Programs and events featured in the Programming Librarian’s Guide to the ALA Annual Conference present new programming models for discussion and engagement, resources and inspiration for program development and practical tips for fundraising, promotion and building community partnerships, all serving the development of the library as a community cultural center.

Read more about the Smart investing@your library® panels offered at ALA Annual

To view the full list of Programminglibrarian.org’s recommendations, visit the guide at www.programminglibrarian.org/annual2012.

Smart investing@your library®: Everyone Counts!
Sponsored by PLA
Saturday, June 23, 8:00-10:00 AM
The role of librarians as trusted navigators leading patrons to the most useful information is increasingly valuable. Smart investing @ your library® is building the capacity of public libraries and librarians to provide reliable, unbiased financial education and resources to those who need help. Librarians are building collections, delivering programs to people of all ages and economic circumstances and creating a national network of replicable service models. Using data to tell the story, reaching out and working with community partners, and integrating market research into program design are successful strategies that are building the foundation for a leadership role in financial education.

Speakers will share how they developed and implemented their marketing plans using both social media and traditional methods that include Facebook, print, radio, and word-of-mouth.

As a result of attending the session, attendees will:

• Learn marketing strategies that attract new audiences
• Meet financial literacy/library innovators
• Know how to replicate financial literacy programs

Speakers: Liz Doucett, Curtis Memorial Library (ME); Sandy Dixon, State Library of Iowa (IA); Aubrey Carroll, Florence County Library System(SC); Jamie Ritter, Maine State Library(ME); Dwight McInvaill, Georgetown Public Library(SC)
Moderator: Bobbie Rudnick, Naperville Public Library(IL)

Add Smart investing@your library®: Everyone Counts! to your Annual Conference Schedule

Smart investing@your library®: Program Models That Work
Sponsored by RUSA’s Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS)
Saturday, June 23, 10:30 AM-Noon
Smart investing@your library grantees are at the forefront of financial literacy programs that reach all economic and interest levels.

Learn how they are creating models that use social media to capture attention, design games that appeal to kids, teens and adults, partner with social service agencies and market innovative school programs to provide unbiased financial education and resources. As more people need and want to learn how to manage their personal finances, these innovative libraries are leading the way.

Speakers: Paolo Melillo, Orange County Public Library (FL); Kurtis Kelly, Estes Valley Library (CO); Nelly Somerman, Schaumburg Township District Library (IL); Jim Blanton, Chesapeake Public Library (VA); Karla Heberlig, York County Public Library (PA)
Moderator: Susan Wolf Neilson, Wake County Libraries

Add Smart investing@your library®: Program Models That Work to your Annual Conference Schedule

Money Smart Week, hosted by ALA and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, is a full week of free financial literacy programs intended to provide personal finance education to consumers.

Money Smart Week is part of Financial Literacy Month. Make sure that your local media know about the programs you’re hosting this April with our Financial Literacy Month PR Templates.

Below are the Smart investing@your library® grantees that are participating in Money Smart Week, April 21-28, 2012.  Libraries interested in developing their own Money Smart Week financial education programs can review the Money Smart Week Library Partner Kit or read more about how your library can get involved.

General Services Administration (GSA) has also put together a great list of free government resources related to financial literacy topics.

Alabama

Emmet O’Neal Library, Mountain Brook

• Contest held during the month of April to celebrate Financial Literacy Month.
• Every patron who reads and reviews a book on personal finance or investing in the month of April will be entered into a drawing for a prize.

Pelham Public Library, Pelham

• Money Talks program presented at Senior Center and the Pelham Public Library.
• Literary Cents, a cross curriculum program between the Math and English classes, will be presented at the middle school
• Poetry is Alive with Poems about Money and Savings will be presented at intermediate school.

California

Santa Clara County Public Library

• Programs for Adults
• Programs for Teens
• Programs for Children and financial literacy website
• See all of the financial literacy programs
• Read the Santa Clara press release

Indiana

Carmel Clay Public Library, Carmel

• Comfortable Retirement, presented by Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service
• Dine on a Dime program for teens on making favorite treats at home
• Screening of Chasing Madoff, a documentary on Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme
• See the full list of financial literacy programs on a bookmark.

Monroe County Public Library, Bloomington

• Partnering with United Way and the Monroe County Financial Stability Alliance
• Programs for both adults and kids
• Spanish-language Financial Skills workshop
• See the full list of financial education programs on a bookmark.

