Welcome To Fuqua!

July 11th, 2014

forest readerWelcome to all new students who arrived at Fuqua this week to attend the Language Institute and the Summer Math Review Course.  Students bring an energy and vitality to our university and to our city.  We hope your move went smoothly and that as you explore the city and the university, you come to enjoy your new home as much as we do.

Duke Libraries are among the elite libraries of the world.  Since you have found your way to the Ford Library Blog, you must already know that the library web pages give you access to the library 24 hours every day.  You can access the online catalog for all of Duke’s libraries as well as the libraries of other research universities in the area, including UNC and NC State (noted in the catalog as TRLN Libraries).  Besides print resources, the Duke catalog give you access to the thousands of full-text journals, eBooks, and audiobooks (online or on CD) that you can download to your own devices.

I also invite you to come to our library, the most beautiful space on campus (“like reading in a forest” – an actual quote from an MBA), and a quiet place to study.  Introduce yourself to Jane Day, our fabulous director of reference services.  Or consult with any of our reference librarians in person at the reference desk, by email or by online chat.

We can help you be successful during your time here at the Fuqua School.

Meg Trauner  MLS, MBA
Ford Library Director

New Movies for July: Part 1

July 11th, 2014

Here are the first of the month’s new DVDs:

Adult World
Afflicted
Aladdin
Authors Anonymous
Devil’s Knot
Ernest & Celestine
Gasland, part 2
Jimmy P.
Joe
The Lunchbox
The Machine
Omar
300: Rise of an Empire
Walk of Shame

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

New Movies for June

June 11th, 2014

Here are the new titles for June:

About a Boy
American Made Movie
A Birder’s Guide to Everything
Black Out
Brightest Star
Gambit
Her
Hot Guys with Guns
I, Frankenstein
In the Blood
Lone Survivor
Orange is the New Black, season 1
Pompeii
The Right Kind of Wrong
Robocop
That Awkward Moment
The Trials of Cate McCall
The Trouble with the Truth

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

New Movies for May

May 15th, 2014

Here are our latest DVD titles:

August: Osage County
Barefoot
The Best Offer
Enlightened, season 1
Gimme Shelter
Grudge Match
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Invisible Woman
Labor Day
The Nut Job
Orphan Black, season 1
Philomena
Ride Along
The Rocket
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Sorcerer
The Walking Dead, seasons 1-2

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

Book Reviews: Summer Reading Suggestions

April 24th, 2014

Now that warm weather is here at last, it is time to wish our first year MBA’s a happy summer break and to extend our congratulations to our graduating second years and all MMS students.

But before our students depart, there is just enough time to introduce a handful of books that are just for fun.

silence-priceThe Price of Silence by William D. Cohan. Duke alumnus (T’81) and best selling author William Cohan writes an exhaustive account (600+ pages) of the Duke Lacrosse scandal, the story that captivated both Duke and Durham for most of 2006. Every detail is presented and every conversation is recounted.  Yet the book is infinitely interesting.

flash-boysFlash Boys : a Wall Street revolt by Michael Lewis.  Anyone who has read Michael Lewis’s books (including two about Wall Street, Liar’s Poker and The Big Short, as well as my personal favorite, Boomerang) knows that he is a master storyteller. His most recent work is about a small group of Wall Street men who discover that high-frequency trading shops are rigging the market and then go on to create their own more ethical exchange.

simpsons-mathThe Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh.  Math nerds will enjoy this book about the popular TV show “The Simpsons” and its hidden jokes and gags about mathematics.  Five of the show’s writers have advanced degrees in math or physics and they pepper the program with references to the perfect science.  Book includes entertaining anecdotes and explanations of mathematical topics.

dating-econEverything I Ever needed to Know About Economics I Learned from Online Dating by Paul Oyer.  Divorced after 20 years of marriage, an Economics professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business enters the market for life partners and discovers that the economic principles that he teaches students (utility, externalities, signaling, thin/thick markets, adverse selection) are driving the behavior of online dating participants.

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

Book Reviews: McKinsey and Goldman Sachs

April 21st, 2014

During the course of their careers, most Fuqua students will either find employment within the fields of consulting or finance, or they will work in industries that are profoundly affected by those professions.  Two engaging new books in the Ford Library are about the leading companies in those fields, McKinsey and Goldman Sachs.

the-firmThe Firm : the story of McKinsey and its secret influence on American business by Duff McDonald.  McKinsey & Co. is one of the most influential companies in the world, a firm that is woven into decision making at the highest levels in business and government.  Business journalist Duff McDonald explores the company and its history, showing how McKinsey consultants shaped the concept of American capitalism, promoted the use of scientific approaches to business management, and served as a catalyst for change.

