Cycling for Libraries 2013 – Day 1

Another Cycling for Libraries trip under my belt and this one was tough! The libraries were awesome but the weather was terrible. This year the Amsterdam to  Brussels route was shorter than last year but it was more difficult thanks to the rain and wind. The 2013 ride was made up of 120 librarians from 20+ countries. I saw many of the friends I made last year from the Baltics trip and made a ton of new friends. I had another amazing experience. Hope you will follow along with the diary, photos, and videos from the trip. The library visits actually started as soon as I landed in Amsterdam. Schiphol Airport has a library in the International terminal. It features travel books on the Netherlands and books by Dutch authors. It is actually the only place where you can download Dutch music for free. Great way for publishers to introduce Dutch works to a captive audience. The library has computers and a lot of comfortable seating since many travelers use this as a lounge and hang out for hours. I love how the art walls make it look like home.

Day 1 - Amsterdam The first day we met at the Open Bare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (OBA). What an incredible way to start off the trip. This is the largest public library in the Netherlands. It has 7 floors of open, creative, inviting space. The building contains a cafeteria, and a restaurant. There are 500 computers and 1000 seats for study.

The next stop was the Institute of Tropics Library - KIT. This gorgeous old library contains a collection of Holland's cultural heritage with the oldest book from 1652. The staff has digitized much of the collection and they also work with African countries to create open repositories. Unfortunately, as were hear too often, funding was cut completely and the library would soon close. At the end of the trip we learned the great news that funding had been restored and the library would remain intact. I can only hope that Cycling for Libraries will continue their advocacy for libraries and the importance of information in the everyday lives of citizens.

To end the day we had kick-off party sponsored by the University of Amsterdam. It was a wonderful way to send us off on this journey of discovery.

Day 1 Video

Cycling for Libraries: Reflections on Libraries in the Netherlands

Fellow librarian and honorary bizologist, Barbara Fullerton joined our own April Kessler for this year's Cycling for Libraries. Here are her thoughts and initial impressions of public libraries in the Netherlands:

• Most are open from 10 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week!
• Cafes, Cafes, Cafes. Very important in Netherlands libraries and I''m getting used to my lattes in the afternoon visits.
• Libraries are in the center of town.
• Libraries are membership based and charge a small annual fee.
• Libraries are in train stations and airports. How about the unemployment office?
• Public libraries have the same branding so they are visible to all.
• Most libraries have a modern look.
• OCLC is popular.
• Biggest public library is in Amsterdam: www.oba.nl

The saddest item I heard this week: the closing of the Royal Tropic Institute. What will happen to this Special Library and its collection? There will be layoffs and, most shockingly, all materials will be shredded!! This is a huge impact that includes books, drawings, manuscripts, journals, valuable maps....anything in printed format, regardless of age. I hope the Dutch government will find the funding to keep this library open.

http://www.kit.nl/kit/Royal-Tropical-Institute-.

Below, you can checkout the video from Day 2:

Cycling for Libraries Day 1 Video

As most of you know, April Kessler, bizologie co-founder, is currently biking from Amsterdam to Brussels as part of Cycling for Libraries. April will keep us all updated with posts throughout her trip, but in the meantime, check out the video from day 1:

Thank You to Cycling for Libraries Supporters

Thank you to all the folks that helped us reach our fundraising goal for Cycling for Libraries! We start our trek from Amsterdam to Brussels on June 18. Watch for videos and a day by day recap of our adventures. We would like to thank our Library Associations TLA and SLA for helping us spread the word about the trip. And, we give a very special thank you to our generous donors:

Matt Lassila	Rex C.	Cindy Romaine	C. Chidester
K. Parhizi	Davewellbeloved	mccranie3	Bridget Macmillan
Catherine Hardy	Amanda Lefebvre	Jill Strand	Lola C.
Cynthia Shamel	Yun Choi	Coughlan Christine	julup
Jane Whittlesey	nscibellibouthilet	Ronda Rowe	Denise Chochrek
Gary Isenagle	Colleen Cable	Maria Bagshaw	Joan Englander
Ann Koopman	Colleen Lyon	Georgia Pribanic	Robert Bolton
Tracy Timmons	Debra Kolah	Tony Saadat	DALL
Anonymous donors		Librarians at TLA

Thank all of you again for helping us take this amazing international library adventure! --Barbara Fullerton, Karen Holt, & April Kessler

