Libraries, Small Business, Entrepreneurs: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

When I enrolled as a college freshman at Michigan State in 2002 the cost per credit hour was $179.75. In the fall of 2013 that same cost per credit hour had risen to $428.75. Assuming that you know what you want to do from day one, don’t take any superfluous courses (Bowling 101 anybody?), and make it through the four year gauntlet, at a minimum of 120 credits per bachelor’s degree that equates to $51,450 in cost to today’s student. This doesn’t account for room and board, cost of living, beer, and pizza money. Admirably, Little Caesar’s is doing their part with $5.00 Hot and Readies. But even the savviest of deal seeking college students is still looking at well over $100,000 spent over the course of their education, and $150,000 might be more realistic.

If someone had told me in 2002 that going for a four year degree in history because, you know, I liked history wasn’t the best idea, they may have had a point. The point is becoming painfully more valid as the damage inflicted on students’ finances and credit climb with each subsequent year. The higher education or bust contingent will point out that average salary is still higher for someone with a college degree vs. someone without. True. Someone with a college degree, on average, will earn $45,000 a year. Just a high school diploma will net an average of $30,000 a year. An associates’ degree, meeting somewhere in the middle, will earn an individual an average of $37,000 a year. So, yes, a four year degree earns more. Only, it will take close to a decade before those higher earnings compared to a high school graduate offset the cost of the degree. How long will it take to offset the cost compared to someone with an associates’ degree? Closer to twenty years. That doesn’t even factor in the amount of time you are effectively out of the work force earning said degree.

All of this isn’t to say that a four year college education isn’t still valuable or worthwhile for the right individual. It is to suggest that the decision itself shouldn’t be a cookie cutter template forced on all people. Increasingly, liberal arts degrees are coming under fire, both in terms of their employment placement rates and the post graduate skills they bestow on their students. They’re an easy and potentially misguided target. There is another degree I’d like to throw a questioning light on: business. More specifically, I’d like to question the value of a bachelor’s degree in business for the young entrepreneur looking to start their own business. Think about it, if that entrepreneur takes four years of their life and $150,000 or more in investment and puts it toward their own business, aren’t they better off?

You might counter that the networking among fellow students and professors and the insights you gain can’t be replicated. What about gaining direct working experience instead? The craft brewing industry in Michigan, now contributing over 2 billion annually to the state’s economy, is a great example of this. Lots of people get their start by working their way up at established Michigan breweries, learning the business from firsthand experience. Once they start to approach investors, they have credibility built up.

Hold on, they didn’t go to college. So how do they know how to write a business plan? Where to look for financing? How to go about applying for an EIN? Navigating employment law? There is a famous scene from Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon compares the virtue of $150,000 degree against a $1.50 in late fees from your public library, and finds the degree wanting. There is no better place for the young entrepreneur to go to start doing their research than the local library. The information and resources available, free of cost, cannot be matched.

Yet, many individuals looking to start their own business do not even think about the library. This is where it is up to the library to not only promote the resources available to the community they serve, but to carefully cultivate and develop these resources. Hiring a business librarian specifically to assist those looking to open a business, as well as new businesses starting out, would be a wise investment where funding permits. There are more than a few libraries that have taken such steps. The DC Public Library offers their e-BIC program (enhanced business information center), where they provide local small businesses and entrepreneurs with training, consulting and computer software.  The Kansas City Public Library offers seminars and workshops specifically geared toward educating small businesses on how to secure financing.

Partnerships like this have an immense benefit, not just to the individuals that they are helping, but to the libraries themselves and the communities in which they exist and serve. Robert R. Pankl makes a compelling case in his paper “Marketing the Public Libraries Business Resources to the Business Community” that as a public library “makes a measurable contribution to the economy of the community, the public library as a whole becomes more relevant and essential.”* This makes sense not just to justify funds for public libraries, but contributing to a strong local economy also means that there are more funds available to feed back into the library.

While it may not be feasible for every public library to go to the same extent that, say, the Kansas City Public Library has, libraries owe it to themselves and their communities to ask what they can do. Bringing in a local business leader for an evening forum or a weekend seminar could be an effective way to engage. At the very least, libraries should highlight the services they do offer and how to access community resources. Libraries can be effective advocates for state services that people may not know about. For instance, how many people in Michigan are aware of the MILE Act (The Michigan Invests Locally Exemption), allowing intrastate crowdfunding in Michigan?

Recognizing the need, many cities have put departments into place to assist with attracting new businesses, such as the Lansing Economic Development Corporation. Rather than building a department from scratch, they could have looked to their libraries. Smart librarians should look into what services their communities are already offering through these departments and volunteer their services to braid the library into this fabric. If no such department exists in the library’s area, create a model that the library can fulfill.  Offering to do demographic studies, market research, compiling and organizing resources available to businesses (grants and finance assistance, for starters) can save the city time and money, all while reminding the community of the wealth of resources already available to them.

The public library, as a free source of information, should serve as a valuable tool to the young entrepreneur in their community. And libraries have an obligation to foster that connection. If you want to open your own business, you could take on debt, delay your entry in to the workforce and hope that it all works out for the best. Or you could check out your local library and use that money on, well, your business. 

-Gregory Harris 6/5/14

* Pankl, Robert R. "Marketing the Public Library’s Business Resources to Small Businesses." Journal of Business and Finance Librianship 15 (2010): 94-103. Web. 29 May 2014.