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Smart Investing
January 12, 2008 05:45 PM | GrantsAnn B. Hutton, Executive Director
Smart Investing! Excitement by the dozen: That is a bakers’ dozen!
The enthusiasm we felt while writing Smart Investing and our thrill when we learned SELCO was one of 13 successful FINRA grant recipients was compounded yesterday when we gathered for orientation in Philadelphia. Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran and I participated in a day of interactive training with exercises to expand our knowledge of outputs and outcomes, measurements and evaluation, marketing and publicity. While not necessarily the kind of subjects that engender rousing enthusiasm, the atmosphere was electrically charged as librarians shared details of their Smart Investing visions.
This grant opportunity is funded by the FINRA Investment Education Foundation which “supports innovative research and educational projects that give investors the tools and information they need to better understand the markets and the basic principles of saving and investing.” The grants are being administered by ASCLA/RUSA, the American Library Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies and Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association.
The 13 grantees represent urban, suburban and rural communities around the country, with eight successful libraries located in the Midwest and grant locations on both coasts. The Smart Investing libraries will use the grant funds to establish online and in-person programs, partner with community organizations, augment library collections, train staff and engage in promotional efforts so that diverse audiences have access to effective financial education resources. SELCO will partner with KSMQ, public television in Austin, to create and broadcast 13, half-hour segments using FINRA’s great selection of educational resources, with corresponding library programming and web-based interactive events.
Alliance Library System, East Peoria, IL, $100,000; to offer onsite and Web-based workshops to provide investor information, establish a Smart Investing presence in the virtual world, and to operate a Smart Investing outreach van that will travel to community events and libraries throughout the Alliance’s 14,000 square-mile service area in central Illinois.
Ames Public Library, Ames, IA, $77,672, to partner with Iowa State University Extension to tailor online and on-site investor education classes for (Generation X, Boomers and the Silent Generation) and to train public service librarians on the use of investing information tools and databases.
Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, WI, $73,370; to improve personal finance collections available at all library branches and online through the library’s Web site, to provide advanced training to library staff in the use of print and electronic investment resources and to establish Smart Investing partnerships with organizations serving women, minorities and senior citizens.
Naperville Public Library, Naperville, IL, $77,848; to create online video tutorials on the use of financial databases, improve the accessibility of investing research tools on the library’s Web site, train adult services librarians in investment research strategies and provide high school and college students with money management skills in preparation for financial independence.
Natrona County Public Library, Casper, WY, $17,600; to provide a five-part investor education series for young adults, host inter-generational community forums on retirement preparedness and augment the library’s collections on personal finance and investing.
Newton Free Library, Newton, MA, $46,100; to sponsor a sustainable, inter-generational retirement planning club for women in partnership with community organizations and to train reference librarians on financial literacy in partnership with the Boston College Center for Retirement Research.
Orange County Library District, Orlando, FL, $96,360; to organize an eight-part bilingual series on basic investing themes for Hispanic families, to provide investor education video-on-demand for library patrons and staff and to create a bilingual “eGuide” on personal finance for users of the library’s Web site.
Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, CA, $60,000; to organize an extensive lunchtime lecture series that provide information to investors and moderated book groups (with concurrent youth activities) for professional women ages 20 to 64.
Schaumburg Township District Library, Schaumburg, IL, $31,000; to produce and market an investor education portal for the library, inclusive of videos introducing teen and adult patrons to investing-related library collections and reference services; and to create a traveling multimedia exhibit (and share it with other Illinois libraries) that will provide a high-impact visual lesson about investing.
Southeastern Libraries Cooperating, Rochester, MN, $99,830; to partner with public television station KSMQ to broadcast 13, half-hour segments entitled Financial Connections in rural and small-town communities, with corresponding library-based programming and Web-based events and resources.
Timberland Regional Library, Tumwater, WA, $99,044; to produce, market and distribute a multimedia series of Ten Minute Topics about investing in partnership with community television and the Service Corps of Retired Executives; to train information services librarians from 27 branch facilities throughout a 7,000 square-mile rural region; and to upgrade the investing collections available online and at each branch library.
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, KS, $16,600; to employ a women-helping-women approach of providing educational and supportive services in a format that will encourage better saving and investing practices; to partner with the Chamber of Commerce in reaching out to women small business owners and respond to their learning needs; and to create a series of reference finding aids on investing topics, allowing library patrons to access quality resources efficiently.
Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Youngstown, OH, $57,950; to partner with community agencies in undertaking a coordinated financial literacy initiative for the county’s low- and moderate-income families, with a focus on Earned Income Tax Credit preparation assistance and helping parents save and invest for their children’s education.
