Friday, December 30, 2011

Now Available: Topical Business Collections

Want access to Business Expert Press's highly-regarded ebooks but prefer to concentrate on specific topics? Now you can order packages by discipline -- just click on the Subject Area drop-down menu in our Search bar to see the selection. Contact Adam Chesler for details or to arrange for a free trial so you can learn more about our student- and library-friendly program.

Whether you own one or more of our Digital Libraries, are considering a free trial, or just want to learn more about our innovative publishing program, we want to hear from you. Please feel free to contact our Director of Library Relations, Adam Chesler, at your convenience so we can learn more about the issues that are important to you, and find ways to help you deliver valuable content to your patrons. Write to Adam at adam.chesler@businessexpertpress.com, or give him a call at 571-243-7537.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Interview with the Author: Phil Romero

First, can you briefly tell us what your book is all about and why we should read it? 
The book explains why the investing environment of the next few decades will be less benign than for the last 30 years.  This is true for two main reasons:  Demographics and Debt.  The book is an illustration of how a better understanding of economics can deliver profits for any executive—in his/her job, and in personal investing.  The first seven chapters outline the long term forecast, and the final three chapters outline action steps the reader can take to exploit these trends.

What are the top trends in your area(s)? 
The population of the developed world—and increasingly, in emerging markets—is aging. That means they will accumulate fewer assets and become more dependent.  That’s the Demographic trend.  It leads to the Debt trend: Aging populations will bloat government budget deficits and retard rising asset prices.

What made you decide to publish with Business Expert Press? 
Business Expert Press emphasizes tight books whose knowledge can be acquired just in time, and at a reasonable price.

Have you read any other Business Expert Press books, and if so, which one was your favorite? 
I’ve read both of Don Stengel’s books.  I am partial to his managerial economics book because it uses a very accessible example (an ice cream stand) to illustrate concepts that can be hard for readers to grasp.

What prompted you to write this book? 
It is very evident that many Baby Boomers have not saved enough for retirement, especially after 2008 sank their portfolios. I fear that many will delude themselves into believing that markets can still bail them out—they tried with dot com stocks in the 1990s and with real estate in the 2000s.  They need to hear some inconvenient truths while the still have time to plan.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Business Librarian Michael R. Lavin on Business Expert Press

What made you want to trial the Digital Library?
A co-worker, also a business librarian, was the first to learn about the product. What attracted us to it was the business model and pricing structure. Specifically, the fact the publisher imposed no DRM restrictions, no limit on simultaneous usage, nor any limit on printing and downloading, all seemed very attractive. The average price per book was also very reasonable for an e-book package.

What prompted you to purchase it?
We liked what we saw during the trial. Our librarians were actively exploring a variety of e-book solutions, and business was one of the subject areas where the demand for e-books seemed strong. At the time, our University was in the throes of a multi-year budget crisis, from which we are only now emerging. As a result, we did not have much money to purchase new e-book packages. I particularly liked the publisher’s focus on topics of interest to undergraduate and master’s-level business students. Although most of the BEP authors are academics, their writing (for the most part) is very accessible and the subject focus is on practical, real-world business applications. The above-mentioned access/pricing model sealed the deal. The fact that Business Expert Press utilizes the ebrary e-book reader was a bonus, because we were already familiar with the software.

What’s your opinion of e-books in libraries today?
There is no question that e–books are here to stay. Our students are certainly comfortable with them and they undoubtedly prefer electronic access. Usage patterns also appear to be changing. In the past, I felt that our students tended to use e-books as reference tools for quick look-ups, brief facts, and convenient quotations, rather than reading entire chapters or [gasp] entire books. That behavior is clearly changing, and the Business Expert Press collections make it easy for students to interact with them as actual books.

Are professors using the library’s e-collections more frequently now? Have they been using Business Expert Press?
Faculty usage varies of course. Some have readily adopted e-books and relish the convenient access. One factor that helps with faculty is that we have loaded all of our e-titles into our Library Catalog, so faculty can’t help but stumble over them, and (I hope) will be tempted to try them. We also encourage our faculty to incorporate electronic books and articles into their course reserves and course management software. To be honest, we have not yet publicized the BEP collection because our ongoing budget problems prevented us from purchasing additional (more recent) titles. Now that we have turned the corner, we will be updating our BEP collection, at which time we will make the product more visible on our website and so on. I am happy to report that two of our faculty members are now BEP authors and they seem pleased with the experience.
Finally, although you didn’t ask, I have found Business Expert Press’s customer service to be both responsive and pleasant, which always counts for a lot in my book.

About Michael R. Lavin: Lavin is the Business/Management Librarian at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB). He has been a business librarian for more than 30 years. He has also taught a graduate course on business information resources for many years. Mr. Lavin has published extensively in the field, including Business Information: How to Find It, How to Use It (Oryx Press) and Understanding the Census (Epoch Books). He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship. Mr. Lavin is a past recipient of ALA’s Gale Research Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship.