Book Review: The Big Squeeze

September 25th, 2008

image courtesy Amazon.com

The big squeeze : tough times for the American worker by Steven Greenhouse. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

For MBA students, the news over the past decade has been good. Employment opportunities have increased. Executive salaries have risen sharply. Corporate profits have soared. But for millions of workers, the news has been bad. For many, wages have stagnated. Heath and pension benefits have been cut back. And job security has disappeared.

While the American economy, corporate profits and worker productivity grew robustly, the median income for nonelderly households remained flat. Worker productivity climbed 60% but the hourly wage increased only 1% after inflation. In the economic expansion, the size of the pie increased, but the worker did not get a bigger piece.

The Big Squeeze explains what has been happening in the workplace. Weaving personal stories of workers with economic facts and data, author Greenhouse, labor correspondent for the New York Times, creates a disturbing picture of the economic environment for workers.
Read more …

Cell Phone Use in The Library

September 18th, 2008

image courtesy of hiptop.com

One of our Library users has shared a concern with the Library Staff over cell phone use in the Library.

Please be considerate of your fellow Library users, and follow the two simple guidelines below regarding cell phone use in the Library.

1. Set your cell phone to vibrate or silent mode.

2. If you get a call while in the Library, please take the call in:

 

  • one of the copier rooms (located near the circulation desk or at the back of the Library)
  • one of the Library restrooms
  • in the hall outside the Library

Thanks for your consideration and cooperation!

Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

September 12th, 2008

image courtesy Amazon.com

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Penguin (2007).

After author Greg Mortenson failed in his attempt to climb to the summit of K2, the world’s second tallest mountain, he began his descent. He became lost, disoriented and dangerously ill but stumbled upon an impoverished Pakistani village named Korphe, where he stayed for seven weeks among the Balti people who looked after him. As he left, he promised to return and build a school for them. This is the story of his work to fulfill that promise, and of his success in building 50 other schools for girls in Pakistan’s and Afghanistan’s poorest communities.

In this personal story about globalism, Mortenson portrays the lives of village elders, mujahideen and Taliban officials in this remote area of the world. He argues that the US must fight Islamic extremism in the region by collaborating to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, particularly for girls. It is also a story about a meaningful life created by one committed person, a mountain climber who became a humanitarian.

Also available in audiobook format at Ford Library.

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

Sign Up for Database Training Classes!

August 7th, 2008

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Every Wednesday at 10am and 2pm during the Term, our Reference Librarians will hold classes in our Data Resources Room to help you learn to use our research databases.

Knowing how to use these resources will give you a critical advantage in both your classwork and your job search.

One of the most frequent comments we hear from second years, usually about 2 weeks before graduation, is “I wish I had known about these resources earlier”.

So don’t wait until just before you’re graduating — sign up today!*
* enter your FuquaWorld ID and password to access registration

We look forward to seeing you soon, and please let us know if you have any questions about the classes.

First Time Login Help

August 4th, 2008

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If you haven’t yet logged in to a public workstation at Fuqua — including a Library Database Room workstation — then the guide below is for you.

small pdf iconFirst Time Login Guide for Public Fuqua Workstations

If you have trouble with a first time login at the Library, please feel free to ask one of our librarians for help!

Big in Dubai

July 10th, 2008

With the Fuqua School developing an MBA program in Dubai, I thought it would be interesting to look at the top 10 companies in the area:

  1. Emirates – airline, est. sales $7,798,600,000
  2. Emaar Properties – real estate, est. sales $4,783,6000,000
  3. ETA ASCON Group – diversified, est. sales $4,000,000,00
  4. National Bank of Dubai (NBD) – financial services, est. sales $2,860,300,000
  5. DP World Ltd – marine terminal development and operations, est. sales 2,731,400,000
  6. Jumbo Electronics – electronic and appliance retailer, est. sales $2,000,0000,000
  7. Dodsal Group – energy and infrastructure development, est. sales $2,000,000,000
  8. Mashreqbank – financial services, est. sales $1,819,500,000
  9. Dubai Islamic Bank, financial services, est. sales $1,636,100,000
  10. Emirates Bank International – financial services, est. sales $1,560,200,000

If you would like to know more about these companies, contact us at: reference-librarians@fuqua.duke.edu.

Ford Library Joins Twitter

July 8th, 2008

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Ford Library has created a presence on Twitter to give you fast, byte-sized access to important Library news.

Twitter is a web site/service that lets you send and receive up to 140 characters worth of quick info or news about what you happen to be doing at any given moment. You can also receive updates or “tweets” via your favorite IM software or over your cell phone.

You can follow us on the Twitter web site (no account necessary), or sign up to receive our updates via IM or cell phone. We’ve also embedded a Twitter widget on our Library Info page to show you our 3 most recent updates when you visit our site.

Please feel free to send any comments or questions about our new Twitter service to: reference-librarians@fuqua.duke.edu.

Return to the Ford Library Home Page

New Library Catalog Coming Soon!

July 7th, 2008

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All Duke University Libraries (including Ford Library) will be releasing a new version of our online library catalog on Wednesday, July 9th.

The new online catalog interface will include many new features and functions:

  • improved display of holdings and locations (which library has what book)
  • single click search refinement (show results by library, format, and more)
  • book cover image displays
  • save searches as persistent bookmarks
  • save/view searches as dynamically updated RSS feeds
  • and more …

We encourage you to try out the new catalog interface before Wednesday to get a feel for how to perform all the searches and operations that you’re familiar with in our current catalog interface.

The “Classic” catalog interface will still be accessible (although not indefinitely!) from within the new catalog.

Please feel free to send any comments or questions about the new catalog to: reference-librarians@fuqua.duke.edu.

Return to the Ford Library Home Page

Summer Reading at Ford

July 2nd, 2008

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Even during summer break Ford Library keeps adding new books to our collection. Come check out our New Book and New Audiobook sections for even more great choices. (Click on any of the titles below to check availability or to place a hold.)

Fun Summer Reading:

Happiness, Health, and Work:

Read more …

New Audiobooks for the summer

June 20th, 2008

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Ford Library has recently added over 30 new audiobook titles.

Some of the new titles are listed below, and you can click to see if the audiobook is available…

To browse all of our audiobooks or to search for a specific title, you can visit our audiobook search page.

Please feel free to send any comments or questions about our audiobooks to: reference-librarians@fuqua.duke.edu.

Return to the Ford Library Home Page