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C&RL News June 2014 326

This year I have had the pleasure of sharing my column with academic and 
research librarians who have told their 
accounts of financial education efforts on 
their campuses or in their communities. 
I invited these guest columnists to help 
stimulate some thinking in the broader aca-
demic library community about the various 
ways in which we can become involved in 
leading financial education efforts. 

In addition, I have asked librarians with 
financial education efforts on their cam-
puses to provide links to their programs in 
order to develop a list of effective practices. 
We have created a list of these program 
links online.1 There is still time to submit 
your program information, as well. This 
list is, of course, only a small sample of 
the guides that exist, but represents some 
from which I have gained inspiration in 
developing programs and also creating 
our own guide at Washington University.2

I decided to focus on libraries and finan-
cial literacy this year, in part because of the 
continued emphasis our federal and state 
legislators have placed on the high cost of 
a college education. One of the reasons for 
this focus is what appears to be the ever-
increasing tuition and other educational 
costs, and the fact that student loan debt, 
for instance, has now surpassed credit card 
debt in this country. It is therefore only 
natural to place such emphasis on the cost 
of higher education. 

However, although I highlight the col-
lege affordability aspect of why librarians 
should care about financial literacy, others 
areas (such as budgeting, saving, financing 
major purchases) are equally important for 
our constituents. A recent article in The 
Atlantic suggests that most people don’t 
know how to manage their money.3 

In ACRL, we see financial education as 
an extension of our overall information 
literacy initiatives. Although librarians are 
not expected to be financial advisors, as 
employees in boundary-spanning organi-
zations with the ability to bring others on 
campus and in our communities together, 
we are able to develop the programs and 
resources that can have an impact on the 
lives of our faculty and staff members, our 
students, and the members of our com-
munities. 

At the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting in 
Philadelphia, Adi Redzic, executive director 
of the iOme Challenge, and cochair of my 
President’s Program Planning Committee, 
led a discussion at a forum on financial 
literacy.4 

The iOme Challenge is a national move-
ment that engages and empowers college 
students and the millennial generation in 

Trevor A. Dawes

Academic libraries’ impact on 
financial education
A year of programs and projects

libraries and financial 
literacy education

Trevor A. Dawes is ACRL president and associate 
university librarian at Washington University-St. Louis, 
e-mail: tadawes@wustl.edu
© 2014 Trevor A. Dawes



June 2014 327 C&RL News

general about how they can be more fi-
nancially savvy. The partnership between 
ACRL and iOme has allowed us to extend 
our reach not only to other librarians, but 
also directly to students. 

In April, during Money Smart Week, 
a record number of academic libraries 
participated in various events to highlight 
the need for financial education. 

For the ACRL President’s Program at 
the 2014 ALA Annual Conference, we 
have invited nationally syndicated colum-
nist and financial advisor Michelle Single-
tary and Ferris State University President 
David Eisler to engage in conversation 
about the need for financial education 
from the consumer and higher education 
perspectives. 

We’re very excited they have both 
agreed to speak at the conference and 
hope you’ll be able to join us for what 
will be a lively and engaging discussion. 

I have certainly learned a lot this year 
about the various ways in which libraries 
are promoting financial literacy. I thank 
you all for sharing your thoughts and ideas 
and hope that the conversations and pro-
grams will continue well into the future. 

Notes
1. See http://bit.ly/ACRL-finlit. 
2. See http://libguides.wustl.du/finlit/. 
3. “Most People in the World Have No 

Idea How to Manage Their Money,” The 
Atlantic May 7, 2014, www.theatlantic.com 
/international/archive/2014/05/the-danger 
-of-financial-ignorance-do-you-understand 
-money/361851/, accessed May 9, 2014.

4 .  P a u l  S i g n o r e l l i ,  “ A d i  R e d z i c 
on What We Owe Each Other,” Ameri-
can Libraries, January 27, 2014, www. 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blog/adi-redzic 
-what-we-owe-each-other, accessed May 9, 
2014. 

 

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