Casual Friday: Secret Country

Librarian-gone-rogue/business researcher Michael Hill and his Austin-based band The New Maps (last chronicled in these pages in February 2012) are back to their off-the-clock ways with a new album for 2013. Titled "Secret Country," it features 9 new original songs by Hill and a wistful, atmospheric cover of Mark Kozelek’s Red House Painters gem “Have You Forgotten.” Built on a foundation of guitar-and-drums-forward sonics and sturdy, power-roots-pop songcraft, “Secret Country” is largely a product of core members Hill (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion) and Jeff Olson (drums, vibraphone), but one that also features contributions from cellist Dylan Rieck (Balmorhea) and pedal steel guitarist Phil Ajjarapu. Founded in 2011, The New Maps released their full-length debut “These Parts” in 2012. Original bassist Paul Grotevant exited the band later that year, but Dusty Rhodes (Mother Falcon, Sahara Smith) has since stepped in to fill that gap admirably. Now, with a new recording, a new member and new energy driving them, The New Maps are poised to keep pushing their musical boundaries - not to mention shattering a librarian stereotype or two - as they take listeners through the "Secret Country" and beyond. The album is available on iTunes and the title song may be streamed on the band's Facebook page .

Social Media for Career Advancement

Last week at the Texas Library Association's Annual Conference, Karen Landolt, Director for the University of Texas' HireTexas Interview Center, presented "Social Media for Career Advancement". She had great advice on managing your online reputation, developing a reputation as an expert, and using social media for job searching including helpful Twitter keyword job title searches. Think social media isn't for you? Not only do 9 out of 10 employers use social media to screen prospective employees, 7 out of 10 have rejected candidates based on their social media presences. So it's up to you to control the message . Karen suggests Googling your name to see what pops up. We suggest doing this from a computer other than your own so you're sure to get the same results a potential employer would get. You'll find more great tips in Karen's presentation below.

Social media for career advancement tla 2013 from laurayoung42

50 Apps in 50 Minutes Redux

Last year at the Texas Library Association's Annual Conference, we presented  50 Apps in 50 Minutes. Lucky for us, the presentation was a hit and they've asked us back this year.  Below you'll find our new presentation "50 Apps in 50 Minutes Redux".  A note on pricing and availability: it’s been our experience that prices for apps change often, so if you like something that’s a bit out of your budget, keep an eye on it as sometimes the prices drop temporarily or even permanently. Love something that’s only an iThing? We saw several notes along the way indicating that an app’s owner listed Android, etc. as “coming soon”. So make a note of what you like and you may see it soon on other platforms. 1. iNextBus "Ever wonder when will the next bus arrive and which bus route to choose? Do you prefer waiting it at the stop or a snug coffee shop nearby? With this Next Bus app you can visually pin-point the location of every incoming buses on map as well as an accurate estimate of arrival time." Free for iPhone & Android

2. Tagg Tracker GPS tracker for lost pets. $100 for GPS device, $7.95 Monthly Service, Android & iPhone

3. Waze "Waze is the world's fastest-growing community-based traffic and navigation app. Join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and road info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute." Free for iPhone & Android

4. BookBoard for iPad A storybook app for kids. What we like about this one is that the company employs a children's librarian who helps with their collection, metadata and reading level assessment. Subscription based

5. SmartPark Parking app that includes altitude data for finding your car in a parking garage. Free for Android

6. Remind101 A safe way for teachers to message their class while keeping everyone's cell numbers hidden. Free as a website or an app

7. Winston Reads a daily synopsis of news from your social media networks, headlines weather, etc. Free for iPad, iPhone with Android coming soon

8. TouchSurgery Tool for medical students learning surgery techniques. Free for iPad & iPhone

9. Reading Rainbow LeVar Burton's new app recreating his famous television show. Subscription based for iPad

10. SunRise Combines your calendars from email and social networks. Free for iPhone

11. ProxToMe Send files from your phone to everyone within 250 feet without needing contact information. Great for transferring a presentation. Free for iPhone & iPad

12. SwiftKey Keyboard allows you to type without lifting your finger, predicts phrasing. $3.99 for Android.  13. Fleksy is free similar for iPhone.

