Ford Library

Cabot, Heather. Geek girl rising : inside the sisterhood shaking up tech. St. Martin’s Press, 2017.

The book Geek Girl Rising by journalists Heather Cabot and Samantha Walravens should be required reading for anyone interested in entering a white, male dominated STEM field. This book covers the history of women in technology or engineering fields, and in business in general, making pivotal points about the lack of diversity in the technology sector; the importance of women helping other women succeed; and the importance of metrics in effecting change.

After a discussion about the need for diversity in STEM companies, the authors discuss ways to advocate for change. The first step to change is learning the actual ratios of women and individuals of color vs white males across industries, facts that tech companies seemed determined to hide. In a lawsuit in 2008, five of the largest Silicon Valley companies, including Google, won a lawsuit that had their company employee makeup declared a “trade secret.” This was reversed around 2013-2014 when the lack of diversity in these companies gained mainstream public attention through popular campaigns like #ChangetheRatio, as well as harassment claims and other lawsuits. People became interested in making a difference, both in reporting the numbers in their workplaces and in using consumer power to incentivize companies to change.

One factor contributing to the lack of diversity in engineering and technology fields is a lack of positive role models and success stories, despite the number of women with power and influence in these industries. Media outlets fail to promote and encourage women, who often face difficult or painful work situations, leading them to leave the industry or to avoid the spotlight as it attracts negative attention. Women pioneers in tech are not cited in articles or books as if their contributions are un-noteworthy. Ultimately, this lack of visibility corresponds to a lack of access and opportunities for growth as well as an inability to inspire others. To counter, Geek Girl Rising exhibits inspirational stories from a multitude of women from a wide range of companies and industries with pithy bios, interviews, anecdotes, and upbeat newsy briefs.

To combat this lack of diversity in key industries, Cabot and Walravens recommend several solutions. First, bring the problems of working in a male dominated work place to light using metrics; for example, the recent media stories about issues at Google and Facebook. A second solution is to “ignite the next generation.” President Obama’s 2014 STEM incentives encourage children, especially girls and children of color, to enter fields involved in innovation. The authors also begin and end their book referencing one female entrepreneur, Debbie Sterling, who in 2014 came out with GoldieBlox, a building/engineering/puzzle game focused around storytelling and problem-solving for children, which was sold by Toys R Us and exhibited at the toy expo in New York’s Jacob Javits Center.

This book is also available as an audiobook on OverDrive.

© Amy Brennan & Ford Library – Fuqua School of Business.
All rights reserved.

The Ford Library Presents – Fine Forgiveness Fridays

Library fines got you down? Post a selfie taken in the Ford Library to our Facebook page and we will waive one of your overdue fines* during each Friday of the time period. Fine Forgiveness Fridays begin this Friday, April 17^th and ends on Friday, May 8^th.

FYI- If you don’t feel comfortable posting your image on our Facebook page, feel free to be creative. You just need to post a picture that you have taken in the library that infers that you were present. How you do that is up to you.

*Fine forgiveness will be applied to one Ford overdue fine incurred in the last 6 months (Nov. 2014 – April 2015). Forgiveness does not apply to fines incurred from recalled items, items that have not yet been returned, or for fines that were incurred for items owned by Duke University Libraries other than the Ford Library.

*This waive would be in addition to the once per year regular one-time waive for overdue materials that is already available to any Ford patrons. Maximum of 4 total fine waives is possible since the event will last through four consecutive Fridays. You must post one eligible picture per waive.  For any questions contact ford-library-circulation@fuqua.duke.edu.

The Fuqua Book Exchange is taking place now through May 15^th. Donate your gently-used books to other students, staff, faculty and the library. Fiction is accepted for this event. It is bring a book, take a book. Free!

Drop off your book donations at the Ford Circulation Desk. Books for exchange will be housed in a special book shelf in the Career section at the back of the library.  Any unclaimed or leftover at the end of the event will be donated to Better World Books http://www.betterworldbooks.com (CFO, Paul Sansone, Fuqua Alumnus, 1992) or the Durham Public Library.

While our hours of semester / term hours of operation will remain unchanged, beginning on Thursday, January 26, 2012, your Duke ID Card will be required to enter the Ford Library after 7pm, 7 days a week. Swipe your DukeCard through the card reader to the right of the Library doors to enter.

This change in access to Ford Library is being made to 1) more closely conform to other Duke libraries requirements for card access; and 2) to address safety concerns raised on behalf of our Duke & Fuqua Library patrons. More details on these concerns are available in this Duke Chronicle article.

While Ford Library, and Fuqua have not seen a rise in problems like those described in the linked article, we want the Ford Library to remain a safe environment for our students. We would also like to remind you that the best way to prevent thefts and similar incidents is to pay attention to your surroundings and not to leave valuables unattended.

If you have questions about this change in access to Ford Library, please email us at ford-library-circulation@fuqua.duke.edu; and thanks for your understanding.

We invite all of our Fuqua students to learn more about the life of J.B. Fuqua, the founding benefactor of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Please join us for an Open House in the J.B. Fuqua Collection Room at the Ford Library on Wednesday, September 28th from 2-5 p.m. to view the awards, honors and memorabilia of this great man.

We look forward to seeing you there!

