April is financial literacy month! If you want to improve your knowledge and understanding of personal finance and other financial matters, you’re not alone. The library has numerous books to help you learn about these topics; see below for a selection of titles. Many of these items will be on display through April 15^th.

This year, the library will be a location for DASH for the STASH, an investor education contest. One statewide winner will win a $1000 prize to open or add to a retirement investment account, courtesy of the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities and the nonprofit Investor Protection Institute. To participate, visit the library, read four informational posters, and correctly answer a question about each poster. DASH for the STASH will be available in the library through April 15^th.

April 4-8, 2016, the $avvy $eawolf program will host a variety of financial literacy workshops across the UAA campus. See the event calendar here:
https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/financialaid/FinancialLit/finlitmonth2016.cfm.

Our two most recent presidents have both acknowledged the importance of financial education in America. With Executive Order 13455, former President Bush established the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, and President Obama established the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans with Executive Order 13646. You can find those Executive Orders here: https://www.federalregister.gov/executive-orders. The Financial Literacy and Education Commission, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, provides a listing of many financial education resources here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/financial-education/Pages/commission-index.aspx.

Selected Titles:

Kiplinger’s money smart women [electronic resource]. Bodnar, J. (2007).

Make money, not excuses : Wake up, take charge, and overcome your financial fears forever [electronic resource]. Chatzky, J. S., & Denaker, S. (2006).

Your money or your life : Transforming your relationship with money and achieving financial independence. Dominguez, J. R., & Robin, V. (1999).

Common sense economics : What everyone should know about wealth and prosperity. Gwartney, J. D., & Gwartney, J. (2010).

Personal finance essentials. Heath, J. A., & Lopus, J. S. (2012).

Clark Howard’s living large for the long haul : Consumer-tested ways to overhaul your finances, increase your savings, and get your life back on track [electronic resource]. Howard, C. (2013).

Debt-proof living : The complete guide to living financially free. Hunt, M. (2005; 1999).

Retirement planning. Jasper, M. C. (2005).

Zero debt for college grads : From student loans to financial freedom. Khalfani-Cox, L. (2007).

The budget kit : The common cents money management workbook. Lawrence, J. (2008).

More than you know : Finding financial wisdom in unconventional places. Mauboussin, M. J. (2008).

How to get out of debt, stay out of debt & live prosperously. Mundis, J. J. (2003).

Combat finance : How military values and discipline will help you achieve financial freedom. Neddenriep, K. (2014).

Currency of the heart : A year of investing, death, work & coins. Nichols, D. R. (2002).

The index card : Why personal finance doesn’t have to be complicated. Olen, H., & Pollack, H. A. (2016).

The 9 steps to financial freedom. Orman, S. (1997).

Women & money : Owning the power to control your destiny [electronic resource] Orman, S., & Denaker, S. (2007).

Millennial money : How young investors can build a fortune. O’Shaughnessy, P. (2014).

Money, a memoir : Women, emotions, and cash. Perle, L. (2006).

Picture your prosperity : Smart money moves to turn your vision into reality. Rogin, E., & Kueng, L. (2015).

Smart is the new rich : Money guide for millennials. Romans, C. (2015).

Finance is personal : Making your money work for you in college and beyond. Stephenson, K., & Hutchins, A. B. (2015).

Debt cures “they” don’t want you to know about. Trudeau, K. (2008).

Personal finance for dummies. Tyson, E. (2006).

Financial literacy education : What do students need to know to plan for the future? : Hearing before the subcommittee on education reform of the committee on education and the workforce. United States Congress, House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Education Reform (2004).

Consumer debt : Are credit cards bankrupting Americans? : Hearing before the subcommittee on commercial and administrative law of the committee on the judiciary. United States Congress, House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (2009).

The importance of financial literacy among college students : Hearing before the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs, United States Senate. United States Congress, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (2003).

Budgeting pays off after school! William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (2001).

100% financial literacy success. Wilson, G. (2013).

