Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Public Library: A Vital Resource Center for Job Seekers

Hedberg Public Library

Link to August 1 San Francisco Chronicle article, "Libraries branch out into job-hunting centers".

Excerpt: Public libraries around the Bay Area and the country have emerged as vital resource centers for the growing hordes of job hunters. With free Internet access, tons of information online and in print, knowledgeable staffs and convenient locations, public libraries are attracting unemployed folks like never before.

Libraries have risen to the challenge, holding classes on resume writing and job interviewing, subscribing to specialized job databases, offering online prep courses for civil service and other exams, amassing materials on starting businesses, creating Web sites on career development and even offering free career counseling. Recently, the nation's libraries agreed to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Labor to more effectively help job seekers
.  [Link to 6/30/2010 news release, "Department of Labor Provides Guidance to Workforce Agencies on Partnering with Libraries".]

*"Janesville residents struggle to adjust to loss of GM plant", by Rachel Hahn.  (WisBusiness, 7/29/2010)

Excerpt:  When Janesville was founded by hardworking farmers and entrepreneurs, it was a thriving town. Its location by a river and proximity to the major cities of Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee fueled growth as the city grew from a agricultural community to a manufacturing community, first building tractors and other industrial goods then making cars as the General Motors plant opened in 1919.

The General Motors Assembly Plant became the main business in Janesville employing over 60 percent of the workforce in 1925. The GM plant remained a staple in Janesville’s economy throughout the “golden age of the autoworker” providing the city of Janesville with employment and economic prosperity. However, this stability for the plant and many of Janesville’s families, including my own, did not last.

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