14. Puzzle Alarm Alarm clock which has you complete a puzzle or equation to turn it off. Free for Android

15. Avast! Mobile Security Virus and theft protection. Free for Android. Lookout is similar for iPhone and is also free.

16. AppGarden Several utility apps (calculator, dictionary, area codes, etc) all in one. Free for Android

17. History Eraser Clears for calls, browser searches, texts, etc. Free for Android

18. SnapSeed Photo app that allows photo shopping. Free for iPhone, iPad & Android

19. JuiceDefender Monitors your apps to conserve battery life. Both a free and paid version

20. Pulse News aggregator which lets you import your Google Reader feeds. Free for iPad, iPhone and Android

21. PicStitch Photo app for collages. Free for iPhone

22. iOnRoad Personal driving assistant with dashboard camera. $4.99 for iPhone and Android

23. Yahoo! Weather App Combines Flickr photos with weather information. Free for iPhone

24. Fanhattan Search all your video apps (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc) in one place. Free for iPad & iPhone

25. Appreciate App rating tool. Free for Android, coming soon for iPhone

26. Pocket Save articles, videos and images for later viewing with no internet required. Free for iPad, iPhone & Android

27. Poetry Foundation App Search poems by category, share on social network sites. Free for iPhone & Android

28. Oscars View Oscar history, behind the scenes footage, and compare your ballot with friends. Free for iPad, iPhone & Android

29. Geocaching Find geocaching sites in your area. $9.99 for iPhone, Android & Windows Phone

30. Twitter Music New app for discovering music through Twitter. Connect with Spotify or rdio to listen. Free for iPhone

31. Vine 6 Second looping video app from Twitter. Free for iPhone & iPad

32. Prismatic News aggregator for iPhone & iPad

33. AllTrails Find hiking and skiing trails by location, difficulty and length. Free for iPhone, iPad & Android

34. Glasses.com 3D Fit Takes a 3D image of your head and then allows you to virtually try on glasses and compare. Coming soon for iPad with Android to follow

35. Storify Built a story board with articles, videos and images from multiple sources. Free for iPad

36. iTunes Movie Trailer View movie trailers by calendar date, find theaters, etc. Free for iPad & iPhone

37. Martha Stewart Cookies Cookie recipes, shopping lists, social network sharing. $3.99 for iPad & iPhone

38. Kings & Queens by David Starkey British Royal history, royal wedding footage. $2.99 for iPad & iPhone

39. Dr. Seuss Bookshelf Holds all of your Dr. Seuss books, games in one place. Bookshelf is free, with most inapps paid. iPad & iPhone

40. HealthTap Ask medical questions from a team of 36,000 doctors. Free for iPhone & iPad

41. Starbucks Pay with you app, but they also have a new feature called "Pick of the Week" which gives away free items in the store such as apps, music or NYT articles. Free for iPhone & Android though currently, only iPhone has "Pick of the Week"

42. Wanderable Chip in on the happy couple's honeymoon. Couple can send easy thank you notes. Free app and website, and Wanderable takes 5% of the amount.

43. Asthmapolis "Experts recommend that people with asthma track their symptoms, triggers and use of asthma medications. The Asthmapolis sensor and mobile application can help you learn more about and better manage your asthma." Cost TBD, possible insurance coverage

44. Yahoo! Mail for iPad New nicely designed mail app. Free for iPad

45. Rand McNally Road Atlas Digital version of an old favorite. Nice for road trips as it doesn't require an internet connection. $4.99 for iPad

46. SnapChat "Snapchat is a new way to share moments with friends. Snap an ugly selfie or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend (or maybe a few). They'll receive it, laugh, and then the snap disappears." Free for iPhone & Android

47. The Particles Channel your inner Sheldon Cooper and learn a bit of physics. iPad & Windows 8 ~$7

48. Concert Vault "In 2003, Wolfgang’s Vault acquired master recordings from the archives of Bill Graham Presents. These live concerts were recorded at legendary venues like the Fillmore East and Winterland between 1965 and 1999. Since then we’ve acquired over a dozen more collections - some large, some small, all of them compelling, spanning a wide spectrum of musical genres." $3.99 a month for iPad, iPhone & Android.

49. LOCALSQR Find farmers markets in your area. Free for iPhone

50. Mango Tracks prescriptions and vitamins with reminders and records. Free for iPhone with Android Coming Soon.

SEC Goes Social

Here at bizologie we've always been proponents of using social media for business research. This is usually how we find information on private companies, first hand customer service practices, and employee history. But now it is even more important to keep an eye on all your favorite social sites because the SEC has approved social media as an outlet for public company announcements. Back in December Netflix CEO Reed Hastings came under investigation by the SEC because of a Facebook post back in July when he mentioned that Netflix viewers had just surpassed over 1 billion hours of streaming content per month. The information about the growing hours had also appeared on the company's blog, but no official press releases came out nor did Netflix file any forms with the SEC.