McDonald begins his book when the company is established in 1926 and he shows how the company evolves with changes in company leadership and the shifting environment of business. McKinsey quickly achieves success at using problems in corporations as its own profit opportunity, providing advice and developing tools to solve them.  Yet McDonald is ambivalent about the benefit of its advice to corporate executives.  While he documents the sophisticated work performed by the firm, he also provides numerous examples of bad advice that resulted in spectacular failures (General Motors, Enron, Swissair). Also available as a Kindle e-book.

book cover imageWhat Happened to Goldman Sachs? : an insider’s story of organizational drift and its unintended consequences by Steven G. Mandis.  In his memoir, Why I Left Goldman Sachs, (reviewed here) Greg Smith wrote that somewhere between 2000 and 2012, Goldman lost its way and its culture of truthfulness and collaboration changed to one of generating optimum profits for the partners.  In a new book, What Happened to Goldman Sachs, former Goldman trader Steven Mandis analyzes why Goldman’s culture drifted.

In 1979, Goldman was a privately owned firm with 1000 employees and revenues of $100 million.  Senior partner John Whitehead codified written principles, those already in use throughout the company to ensure that employees put the client first.  By 2006, Goldman was public with a goal of becoming the world’s dominant investment bank, with 25,000 employees and $10 billion in revenues. In his insightful book, Mandis evaluates the complicated reasons that Goldman drifted from its high ethical principle of service to their clients to a legal standard, an ambiguous line with the potential for conflict of interests.  He concludes that competitive pressures and pursuit of growth will foster additional drift from Goldman’s principles despite public outcry and disappointment among clients.

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

New Movies for April: Part 2

April 16th, 2014

Here are the rest of this month’s DVD titles:

Mad Men, season 6
Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Mr. Nobody
Odd Thomas
Out of the Furnace
The Patience Stone
Pulling Strings
Saving Mr. Banks
The Wolf of Wall Street

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

Book Reviews: New on the ‘Net

April 15th, 2014

Forty years ago, a paper published by Vinton G. Cerf and Robert E. Kahn (‘A Protocol for Packet Network Interconnection‘) detailed the network communication protocols that would become TCP/IP – the packet switching technology that made the internet possible.  TCP/IP moves data from A to Z, and some call it the most significant development in internet history.  The authors, now in their 70’s, changed the world; but their names are only known to internet history geeks.  This post, detailing new books about the internet, is dedicated to them.

without permissionWithout Their Permission : how the 21st century will be made, not managed by Alexis Ohanian.  Co-founder of the website Reddit.com uses his own experience as an internet entrepreneur to guide other innovators in dealing with the ups and downs of launching a new product, finding a market and dealing with venture capitalists.  He also reveals his personal story and discusses his ideas on a variety of topics, to inspire others to live up to their potential as inventors.

smarter than u thinkSmarter Than You Think : how technology is changing our minds for the better by Clive Thompson. Several books explaining the negative effect of the internet on thinking and relationships have been reviewed here, including The Shallows and Alone Together.  These books describe the adverse consequences of internet use on attention, learning and memory as well as the deteriorating ability to think deep thoughts or form deep friendships.  By contrast, Clive Thompson’s new book describes the positive effects of our digital experience.  The internet is producing a new style of human intelligence that is more global and more intuitive.  He explains how modern technology is making people better connected and more intelligent, enabling people to solve significant problems for the individual and society. Also available as an audiobook.

end of bigThe End of Big : how the internet makes David the new Goliath by Nicco Mele.
The first generation of computers belonged to universities, corporations, government and the military, which controlled their use.  40 years later, the dominant communications technologies – the PC, the internet and mobile phones – place enormous political and economic power in the hands of individuals, which is disrupting traditional ways of running political campaigns, reporting the news, providing government services, managing businesses, providing entertainment and changing societies.  Media strategist Nicco Mele calls for newly powerful institutions like Facebook, Google and Twitter to play a civic role in our newly radicalized world.  Thoughtful material is presented in a choppy style perhaps more suited to a blog. Also available as an audiobook.

roinfluenceReturn on Influence : the revolutionary power of Klout, social scoring, and influence marketing by Mark W. Schaefer.  Individuals are influenced more by the people with whom they interact than by the messages they get from mass media.  Today most consumers access social networks through broadband connections in their homes and mobile phones in their pockets, and influence is widely distributed.  Individuals have great opportunities to be influential and to be influenced.  Marketing consultant Mark Schaeffer describes the strategies that brands use to build networks, to provide compelling content, and to create advocates who will distribute the content virally.

dot-complicatedDot Complicated : untangling our wired lives by Randi Zuckerberg. The older sister of Mark Zuckerberg and former Director of Market Development for Facebook is now Editor-In-Chief of a digital lifestyle website, Dot Complicated.  Her new book of the same name is about how social media have made our lives more complex, and how we can balance our connected world with our real-time world of family, friends and coworkers who stand beside us every day.

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

New Movies for April: Part 1

April 14th, 2014

Our first DVD titles for the month are:

47 Ronin
American Hustle
Anchorman 2
The Book Thief
The Broken Circle Breakdown
Delivery Man
Frozen
La Grande Bellezza
Home
Homefront
Knights of Badassdom

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

Library Web Site Emergency Maintenance

April 9th, 2014

Ford Library’s web site will be going offline now (for 15-20 mins.) for emergency maintenance. Sorry for the short notice & inconvenience.