Illinois

Naperville Public Library, Naperville

• Organizing Your Financial and Vital Records: What to Keep and Why
• Phone Bill Clinic: Lower Your Monthly Phone Bill (Citizens Utility Board)

Niles Public Library, Niles

• Citizens Utility Board Phone Bill clinic
• Introduction to Morningstar Investment Research Center
• Selling Basics – eBay and Amazon

Schaumburg Township District Library, Schaumburg

• The Fixer’s Greatest Hits: Stephanie Zimmermann, the Fixer columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, will give a Smart investing@your library® program during Money Smart Week
• Preparing Your Estate Plan
• Don’t Pay the College Sticker Price
• Preparing Retirement Income
• It’s Your Money, Get Smart
• Money Smart Kids Programs
  To celebrate Money Smart Week, the library has created 3 events designed especially for your kids to learn more about money.
• Money Matters for Kids (9-12 years old)
• Junior Savers (ages 6-8)
• Super Savers (ages 9-12)
• See the full list of free personal finance education opportunities.

Ohio

Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County

• Displays and bookmarks about money at branch locations
• FUN FINANCE stations at several locations includes games and activities
• Family programs and story times with money themes

Washington

Timberland Regional Library, Tumwater

• Financial Fraud
• Couponing
• Financial Independence
• 8 steps to Entrepreneurship
• Shred-a-thon

Wisconsin

Fond du Lac Public Library, Fond du Lac

• Collaborated with the Wisconsin Dept of Financial Institutions. This state agency donated$4,000 to purchase 1,800 copies of “Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Commercials.” Copies were distributed to individual libraries as giveaways during Money Smart Week.
• Libraries agreed to plan a story time around money and register at Money Smart Week website
• Statewide, 45 libraries are participating

Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee

• Earth Day @ Your Library: Every Drop Counts
• Do You Know What’s In Your Credit Report? Find Out!
• Managing Your Investments: Making Value Line and Morningstar Work For You
• See all of Milwaukee’s financial education programs on a bookmark

Learn how your library can get involved and see programs that other Smart investing@your library libraries are hosting.

Money Smart Week is part of Financial Literacy Month. Make sure that your local media know about the programs you’re hosting this April with our Financial Literacy Month PR Templates.

Not one but two Smart investing@your library® grantees have been named Movers and Shakers by Library Journal.

Congratulations to Trinity Behrends, Greenville County Library System (SC) and Jim Blanton, Chesapeake Public Library (VA) for your significant contributions.

Read about Trinity’s smart marketing campaign, “Your Recipe for Success”

Read about Jim’s process of creating $ave $teve

Check it out!

Liz Markel, ASCLA/RUSA
(312) 280-4398
lmarkel@ala.org

FINRA Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association Announce $1.2 Million in Grants to Public Libraries to Support Financial Literacy

WASHINGTON—The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA) have announced $1.2 million in grants to 16 recipients as part of the Smart investing@your library® initiative.

Smart investing@your library® is administered jointly by the Reference and User Services Association—a division of ALA—and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The program funds library efforts to provide patrons with effective, unbiased educational resources about personal finance and investing. Now in its fifth year, the program has awarded a total of nearly $6 million to public libraries and library networks nationwide.

The new grant recipients will use the funds to implement a variety of programs designed to increase patrons’ access to and understanding of financial information. The grants target a diverse group of library patrons—among them youth, seniors, English-language learners, college students, rural residents and low-income families. Participating libraries will use a variety of technologies and outreach strategies to connect library users to the best financial education and information available. These strategies include online learning, seminars, one-on-one clinics, storytelling, performances and staff training.

The grantees will partner with community organizations, schools, universities and local governments to expand the impact of the services and resources the grants enable. Library patrons will be empowered to make educated financial choices for both long-term investing and day-to-day money matters.

“Libraries are integrating financial literacy into existing programs and services and making this content very visible and highly valued within their communities,” said ALA President, Molly Raphael. “Financial education resources, staff training opportunities and partnerships developed through grants from the FINRA Foundation have created collections of core financial resources and a nationwide network of librarians equipped with the knowledge to connect users of all ages with programs and materials.”

“Quality financial education is often as close and accessible as your local public library,” said Gerri Walsh, President of the FINRA Foundation. “Through these projects, public libraries and their partners make learning about personal finance and investing free, fun and convenient.”

