Serving Job Seekers and Career Changers: A Planning Manual for Public Libraries

Abstract

Nationwide, scarcely a community remains unaffected by unemployment. Consequently, public libraries now face an ever-increasing demand for services and materials designed to aid patrons seeking employment. Many have responded fully to this challenge by opening Education and Job Information Centres (EJICs), state-of-the-art full service centres that encourage libraries to rethink conventional approaches to providing services. Designed to provide more than information, EJIC staff librarians assume a more active role in administering the service. In its most complete form, EJIC staff librarians are trained to offer recommended reference sources and databases, skills assessment, career counselling, interviewing and resume writing workshops, and outside referrals. In a simple step-by-step outline, Serving Job Seekers and Career Changers covers the objectives, challenges, procedures, and materials essential to developing your library's EJIC. It begins with needs assessment, details methodology, strategies, and planning, and finally provides extensive bibliographies of available computer software and print materials. Prepared as part of the Public Library Development Programme, the manual builds on the skills, techniques, service methods and strategies learned in libraries which participated in a Kellogg Foundation project. Whether a public library plans a full service EJIC, or seeks simply to enhance job placement service offerings to the community, Serving Job Seekers and Career Changers aims to provide answers. As libraries seek to become indispensable players in communities everywhere, service offerings must be continually enhanced.

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