Get Your Career-Building Certification at the Library
Borrow test prep materials to help you earn your CDL, food safety, or other certifications needed for your small business.
As a small business owner, you’ll have to overcome plenty of hurdles to get your venture up and running. Many of these challenges are financial, as the overhead to start a business tends to be high. One such challenge is getting the necessary certifications to operate your business legally. While it may seem simple on the surface, there can be a lot of training and paperwork involved, and the costs add up over time. Fortunately, with the help of your local library, these expenses don’t have to stop you from chasing your dreams.
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Why You May Need Certification Resources
So, what kinds of businesses need certifications, and how can you get them? Typically, you’ll need to obtain certifications for businesses in any industry that could affect the health and safety of your employees and customers. The most common example would be food safety and liquor licenses, though other cases like commercial driver’s licenses also exist. You can’t legally operate your business unless you have the necessary certifications, so you’ll need to obtain them before taking further steps to get things off the ground.
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How the Library Can Help You Obtain Certifications
The problem? The resources you need to help you get certified may not be affordable, especially when you’re just starting out. Take the already significant fees for licensing exams and pile on the costs of books, documents, and training courses, and you have a pretty hefty sum that not everyone can afford to pay out of pocket.
While there’s not much of a way around the licensing fees, libraries offer a variety of services that lessen the financial burden of the training and resources. Your librarian can help you determine what certifications your business will need, giving you a strong starting point to narrow down your research. Many libraries offer the books and documents used for certification training, allowing you to check out a copy for free rather than purchasing it yourself.
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Of course, reading from a few documents doesn’t necessarily give you all the information you need. For those cases, many libraries have dedicated business librarians. Business librarians are much more proficient in this field, so they can offer you free insights that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Between print and digital resources and the knowledge of an experienced business librarian, you’ll have just about everything you need to get certified and kick-start your business at minimal cost.
If you’d like to learn more about how public libraries support small business owners, check out our Public Libraries feature page today!
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