Truth and the Law by Meldon D. Jenkins-Jones, RPL Law Librarian

Good News! RPL teens are learning good business skills as well as non-profit fund-raising techniques by participating in the annual RPL TAG Recyclable Craft Sale held on December 12th and 13th. For anyone, not just teens, interested in starting their own business or organizing a non-profit entity, RPL is presenting a series of workshops and classes to help you with the legal aspects. The “Starting a Non-Profit” workshop organized by Foundation Center resource person, Reference Librarian Bev Mitchell, was well attended. Taught by local attorney Charles Schmidt, it is almost as popular as the How to Start a Business class, also taught by Mr. Schmidt, which is a part of the Richmond Public Law Library’s Community Law series.

The Law Library, as well as RPL, has an extensive collection of books on both topics. I recently read Build Your Own Life Brand! by Graham Stedman (Oprah’s boyfriend) on the basics of seeing yourself as a brand. The ever expanding number of new business, management, and non-profit organizing books include Reinventing You by Dorie Clark, another brand-building book.

Future classes for entrepreneurs, business owners, and non-profit leaders will include the “Business Entity” workshop on January 12th at 5:30 pm and the Non-Profit Grants Seekers Workshop on January 30th and February 13th at 10 am. There will also be an Employment Law class which is now in the planning stages.

Of course, writers increasingly view themselves as a marketable brand, so in conjunction with the recent birth of the RPL Main Writers Group, we’ll be blogging about the many books the library has on that topic.