This paper reports the findings of a survey administered to a large academic university student population, assessing students' self-reported motivations, difficulties, and methods used in finding and using financial information. Results discussed include information types and sources students consult for financial information. The survey also explored students' perceptions of the relative ease of finding financial information and the degree of success students had in finding appropriate information. These results are relevant for librarians who support financial literacy through collection development or one-on-one patron support, or who are involved in developing financial literacy programs for libraries.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians used elements of market research, advertising and media literacy in a personal finance class. Design/methodology/approach Librarians each semester guest lecture one session in a personal finance class “Foundations of Money Education.” Through this class, librarians present engaging material about market research and advertising in an effort to encourage students to think about how these external forces influence their spending behavior. Findings Students appreciate learning about advertising through the engaging use of commercials. While responses were mixed as to the applicability of the topic, the majority of students agreed that the topic was a worthwhile addition to the personal finance curriculum. Originality/value Topics such as budgets, savings, and mortgages are typically taught in personal finance classes. Teaching information about market research and advertising is a topic that is usually not covered in a personal finance class.

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Collection development analysis in academic libraries typically involves collection-centered and user-centered methods. These approaches focus on building collections that help students with their academic needs but may overlook resources that students need experience with when employed. To address this gap, the authors analyzed early career advertising agency positions to identify a list of information resources that advertising agencies expect employees to use. This list was then compared against the library websites of 158 universities with advertising programs to see how sufficiently libraries are fulfilling these resource needs. The authors found that overall, university libraries only subscribe to a small number of resources used by advertising agencies.

Industry standards have a significant impact on business as a means to eliminate waste, reduce costs, market products (e.g., for quality, safety, interoperability) and lessen liability (Thompson, 2011). Consequently, an understanding and the ability to use standards, agreed upon practices among interested or vested parties, is a critical workplace competency for those engaged in business and industry. To have a workforce competent in the use of standards, higher education curricula must be developed to integrate standards education at appropriate points within the curriculum. Despite the importance of standards, they are not universally integrated into the college and university curricula. Given the widespread use of standards in business and industry, a study was undertaken by four academic librarians (two business librarians and two engineering librarians) to explore the use and potential integration of standards in undergraduate business management curricula. This was accomplished through curriculum mapping of two top-ranked undergraduate business management programs. Syllabi of the two undergraduate business management programs were examined for pre-established terms (e.g., ISO, standards), as well as potential opportunities for integration of standards in the future. Of the 62 courses examined only five (or 8%) specifically mentioned standards; however, half of the courses examined were found to have potential for the integration of standards across nine business curriculum areas: business and management strategy, business law, ethics and social responsibility, human resources, information systems, international/global, marketing, process/product development, and project management. This study found that few undergraduate business management courses specifically taught or used standards based on the syllabi, but considerable potential exists for the integration of standards into undergraduate business management courses.

Academic librarians perform a balancing act between the needs of patrons, licensing restrictions, and the missions of our libraries. As part of the work to develop our campus collections, academic business librarians work with both schools and commercial vendors to provide resources that our business students and faculty require. Business publishers charge academic customers pennies on the dollar for access, but are likely to seek protections for their intellectual content by placing usage restrictions that run counter to what librarians would prefer. This can cause difficulties for librarians in serving their unique populations. This also can run counter to the central principles of "Critical Librarianship," which is based on a foundation of social justice, the belief that everyone deserves equal opportunities and basic economic, political, and social rights. Balancing the needs of the publishers and business school communities with the principles of critical librarianship is a great challenge for everyone who serves these communities. Business librarians from across the United States explore ways in which collections and critical librarianship collide. Topics covered include the effects of database licenses on the intersection of theoretical academic work and practical business activities, challenges faced by public institutions supporting community entrepreneurs, and how the integration of critical pedagogy with information and data literacies can bring awareness to problems within current collections such as access to information, issues in data collection, and information creation. Through discussion, we hope to provide insight to ways in which libraries, as intermediaries between patrons and vendors, can help address these difficult problems.