emross's blog

A year and a half into the pandemic, I’m contemplating a fall semester that might be more like fall 2019 than fall 2020, though the COVID-19 delta variant continues to loom like a specter over my financial literacy programming plans.

Through it all, I’m mostly thinking about what to keep from a fully remote year and how to most effectively prepare for a potential pivot back to remote delivery or other unexpected changes.

Your library might hesitate to offer financial literacy programming because of concerns about giving financial advice or setting up an opportunity for uncomfortable money questions. These concerns might be hard to navigate at first, but if the entire library staff is appropriately trained on handling financial literacy-related questions, you can mitigate these issues.

I feel like I should start with a disclaimer: I am not a financial professional. I am a librarian.

May is Older Americans Month, first proclaimed by Gerald Ford in 1976. The past year has been challenging for all Americans, but the consequences of the pandemic fell heavily on older Americans and their families and caregivers. A unique challenge that many older Americans face is money management.

We’ve surpassed the one-year mark of the pandemic and find ourselves facing another Money Smart Week in a virtual environment. I know many libraries had to scrap last year’s in-person Money Smart Week plans or scramble to develop online replacements at the last minute.

I have a confession: I’m an accidental business librarian. My background is in art history, but like many public librarians, I was placed in a department that needed staff, and that department was business services. I grew to love business reference and helping entrepreneurs with business planning and research. I even got the opportunity to create and grow the Business Resource and Innovation Center (BRIC) at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Communities thrive when their members understand how money works, know who they can talk to about specific financial topics, and have access to quality, consumer-friendly learning materials.

Navigating the world of personal finance and financial literacy can be tricky when searching for information to share. As information professionals, we are always looking for timely and reliable resources to help address the needs of our communities.

You may think money is too personal a topic for the library … well, we hope to convince you otherwise. Money matters affect every person you know. Education about financial concepts and tools for money management are important to informed decision-making and are keys to independent living.

Michigan State University's Gast Business Library partners with the College of Social Science’s Go for the Green financial literacy team to cosponsor MSU’s participation in Money Smart Week, a national program sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As part of this weeklong event, the Go for the Green team hires a financial literacy-focused author to come to campus and speak with students about managing their money.