|
NEWSLETTER - Spring 2017
Equipping Patrons for Financial Decision Making
The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) is partnering with public libraries to bring an impressive array of financial resources to patrons absolutely free of charge. Originally established as the College for Financial Planning where they issued Certified Financial Planner designations, and then later launching the High School Financial Planning Program, NEFE is now dedicated to inspiring empowered financial decision making for individuals and families through every stage of life. They accomplish this mission through a variety of self-help websites and resources.
Public libraries are incorporating several of these websites and tools within their e-resource catalogs:
Launching in July 2016, their newly redesigned website Smart About Money is an e-learning tool offering courses on topics such as budgeting, spending/saving and retirement planning. Beneficial for patrons looking to grow their financial knowledge or those just needing a refresher, courses are highly interactive and include videos, worksheets, calculators and quizzes. For a more in-depth description of Smart About Money, click here.
For libraries interested in financial-focused programming, NEFE offers Financial Workshop Kits. These kits provide printable teaching plans with handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and related resources for a variety of financial topics. The kits are turn-key and formatted for a group setting. Financial Workshop Kits can assist in community outreach efforts by providing financial education resources for traditionally underserved audiences.
Lastly, My Retirement Paycheck is a resource that provides eight areas of focus for seniors to consider about 10 years before retirement. These eight aspects, such as social security, debt, and insurance, work together to determine what constitutes a retiree's paycheck. This web resource is more information based than interactive, but highly relevant to senior patrons.
Funding is provided entirely by NEFE’s independent endowment so resources are offered to libraries and consumers at no cost. To contact NEFE about incorporating their financial tools into your e-resource catalog, click here.
Spotlight: Internet SpeedtestNeed some way to quantify your Internet/Internet Service Provider's performance? Here is a nice tool: Speedtest for Windows 10 or MAC. It's free. Click here and "Get it from Microsoft" or "Download on the Mac App Store." The 'installation' is lightning fast.
After you run the test, to really understand the quality of your connection, click on the 3 horizontal lines in the upper right.
Then click anywhere in any result summary line at the bottom.
That will show you "Ping", "Jitter", and "Packet Loss". The key measures are Ping and Packet Loss.
PING: Pings under 50ms are excellent. Your Internet should be crisp. Pings up to 100ms are OK. If your ping is above 200ms, you are probably noticing slow Internet response. In this case, your ISP typically has a problem. Contact them.
PACKET LOSS: Packet Loss should be zero (or a dashed line). If you're consistently losing any packets at all, it's time to ask your ISP for an explanation and a resolution!
|
|
 Photograph of Mexican folk dancers performing at the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio, Texas from the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The DPLA is an all-digital library that aggregates metadata from libraries, archives and museums around the United States, and makes them freely available to the world. To learn more visit their website. If your library is interested in increasing access to content, see the section on Becoming a Hub.
Website Issues?
Don't miss ALA's upcoming workshop,
How to Fix the 25 Most Common Library Website Problems,
on June 14, 2017.
Click here to learn more.
Come See Us!
The Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference
St. George, Utah
September 6-9, 2017
Nebraska Library Association Conference
Kearney, Nebraska
October 11-13, 2017
Iowa Library Association Conference
Coralville, Iowa
October 18-20, 2017
Upcoming Training Dates
June 20, 2017
9:30am Circulation
11:00am Materials
July 20, 2017
1:00pm Circulation
2:30pm Materials
August 22, 2017
9:30am Circulation
11:00am Materials
All times are Central Time.
Sessions last 45-60 minutes depending on questions and the number of participants.
To reserve your place, please
send your request to training@biblionix.com.
Exciting Things Happening at Your Library?
Do you have a new program or service you'd like to share with the Biblionix family? Email us a photo and description!
|
