Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58916
research tools, and a Flash movie to frame and contextualize a specific business climate," she says. The series highlight the role Biz History Comes Alive on the Web Knowing the history of business is crucial to understanding today's business trends. With this in mind, librarians at the Harvard Business School's Baker Library in Cambridge, Mas- sachusetts, want to ensure that the lessons of business history are widely available via its new series of Web-delivered media, "Historical Returns." The series combine a selec- tion of original short films, Web links, books, articles, digi- tal content, and digitized his- torical documents from Baker Library. The first installment of the series, "Financial Bubbles," depicts the similarities between the 1990s dot-com boom and a similar financial crisis in 18th- century England known as the South Sea Bubble. Like the Internet craze, the years lead- ing up to the South Sea Bubble were marked by financial prom- ises, "irrational exuberance," and the ultimate collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720. These series are created for a general business audience, and all of their information will be available to the general These two 18th-century images depicting the South Sea Bubble are part of the Baker Library's online business exhibit, "Financial Bubbles." public. They are designed give visi- tors a chance to compare historical events and ideas with their modern counterparts, explains Mary Lee Kennedy, Baker Library's executive director. "Each Historical Returns capsule provides relevant mate- rial from our historical collections, history plays in business, both in informing its present and shaping its future, says Karen Bailey, curator of rare books for the library. The Web is one of a library's most effec- tive tools for making that historical information available, she adds. "The Web is a hub of discussion and an environment where ideas can travel, connect, and spread," says Bailey. "There was never any question that this type of dynamic setting was perfect for a series like Historical Returns." The capsule "Financial Bubbles" is now available at www.library. hbs.edu/hc/historicalreturns. The release of the next installment is planned for later this year. iPod Nation Comes to UMich The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor announced a partnership with Apple, in which it will convert recordings of its events and seminars to podcasts. The free podcasts will be offered to the busi- ness school community via Apple's iTunes Music Store. Such information already was available on its Web site; but school administrators felt that providing it in podcast format would make the audio versions more accessible, since users can download them to any MP3 player, as well as to their desktops. The podcasts will include channels for school news, events, and seminars; centers and institutes; and publications. UM's schools of music and dentistry started offering podcasts last year. n z BizEd MAY/JUNE 2006 51