The SEC saw the writing on the (online) wall and decided that they could not fight the wave of social media any longer. No action was taken against Netflix or Hastings and the SEC made it clear in a report last week that companies can release information on social media sites. The social announcements are in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) if the company makes it well known where investors can find the information and it has to be accessible to all.

Not everyone thinks this is a great idea though. Check out Jon Friedman's viewpoint on The Montley Fool.

Good or bad, more information is going to be out there in more places. You should definitely consider a tool like HootSuite to help you manage all the social news.

Cycling for Libraries 2013 - Amsterdam to Brussels

This summer Barbara Fullerton , Karen Holt, and April Kessler will embark on an international library adventure with Cycling For Libraries. This unconference offers a week of library workshops, debates, and tours with a diverse group of 100 international librarians from 22 countries cycling 250+ miles from Amsterdam to Brussels. Cycling for libraries is an international cycling conference that aims to advocate for libraries and increase awareness of the valuable services and resources that libraries offer to the community.

We could use your help

Your donation can help us cover registration fees which include room and board, bike rental, and travel expenses. Every little bit helps and we appreciate anything you can donate.

To Donate: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cycling-for-libraries-travel-funding

Expenses:

• Registration - $325 per person
• Bike Rental - $100 per person
• Flight - $1500 per person

Other Ways You Can Help

Even if you can't donate, you can still help by spreading the word about our campaign. Thank you for helping us take this amazing adventure for libraries!

AND, if you are attending the TXLA annual meeting in Ft. Worth on April 24th-27th, visit our Booth #1013 in the Exhibit Hall!

A bit about us

Barbara Fullerton has been in the information professional field for over 15 years, with experience in vendor relations, and corporate and law libraries. She has a Master's in Library and Information Science from Emporia State University in Kansas. Barbara is an active member in DALL, SLA, President of the Texas SLA Chapter, and is currently on the Advisory Board of UNT's College of Information.

Karen Holt is the the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Librarian Lifestyle. She works as the Technical Services Librarian at Northwestern University in Qatar. Before moving to the Middle East Karen worked as the Communication Librarian at the University of Texas at Austin where she was the subject specialist for advertising, journalism, radio-television-film, and communication studies.

April Kessler is the Business Librarian at the University of Texas at Austin.She received her MSIS from UT and her MBA from Wichita State University. April is the Past President the Texas Chapter of the Special Libraries Association and serves on the Executive Board of the Texas Library Association. She is also the co-founder of bizologie .

Will Do Research For Beer

We won't help you move for  beer but we will help you with your beer research. Just released this week, the "Beer Serves America" report, put together by the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association, takes a look at the economic impact of beer. According to the report,  "the beer industry employs more than 2 million Americans, providing nearly $79 billion in wages and benefits. The industry pays over $49 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes."  They've got great infographics on their page that allow you to see the economic impact of beer by state and even by congressional district. You'll also find several reports & presentations, as well as 2012 edition of the "Brewers Almanac"  which includes "production, tax-paid withdrawals, tax collections, consumption (total, state-by-state and per capita), agricultural statistics, imports, exports, financial statistics, employment, excise tax rates and methods of collection, and draft/package trends." And you can save your money for happy hour as all of this information is free!

E-commerce Landscape and Trends

Today in my Internet travels, I came across a great presentation from Josh Yang, a student at Harvard B-school. It's about a year old but still great information on the e-commerce landscape. You can check it out below:

E-commerce Landscape 2012 from joshyang

bizologie Favorite Tools: Speek

We love the new conference call tool from Speek. Speek lets you customize a link for your conference call so that no one needs a pin code or special number. You can also easily see who has joined the call, who's currently speaking and share files between everyone on the call. And the best part? It's free, of course. We've added Speek to our Favorite Resources page where you'll find all of our favorite tools and sites for business research. To see Speek in action, check out the video below:

 

CrunchBase Information

Speek

Information provided by CrunchBase

SXSW Interactive - The Virtual Experience

Inc. Magazine has highlighted the must-see tech companies this year at South by Southwest Interactive.So if you are here in Austin be sure to check out their demos. If you can't make it to South By this year be sure to check them out online. Remember to visit one of our favorite resources to get the lowdown on their funding - Crunchbase. Leap Motion: These guys have developed a device that lets you control your computer with hand gestures. Here's the You Tube introduction so you can what the magic looks like

Memoto: A "life-logging" camera that you wear all day to document your life's adventures. This might be pretty cool for my next Cycling for Libraries experience, but most Wednesdays are pretty uneventful.