2011 Smart investing@your library® Grantees

Ada County Free Library District, Boise, ID
Ada County LYNX! consortium libraries will offer an array of programs and electronic services to meet the financial education needs of Generation Y residents (ages 18-32). The University of Idaho Extension and other state agencies will collaborate on a variety of project components, including finance book clubs for young professionals and a personal finance portal designed for mobile telephones and tablet computers.
Grant amount: $69,000

Albany County Public Library, Laramie, WY
Albany County Public Library is partnering with faculty from the University of Wyoming and a local technical college to provide Laramie residents with a better understanding of personal finances and tools to make optimal financial decisions. Workshops will emphasize finance basics, preparing to invest, retirement planning and student loan debt management.
Grant amount: $29,800

Boone County Public Library, Burlington, KY
Boone County Public Library and the Brighton Center, a social services agency reaching 84,000 clients in northern Kentucky, are collaborating to improve the financial literacy and fiscal health of families in the region. The project will challenge families to evaluate and improve their financial health through a series of interactive learning experiences.
Grant amount: $100,000

Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Public Library will offer a combination of workshops, seminars, individual counseling sessions, and virtual investment clubs for adults and teens in the library’s service area. The Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (the nation’s first community development corporation), the Coalition for Debtor Education and Mind Your Money (an organization devoted to the financial literacy of teens and pre-teens) will assist with public programs and one-on-one counseling.
Grant amount: $100,000

Dakota County Library, Eagan, MN
Dakota County Library’s initiative, “Dollars by the Decade,” will promote financial literacy education as a lifelong process addressing the evolving needs of residents in various life stages. Recognizing that individuals will come to the program with different levels of knowledge and interests, the program will use print, digital and in-person workshops to teach personal finance fundamentals such as budgeting, saving, spending, credit and financial protection.
Grant amount: $69,513

Delaware County Library System, Media, PA
Delaware County Library System is partnering with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley and various Pennsylvania state agencies to improve the financial literacy and capability of low- to moderate-income families in the region. Educational experiences will help participants manage budgets and debt and plan for future needs.
Grant amount: $97,470

Fairfield Public Library, Fairfield, CT
Fairfield Public Library will build on its award-winning job assistance program and offer a series of practical personal finance workshops for adults aimed at expanding investing capability with a combination of direct instruction and team-based learning.
Grant amount: $50,070

Genesee District Library, Flint, MI
The Genesee District Library will collaborate with Central Michigan University and the regional chamber of commerce to establish a “family financial freedom” education initiative with programming and services for K–12 students, current college students, recent graduates and African American women, among others.
Grant amount: $91,500

Greenville County Library System, Greenville, SC
Greenville County Library System and its partners will pursue a multifaceted project designed to turn personal finance assumptions into changed attitudes, changed attitudes into changed behaviors, and changed behaviors into changed habits. Workshops on the psychology of spending, a public information campaign anchored by a dedicated project website and help with tax preparation are just a few of the strategies planned to help female heads of household overcome obstacles and achieve their money goals.
Grant amount: $66,325

Jackson District Library, Jackson, MI
Jackson District Library is partnering with United Way and other community agencies to deliver financial education resources in the county and improve communications about finances among low- and moderate-income households. Participants will develop a financial plan, increase their knowledge about money management and investing, and gain better access to learning resources with support from a personal finance help desk service and classes based on the FDIC Money Smart curriculum.
Grant amount: $99,187

Niles Public Library District, Niles, IL
Working with university and government partners in the region, Niles Public Library District will help adults ages 50 and over get prepared to make capable decisions in the years immediately preceding and during retirement. Topics will include a better understanding of Social Security, retirement preparedness, predatory financial practices and investment fraud.
Grant amount: $21,754

Pioneer Library System, Norman, OK
Pioneer Library System will partner with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Oklahoma, Citizen Pottawatomi Nation, Chickasaw Nation and employers in the hometowns of its 10 member libraries to offer “fiscally fit boot camps” to employees.
Grant amount: $57,967

Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC
Richland County Public Library will combine traditional educational activities (workshops, story times and outreach presentations) with creative and engaging experiences for families. The library will partner with Lunch Money, a children’s band that “brings indie-rock to family audiences,” to write a children’s song about money, earning and saving for the future, and to schedule performances for young children. The library will work with Columbia College and local schools to engage teens in creating performances and games that teach younger children financial basics. The library’s African-American History and Cultural Events Committee will work with partner organizations to sponsor and promote a series of family-focused financial literacy events on topics ranging from home ownership and saving for college to the basics of investing.
Grant amount: $78,500

Seekonk Public Library, Seekonk, MA
Seekonk Public Library and its partners will assist women ages 25 and over as they master financial basics, craft long-term financial plans, and acquire the saving and investing skills to put these plans into practice. Instructional programs will be organized around themes and will be supplemented by a series of networking events to add a social dimension to the program and allow participants to learn from each other. Guest speakers will address fiscal fitness for women. Business school faculty from Johnson & Wales University and staff from Money Management International (a nonprofit consumer credit counseling agency) will lead the seminars.
Grant amount: $98,818

