let your papers be duds!’

  The librarians' "candy campaign.”
  
  "Last spring, librarians bought 500 fun-sized Nestle Crunch bars and attached a note to each that said “Don’t wait till Crunch time!” with a reminder to get started on research and contact information for reference help."
  
  I wonder if a targeted campaign within the classes doing long-term research projects would be useful (I know it would be fun!!)

  
  

• Large California Consortium Joins Movement Toward Library Ebook Ownership — The Digital Shift

  Another library group goes DIY in providing eBooks to patrons. Adobe Content Server costs about $10K, plus hardware. This consortium started with $30,000 and will purchase ebook files directly from publishers as well as an Adobe Content Server to manage the digital files. We could so do this in Georgia with time and leadership.

  
  

• Jodi Picoult Turns Tough Topics Into Best-Sellers : NPR

  Text and audio interview on NPR's Morning Edition. The Paideia Library has almost all of Jodi Picoult's novels, and they often end up on the summer reading list. Many of her characters are teenagers wrestling with big issues, and they are popular with our readers.

  
  

Posted from Diigo.

Linking & Thinking: A Week of Brain Fodder (3/11/2012)

A weekly collection of annotated links to blog posts, articles and websites about information, school and teaching.

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• 3M Cloud Library Integrates with Polaris ILS — The Digital Shift

  Hearing about the 3M Cloud Library a few months ago was one of the first alternates to OverDrive I came across. This article points to new and positive developments that make it seem wise to stay out of the ebook fray for a while yet. The article says that the 'cloud library" of ebooks is integrated into one company's library catalog system, so patrons can find and download ebooks in the same database as the library's physical materials. One-stop shopping! Something to keep an eye on.

• Patricia O’Brien (as Kate Alcott) Sells ‘The Dressmaker’ - NYTimes.com

  An interesting commentary on the exclusively commercial nature of the book industry, selecting books to publish not on inherent quality or sellability of the individual book, but on past sales of the author.

• Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists 8 (Free) Books Every Intelligent Person Should Read | Open Culture

  Now this list could keep a rising senior busy for a lot longer than a summer.
  
  NDT is an astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and popularizer of science.

• Should Libraries Get Out of the eBook Business? | Librarian by Day

  Wow -- exactly where I am with the whole business. I would LOVE to offer ebooks to our school community, but am stuck by the turbulence in the industry. The way I'd do it is currently illegal (violation of copyright law) and publishers are the biggest roadblock. They are so afraid that library ebook loans will hurt sales, that they can't see the thousands of copies that would be sold to libraries. I did not know that the "right of first sale" (if you buy a book, you get to decided what happens to it, whether you re-sell it, turn it into art, or burn it, because that copy belongs to you).
  
  So for now, this is my solution: "get [or stay] out at least until there is a better system." Aargh.

• With Axis 360, Baker & Taylor Establishes a Foothold in the Ebook Distribution Market — The Digital Shift

  In a couple of weeks, the Paideia librarians will be attending a professional meeting to go over ebook provider options. If you've ever borrowed and downloaded an ebook from the public library, then you've probably experienced OverDrive. I love how it works and the selection, but 1) it's really expensive, and 2) not only do only LEASE the materials (instead of an outright purchase), you only lease it from OverDrive, so if a better option comes along and switch vendors, you lose all access to the ebook collection you've developed and paid for. Not going there, not yet, for sure. Axis 360 may be something to look into.

• The End of Nonfiction (a different approach to organizing print material in the library)

  Our library 'downsized' the reference book section 6 or 7 years ago, which helped with physical reorganization and greater likelihood of students finding the materials. It doesn't address the demand for getting the information through the Internet rather than in print, though. We wrestle daily with when/how to enter fully into providing information for our students through ebooks.

• Lesson Plan | What Is Modern Slavery? Investigating Human Trafficking - NYTimes.com

  Another great lesson plan. This one is related to the Race, Class & Gender curriculum that several of the JH homebases study, and also to the work of our Amnesty International club.

  
  

• 55 Free Philosophy Courses | Open Culture

  Open Culture is a tremendous collection of links to all kinds of free education on the Web. They've just updated the philosophy collection. If you want to "hack" an education of any kind, get familiar with Open Culture.

  
  

Linking & Thinking: A Week of Brain Fodder 02/28/2012

A weekly collection of annotated links to blog posts, articles and websites about information, school and teaching.
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• Visual Turn • Why student success is such a radical idea

  I watched Sebastian Thrun's talk on the difference between teaching to "weed out" students, and teaching so that all students are successful in learning the information. It is an important distinction, and a hard approach to fit into the way schools work now. Why? Some students take longer than others to be successful, and when students are at many different places on the way to the same goal (individualized learning), it takes more individual teacher attention than marching everyone along at the same pace.
  
  Quote: "MIT starts out with the traditional assumption that only a limited number of students should be successful. Thrun is instead starting out with the assumption that all students should be successful, provided enough support and opportunity to learn."

  
  

• The Power of Feedback | blog of proximal development

  A followup to the Assessment post linked below. This quote could be written about the Writing Mentors approach to working with students:
  
  As teachers, we must help our students answer three questions:
  
  Where am I going?
  How am I doing?
  What actions do I need to take next?
  
  In other words, effective feedback focuses on goals, progress, and next steps. It’s important to keep in mind that our role here is to guide, not to answer these questions for our students. Feedback that helps them answer these three questions will provide exactly the kind of guidance that’s needed.

  
  

• Assessment for Learning | blog of proximal development

  This blog post discusses the difference between assessment OF learning and assessment FOR learning, the idea being that comments on student work should give the student clues on exactly what was done well and exactly what needs work and how to do it.
  
  These ideas are similar to the approach we want to be at the center of the peer Writing Mentors program. Rather than judge, evaluate and suggest changes to student writing, the writing mentors should have a conversation with the writer about intent, clarity and communication, and let student writers find their own answers.

  
  

• Advice for Parents of 1:1 Programs | The Thinking Stick

  Jeff wrote a thoughtful and thorough reply to the question I left on the 1:1 laptop post. It's been helpful in establishing more ground rules in our household, and can help all parents who struggle with their kids' attachments to their devices.

  
  

Posted from Diigo.