OUYA: An open source gaming console that will cost just $99 and has free games. It has already earned $8 million on Kickstarter so it seems like an idea people are behind.

EEVZDROP: Inc. calls this social media app "the Instagram for audio". You can use it record and share soundbites. This should be really popular with the SXSW music crowd.

And, speaking of SXSW Music you can catch the big Spotify concert streaming live on March 13. The show features hip-hop from Kendrick Lamar, indie pop from Youngblood Hawke, DJ duo Cazzette, and the house DJ Hesta Prynn.

Investing for the Long Run

Morningstar’s Library Services team is excited to announce a new book that they've created especially for the library community. Investing for the Long Run is a guide for new and experienced investors to help shape up personal finances. From creating a budget, merging finances with a significant other, to planning for retirement, they have information for individuals at every life stage. Good for both you and your customers. It's 119 pages of practical investment advice with worksheets and links to online tools:

• How to get started investing
• When and how to pick an investment adviser
• Mistakes to avoid when buying a house
• Ways to cut expenses
• Roth IRA or 401(k) -  which do you fund first
• How to create an investment strategy for college saving

Enjoy the online book compliments of bizologie and Morningstar!

PitchBook publishes VC Fundraising and Overhang Report

In the world of entrepreneurship, venture capital (VC) funding is paramount.  VC deals, especially those of the big, sexy, multimillion-dollar variety, are headline grabbers and the stuff of water-cooler conversation in towns like Austin and San Francisco. All that money has to come from somewhere though, right?  What about VC fundraising?  When a VC firm raises a fund, it rarely makes front page news.  Nevertheless, whether or not VCs are able to raise funds is a critical indicator of the broader health of the capital markets and how much money is out there for budding entrepreneurs.  For this reason, I was pleasantly surprised when a colleague emailed me a copy of PitchBook’s “1H 2013 Venture Capital Fundraising and Capital Overhang Report.”

As the title suggests, the report looks at two metrics: VC-fund overhang and VC fundraising.  The first of these, overhang, is a measure of how much money in a private equity fund remains uncalled.  In general, as Mark Heesen of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) notes, a high-level of overhang signals a “potential bubble, as VCs, in their quest to find a home for this bucket of un-invested capital, would presumably fund too many companies.”  Conversely, low overhang results from poor fundraising and suggests anemia in the capital markets.

The second of these, fundraising, is a more self-explanatory metric.  Before investing in companies, VCs typically try to raise a fund of a particular size ($100M, $1B, etc.).  Once they have hit their mark, or have at least come pretty close, they start to invest the fund in companies.

Of these two metrics, the  report is primarily focuses on VC fundraising.  As such, the majority of the report is dedicated to discussing fundraising levels and trends from the early 2000s through 2012.  A discussion and analysis of 2013-levels of  overhang frames the report’s fundraising coverage.

The tone of the report is accessible.  You don’t have to have a degree in finance to make sense of it.  The graphics are rich, informative and approachable.  Furthermore, the report is very clear on what types of funds they are covering and those that they are not (e.g. the report doesn’t include angel investment or corporate VC funding totals etc.), leaving no confusion for novice readers.   Bottom Line: I’m a fan.  This report, when combined with info from the NVCA, helps to paint a clear picture of what's happening in the world of venture capital.

Get the VC Fundraising and Overhang report HERE

Get Pitchbook’s 2013 VC run down HERE

NOTE: pitchbook requires you to enter your contact info to download these reports directly from the site.  However, expert Googlers can get around this by doing a simple file-type search.

Librarian or Model? TXLA Presents: Personal Style with a Professional Twist

As many of you know, April and I have been involved with the Special Libraries Division of Texas Library Association for several years. We've talked many times about the idea of doing a librarian fashion show of sorts during one of the annual conferences. Well, this year, our dreams are coming true. We're so excited about this year's TLA Annual Conference featuring the presentation "Personal Style with a Professional Twist". Here's the official description from TXLA:

See stylish outfits for job interviews and day-to-day work wear modeled by real librarians. A Nordstrom personal stylist advises on dressing for different budgets as well as how to wear the same outfit for different occasions.