How can I be sure
In a world that’s constantly changing?
— The Young Rascals

That’s a good question, especially in our modern digital world – how exactly can you be sure?  You can increase your chances by learning how to think critically about online sources, and one title that can help is a new publication from the European Journalism Centre called the Verification Handbook: An Ultimate Guideline on Digital Age Sourcing for Emergency Coverage.  Remember the adage:  trust, but verify?  The attitude here is much more in the vein of verify, then trust.  Here’s the link for a free PDF download:

http://verificationhandbook.com

This title is intended for journalists and aid responders who need to quickly find out whether something is real or not.  But while the rest of us might not want to go so far as to directly contact the person who first uploaded the questioned content to social media, there’s a lot that non-journalists can learn from it, too.  It’s divided into ten short chapters on things like ‘3: Verifying User-Generated Content’ (UGC is an acronym to remember when reading this book – it’s everywhere!), ‘4: Verifying Images,’ and ‘5: Verifying Video.’  There are a number of interesting case studies that are like short detective stories; for instance, there’s one on a giant beach ball on a city street and another on sharks swimming in a suburb after Hurricane Sandy.  The book concentrates on news events, so other case studies include things like the Boston Marathon bombing and the 2011 Japanese earthquake.

The last chapter, ‘Verification Tools,’ lists several pages of useful internet tools and is worth browsing all by itself.  If you’d like more, you can also download two related free books from that same link, one of additional materials and more case studies, and another focusing on investigative reporting.

Find all the information you need to vote in this year’s elections on Alaska’s Division of Elections Site.  There are links for College Voters, Registering to Vote Online, Absentee Voting, plus information on Political Parties, Elected Officials, Candidates, Past Election Results, Ballot Measures, Voting Districts, and more.

This year’s general election is November 8th and the primary is August 16.

Looking for a 1 credit elective to take Summer of 2016?

Consider taking LS 101 and learn how to efficiently locate and ethically use information. From formulating your research topic to evaluating sources, Introduction to Academic Research will prove valuable to your academic career and beyond.

January 27^th was Holocaust Remembrance Day, so I thought I would offer a few relevant websites, reference titles, and films.

Museum Websites
These links are for the primary museums in the United States, Israel, and Germany; there is a wealth of online material offered:

http://www.ushmm.org              United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.yadvashem.org       Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum
http://www.jmberlin.de/main/EN/homepage-EN.php          Jewish Museum, Berlin

Reference Collection Resources
Here are a few Reference Collection titles that are either focused on the Holocaust or else have significant sections concerning the Holocaust:

REF D804.3.E53 1990
Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (4 vols.)

REF D804.3.O94 2010
Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies

REF D805.A2 U55 2009…
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and
Ghettos, 1933-1945
(4 books in 2 volumes out of a projected 7 volumes)

REF D804.19.H55 2006
The Holocaust (Primary Sourcebook Series)

REF DS102.8.E496 2007
Encyclopedia Judaica, 2^nd ed., vol. 9 (Her-Int)

REF DS134.255.J8313 2010
The Jews in the secret Nazi reports on popular opinion in Germany, 1933-1945

REF HV6322.7.E532 2005
Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

REF JC578.H386 2006
Handbook of Reparations

Other Works
We also have many titles on the Holocaust beyond the Reference Collection. You can search in the Library Catalog or in QuickSearch on relevant terms such as Holocaust or Jewish Resistance to find them. WorldCat offers many more titles, although you will need to make interlibrary loan requests for many of them.

Films about the Holocaust: A Short and Very, Very Incomplete List
We don’t have many Holocaust-related films at the Consortium Library, but here are a few that are available from Anchorage Public Libraries, NetFlix, and other sources:

Documentaries
Shoah (1985; 6 DVDs) – APL Loussac – DVD FOR FREN 940.53 SHOAH
Night and Fog (1955; 31 minutes) – APL Loussac – DVD FOR FREN 940.5317 NIGHT-A

Feature Films
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) – APL Loussac – DVD FOR FREN AU-REVO
Schindler’s List (1993) – APL Eagle River – DVD FE SCHINDL
The Shop on Main Street (1965) – APL Loussac – DVD FN SHOP-ON
Kapo (1959) – APL Loussac – DVD FOR ITAL KAPO