State Library of Iowa, Des Moines, IA
The State Library of Iowa, in partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Ames Public Library, will expand a successful, mixed-methods (online and face-to-face), library-based financial education model to 18 underserved rural communities across Iowa. The online courses will each last six weeks and will be segmented according to three generational cohorts: Starting Out (Generation X), Building Up (trailing Baby Boomers) and Making it Last (retirees). A capstone, face-to-face event in each location will follow the online learning and bring the local libraries into lasting partnership with community organizations.
Grant amount: $72,438

York County Library System, York, PA
York County Library System will partner with 17 high schools and seven urban elementary schools to improve the financial literacy and capability of students and parents by connecting them with the personal finance resources available through county libraries. The project will seek to teach York County high school juniors and seniors how to build a financial plan for post–high school success, and will equip parents of high school juniors and seniors with financial literacy tools to guide their teenagers’ financial planning. Younger children will learn about spending, saving and borrowing, and their parents will learn financial literacy tools to reinforce their own financial knowledge and help them positively influence their children’s future money management skills.
Grant amount: $99,922

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation supports innovative research and educational projects that give underserved Americans the knowledge, skills and tools necessary for financial success throughout life. For details about grant programs and other FINRA Foundation initiatives, visit www.finrafoundation.org.
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business – from registering and educating all industry participants to examining securities firms, writing and enforcing rules and the federal securities laws, informing and educating the investing public, providing trade reporting and other industry utilities, and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information, please visit our website at www.finra.org.
Smart investing@your library® is a partnership between the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The program supports public libraries across the country in their efforts to meet financial education needs at the local level.
The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services and collection materials they need. The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 60,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information. For more information, please visit www.ala.org or call 800-545-2433 ext. 4279.

Add $ave $teve to your library website.

Subscribe to the Smart investing@your library YouTube channel by visiting http://www.youtube.com/user/ALAsmartinvesting, signing in to your Google or YouTube account (top right), and clicking “subscribe” at the top of the page. Subscribers can choose to be notified by email or on the YouTube homepage when new videos are posted to the channel.

Add your comments to the channel or individual videos and let your fellow grantees know what you think. Share the videos on your Facebook page or library website for your own audiences.

See the full 2011-2012 Promotional and News Hook Calendar

The October Media Opportunity is The Cost of College.

How to use this tool:
The College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges is released every year in mid-October. It reveals how much prices have changed among institutions of different types and in different parts of the country. Of particular importance is the focus on the net prices students actually pay after taking grant aid into consideration. Because of the important role that education is playing in the changing economy, the media tends to write about the study, especially since it falls during the back-to-school media cycle.

These pitch templates have been developed for Smart investing@your library grantees to help you attract media coverage based on “Affording College”. Even if you just plan on showcasing some specialized information resources during October, it will be useful to high school seniors and their families who are keen to address costs. And reporters will include your library in their stories because it is helpful to their readers.

Use the following to email a reporter, or to help you in a conversation.

Email Pitch to a Reporter—Feel free to cut and paste!

Suggested Email Subject Line:
College Cost Crunch Report from College Board – _______ Public Library Offers Solutions

Hello, Michael-(personalize each email; it will lift your success rate)

Soaring costs of a college degree in the US have outstripped increases in the median family income in recent years. And the amount of money Americans owe on student loans recently exceeded the nation’s credit card debt.

Soon the College Board will release its annual report about the cost of college. As a college degree is increasingly necessary for entering the competitive job market, affording college is a very real worry for many American families.

_______ Public Library is helping families make smart choices about paying for college, making college a possibility for their children.

Here’s how we do it:
• extensive databases
• student aid options
• planning and saving tips for young families to start now
• college options that keep costs low
• free, non-commercial workshops and lectures with local experts .

Our Smart investing@your library initiative is a hub for reliable, unbiased, information to help people learn about their investing and financial options.

“Families shouldn’t have to pull all-nighters trying to figure out how to pay for college,” says (insert name), Director of the _______Public Library. “We want to do everything we can to provide free information that help put college within reach of the families in our community.”

Will you be writing about this topic? If so, perhaps we can help. We’ve got facts, general stories that put a face on the issue, and a list of free resources here at the library to include in your piece.

Your readers will be grateful that you’ve pointed them to a trusted, unbiased community resource…that is absolutely free.

Please let me know if you plan to cover this story. I realize editorial calendars change so I will check back in with you in a week.

Sincerely,

John Doe
Smart investing@your library Project Principal
Cell phone #

Twitter messages

• Possible Tweet to the public for an event:
Make College Affordable: Beat College Cost Crunch. Free event @AkronPublicLib Tues. 6PM (add a bitly link to website announcement) #smartinvesting #atyourlibrary

• Tweet to local journalist:
Cost of College report due out Oct. @TopekaPL offers events & free, unbiased info. Make college affordable. #smartinvesting #atyourlibrary

See the full 2011-2012 Promotional and News Hook Calendar