Late last year, TLA put out a call for models and last week chose six librarians to participate and represent the following categories:

1. Up & Coming - Work attire for library students or librarians in the first 5 years of their career

2. Kiddie Business - Library staff who work with children or young adults

3. I Can Manage - Library staff with more than 3 years of experience and currently working in a management role

4. Guy Style - Just for the men

5. Choose Me - Job interview attire for library students or library staff who are looking for a new job

6. Check Me Out- Library staff working the front line reference or circulation desks

The six librarians chosen have been given a $150 stipend and will meet with a Nordstrom Personal Shopper in their area to pick out an outfit. They'll show off their new duds and talk about their experience during this year's Annual Conference. Additionally, a Personal Shopper from Nordstrom will talk to attendees about outfits for different occasions, including suiting and interview attire. We can't wait to see what everyone is wearing this year! And, of course, we'd love it if some of our Texas librarians ended up on Librarian Wardrobe. The presentation will be Friday, April 26 2:00-3:50.

Special thanks to all the divisions who helped us sponsor this wonderful event: The College and University Libraries Division, Library Support Staff Round Table, New Members Round Table, Public Libraries Division, Reference Round Table and Special Libraries Division. And an extra-special thanks to Ashlynn Kogut, Chair of Reference Round Table, for working so hard to put all this together!

BCC Research Special Offer

BCC Research has a great offer for fans of bizologie! bizologie through a partnership with BCC Research, has arranged for an option to purchase market research reports at a substantial discount.

All bizologie fans - business librarians and corporate partners - now have access to an extensive collection of thousands of market research reports spanning 19 industry categories. Essential market intelligence, five-year forecasts, statistical and analytical data and critical knowledge on markets, applications, major players, market share, industry dynamics and technology trends are all available to you.

BCC Research is a leader in business intelligence products and custom research services. For more than 40 years, their in-depth market analysis has provided corporations, government agencies and academia with the insight needed to make intelligent and strategic business decisions.

Contact your bizologie BCC Research Account Manager, Maura Tobin directly to receive a free demonstration to the BCC Research portal of market studies.

Maura Tobin [email protected] Direct Line: 1-781-205-2433 Mobile 1-508-208-2213

Seasons Greetings from bizologie!

Wishing you and yours all the best this season. See you in 2013!

Mega Trends for the Holidays! Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds

Every 4 years, the U.S. National Intelligence Council publishes its Global Trends report.  The purpose of the report is to advise policy makers (particularly the president—hence the once-every-four-years timeframe) on the intelligence community’s predictions for the next twenty years.  This year’s report, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, covers a variety of global social, environmental, political, economic and technological trends and draws on experts from equally diverse backgrounds.  This report is a gold mine for innovators, educators, policy makers, students and information professionals.  The 2012 global trends report is particularly interesting to folks working in my current field: technology commercialization.  The new edition contains expanded emerging technology coverage and addresses the question: “will technological breakthroughs be developed in time to boost economic productivity and solve problems caused by growing world population, rapid urbanization, and climate change?” (ii)  To answer this critical question, the NIC looked outside of the intelligence community and surveyed scientists and consultants from NASA to Silicon Valley.

Here is just a quick sampling of some of the mega trends forecast by the report:

• Global population will rise to approximately 8.3 billion
• Climate change will lead to a higher frequency of extreme weather events
• Decline in Western share of global wealth
•  Growth in the global middle class

In all, this is a fascinating report and a trusted source for information on global trends.  At 150+ pages, the report is not exactly light reading, but should be in every information professional’s tool chest nevertheless.

You can obtain a copy of the report (FREE) and the three reports that preceded it here.

Casual Friday: Face Retirement

Merrill Edge is helping you Face Retirement. They are convinced that we don't save enough for retirement because we just can't picture ourselves living into our 70s and 80s. By showing you what you will look like in the future they hope to convince you to save for retirement. All I have to say is that it worked. I now believe I should save more - for plastic surgery. If the age progression is correct, I might need a little nip and tuck at 67. Beyond scaring (and possibly scarring) you with a glimpse into your future, the site also provides some cost of living data. See how much a loaf of bread will cost, a gallon gas, or a movie ticket. It is all enough to make you realize that tomorrow will be here before you know it, and it will cost you a lot more to live the same lifestyle.

If you are brave enough it just takes a minute to find out what you'll like 20, 30, 40 years from now. The program uses your webcam to take your picture and begin the aging process. Bonus, you can share right to Facebook if you are so inclined.

So if you are ready to start saving more, find out exactly how much you need using the bizologie favorite tools: retirement planning post.