Archive for March, 2016

New Movies for March: Part 2

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016

Here are the remainder of this month’s new DVD titles:

Trumbocrimsonpeak
Truth
Big Hero 6
Black Mass
Creed
Crimson Peak
The Danish Girl
The Good Dinosaur
Grandma
Room
Spotlight

You may browse the entire DVD collection via the library catalog.

Fine Forgiveness Fridays

Friday, March 25th, 2016

overdue image

Library fines got you down? April 1st through May 13th, the Ford Library will waive one overdue library fine* for each “shelfie” you post to Instagram or Facebook, up to six fine waives total.

It’s easy!

1. Follow @fordlibrary on Instagram or like our Facebook page.
2. Snap a “shelfie”, or photo, of a favorite book or place to read, or of something artistic featuring the Ford Library and its collections.
3. Post the photo to your Instagram account or to Ford Library’s Facebook page with #fordlibraryshelfie

Please note: Your Instagram profile must be set to public during the promotion so that we can see your photo.

Rules:
1. All Duke University students are eligible to participate.
2. Each photo must be tagged #fordlibraryshelfie and posted between Friday, April 1 and Friday, May 13th, 2016. Your photo(s) may be shared, copied, and used in Ford Library promotional material.
3. *Each Friday during the promotion, we will waive one Ford Library overdue fine for each photo posted that week. A maximum of six overdue fine waives total will be allowed per student during the promotion.
4. Waives apply to overdue fines incurred in the last 6 months (Nov. 2015 – May 13, 2016) only.
5. Waives will not apply to items that have not yet been returned, for fines that were incurred at other Duke University Libraries, or for recall fines (where another patron was waiting for the overdue item). This promotion is in addition to our existing one-time waive policy.

Questions? Email: ford-library-circulation@fuqua.duke.edu

New Movies for March: Part 1

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016

Here are the first of our new DVD titles this month:

Freeheldsuffragette1
Legend
Love the Coopers
Man Up
Miss You Already
My All American
99 Homes
Our Brand is Crisis
Secret in Their Eyes
Spectre
Steve Jobs
Suffragette
The 33

You may browse the entire DVD collection via the library catalog.

Book Review: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble

Monday, March 21st, 2016

book cover imageBissonnette, Zac. The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute. Portfolio/Penguin, 2015.

At the end of the 20th century, two speculative bubbles reached their climaxes and then quickly collapsed. The best known was the dot-com bubble, which involved publicly held internet companies on the NASDAQ. The other bubble involved a privately held toy company that sold $5 and $10 stuffed animals. A new book, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, tells the story of Ty Warner and his company, but it is also an entertaining look into the formation and dynamics of speculative manias.

Author Zac Bissonnette relates the tale of the creative and driven Ty Warner, who was a top grossing salesman for Dakin before he started a competing company Ty Inc. Warner’s personal charisma and obsessive attention to detail compensated for his start-up company’s disadvantages such as limited product line, lack of scale, small sales force and low price points. He changed his product mix often and focused on independently owned toy and gift shops, which remained loyal to him.

In 1995, a popular Beanie Baby was discontinued due to supplier problems. Retailers complained until they learned that Warner “retired” the product, which created scarcity. Retired Beanie Babies became collectible and each $5 piece took on a higher value in the secondary market.

Beginning with the first collectors in the Chicago suburbs, interest in assembling collections of retired Beanie Babies spread incrementally by word of mouth. Warner retired pieces that were already hard to find, creating a frenzy of buying. The Internet was new, and vague comments and innuendo about future retirements on www.ty.com caused prices to spike. Soon a new auction site named Ebay created a market that operated 24/7.

The craze ended suddenly in 1999 as Ebay brought transparency to the supply side of the market. Adults who had used a child’s toy as an investment lost everything. Ty Warner reported a net worth of $1.7 billion. In 2013 Warner was charged with tax evasion and fined $53 million. Jimmie Fallon joked, ” The Beanie Babies creator owes $53 million for tax evasion. If he sells them all, he’ll just owe… $53 million.”

Also available as an audiobook on OverDrive and as an eBook on OverDrive.

© Meg Trauner & Ford Library – Fuqua School of Business.
All rights reserved.