This year’s 2010 Duke MBA India Business Forum will be held on Sunday, March 28th. It is titled “India: Turning the Lens on Tomorrow” and will address important economic forces impacting Asia’s third largest economy in global business. Please see the following books from the Ford Library or check out our India display in the Economics section. Click on a link to check availability or to place a hold.

• Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation by Nandan Nilekani
• The New Asian Innovation Dynamics: China and India in Perspective edited by Govindan Parayil and Anthony P. D’Costa
• India’s Global Powerhouses: How They are Taking on the World by Nirmalya Kumar
• The Changing Face of People Management in India edited by Pawan S. Budhwar and Jyotsna Bhatnagar
• Strategic Corporate Communication: A Global Approach for Doing Business in the New India by Paul A. Argenti
• The Story of India [DVD]. PBS Home Video, 2009.
• The Soul of India [DVD]. Rick Ray Films, c2004.
• India Arriving: How This Economic Powerhouse is Redefining Global Business by Rafiq Dossani

The lecture, “At the Brink: The Future of Lending, Credit and Leverage,”  will be held this Saturday at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.  Leading Wall Street figures will discuss the state of lending, credit and leverage at 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27th in Geneen Auditorium.

This is the 2nd of a four-part series and represents a joint collaboration between the Fuqua School of Business and McKinsey Quarterly.  The series will consist of forums on the following areas:  energy, the financial system, globalization and business education.

Check out some of these new titles from the Ford Library about the business landscape in the aftermath of the credit and economic crises (click on a link to place a hold or check availability). Or come browse our display in the Economics section of the library:

• The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street by Justin Fox
• In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic by David Wessel
• How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins
• Paper Fortune$: Modern Wall Street – Where It’s Been and Where It’s Going by Roy C. Smith
• How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy
• On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by Henry Paulson
• Economics Does Not Lie: A Defense of the Free Market in a Time of Crisis by Guy Sorman
• Can Capitalism Survive? Creative Destruction and the Future of the Global Economy by Joseph A. Schumpeter

FuquaNet, a newsletter for Fuqua alumni, has a column called “What’s on Your Nightstand?”  It lists books that Fuqua faculty and staff members have read.  Perhaps you might enjoy one or more of these during the upcoming holiday breaks.   Below are some of the titles mentioned, with the reviewers comments, that we have here at Ford Library (click on the link to place a hold or check availability):

Leadership & Management

• The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action through Narrative by Stephen Denning (Jossey Bass).   Given our role in the Career Management Center to deliver presentations on a regular basis, I am always looking for resources to improve the narrative process, and this looks to offer some great lessons and perspective.
• From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession by Rakesh Khurana (Princeton)

Globalization

• Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin). Mountain climbing “bum” Mortenson is saved by poor Pakistani villagers and promises to return to build a school for girls. He succeeds and eventually builds more than fifty throughout Pakistan’s and Afghanistan’s poorest regions.
• The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria (W.W. Norton) deals with a very timely topic, providing a compelling overview of the growth of “the rest of the world” and the diminished influence of the United States in shaping world events. As Zakaria puts it at the beginning of the book, “This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.” (more…)

The lecture, “Building a Sustainable Energy Future: Market Approaches to Choices and Trade-offs” will be held today; Thursday, November 5th from 4–6 p.m. in Geneen Auditorium.

This is the first of a four-part series and represents a joint collaboration between the Fuqua School of Business and McKinsey Quarterly.  The series will consist of forums on the following areas:  energy, the financial system, globalization and business education.

Check out some of these new titles from the Ford Library on sustainability (click on a link to place a hold or check availability). Or come browse our Sustainability display at the front of the library:

• Profession and Purpose: A Resource Guide for MBA Careers in Sustainability by Katie Kross
• Investing in a Sustainable World: Why GREEN is the New Color of Money on Wall Street by Mathew J. Kiernan
• Sustainability Strategies: When Does it Pay to be Green? by Renato J. Orsato
• Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts by Marc J. Epstein
• Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance edited by Cary Krosinsky and Nick Robins
• Sustainable Development Handbook by Stephen A. Roosa
• Global Warming is Good for Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making Money While Saving the Planet by K. B. Keilbach
• The Gort Cloud: The Invisible Force Powering Today’s Most Visible Green Brands by Richard Seireeni

Does the conversion to Outlook 2007/Exchange Server have you down or struggling with your email, contacts, calendar, etc.?   Then check out one of these new Outlook 2007 books available from the Ford Library (click on the link to check availability or place a hold):

• How To Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 by Bill Mann
• Outlook 2007: Beyond the Manual by Tony Campbell, Jonathan Hassell
• Outlook 2007: Business Contact Manager for Dummies by Karen S. Fredricks and Lon Orenstein
• Outlook 2007 All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies by Jennifer Fulton and Karen S. Fredricks
• Managing Contacts With Microsoft Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager by Edward Kachinske, Stacy Roach, Timothy Kachinske
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Inside Out by Jim Boyce, Beth Sheresh, Doug Sheresh
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Plain & Simple by Jim Boyce
• Teach Yourself Visually: Microsoft Outlook 2007 by Kate Shoup
• Microsoft Office 2007 Simplified by Sherry Willard Kinkoph.