Libraries: They’re for adults too!
Libraries: They’re for adults too!
Libraries are steadfast hallmarks of American society. Americans across the country have childhood memories of their local libraries. Often, as we escape childhood, our trips to the library become less frequent. As a result, libraries occupy a smaller amount of space in our minds and their troubles slip from the running list of concerns we have.
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This is a problem because libraries have the ability help us far into adulthood, if we just ask!
Libraries offer a wide array of services for people of all ages. If we push the needs of libraries out of our mind, we are endangering the very establishments that provided us with the foundation of our development as productive members of society. The best way to keep library needs front and center in our minds is to understand how libraries can help adults, and dismiss the stigma that libraries are only for young kids and the elderly.
Below are five resources you can access at your local public library
5. Job Specific Training
Jobs often require specific training in order for someone to even submit an application. These training’s can be costly and impossible to attend when coupled with already working a full-time job to stay above water. Libraries fill this void by offering job specific training’s at times that work for those on a tight schedule.
These job training's can serve as a building block of a career for those who have dreams of doing more for themselves and those around them. These training’s that libraries across the country offer range from OSHA training, Security Guard Training and Home Health Aide Certification courses.
Without these life enhancing services, many members of our communities would not have a chance to break the chains of poverty and joblessness that hold so many in their grip in our country.
4. Employment Resources
Job specific training would mean nothing if you could not be connected to employers that value the training you have. Luckily this part of our public libraries service tool belt.
A large portion of this service hinges on a library’s bank of computers that feature high speed internet for its patrons. With this invaluable connection, community members can stop in and search employment websites and apply for any job they are qualified for. This is one of the most important features of libraries in our digital age.
High speed internet has not yet found its way in every corner of our nation and as a result, large sections of our communities find themselves without ready access to the internet. Libraries fill this accessibility void and provide employment relief to Americans of all kinds.
3. Resume Building Workshops
Job Training and employment sites would be unhelpful and obsolete if those participating did not have the skills or help to compose a well formatted and professional resume. Luckily, once again our public libraries step in to fill this skill void.
A professional resume is critical to employment through the internet and most traditional job avenues. Without one, recruiters will ignore an application and those in need of jobs will remain unemployed. Public libraries hold these resume building workshops in the hopes of improving the chance of employment for members of our communities both on and offline.
2. Internet Literacy Courses
The internet is still a wild place where the rules are made up and someone who knows little about how to navigate it and the dangers that come with every click, can fall for one of many internet scams. The only way to learn about these lessons is to grow up in the internet age, as many Americans under 30 have, or be taught it by someone who is knowledgeable in the area.
Education of internet literacy can be a painstaking process and only mastered after years of web surfing, but American communities find themselves advantaged by having a pubic library that offers this education. Libraries offer the perfect environment for this kind of educational development. What was once a space in which children learned the joy of reading, now can help those same kids, or in many cases adults, learn how to confidently navigate the internet.
As our society becomes more and more intertwined with the digital world, this literacy is essential for the continued prosperity of every individual. Without understanding our digital world, we run the risk of letting opportunities slip through our fingers, opportunities that could have changed our lives.
1. GED Prep Courses
Almost every job application requires a High School Diploma or GED equivalent. For some Americans, this is an obstacle to their employment. \
While almost 90% of American adults have a high school diploma, 10% do not and often, these are the most at risk Americans in terms of employment. This 10% would be hard pressed to find a job that required a high school diploma if it were not for public libraries.
Libraries across the nation provide GED Prep course for all community members that need it. This can be an invaluable resource in low income neighborhoods that have poor educational systems or low community appreciation for education.
This is just a peppering of the uncountable services that libraries offer to the adult population of America. Libraries hold the power to change our lives no matter our age, but too often we quarter it off to kids and the elderly.
We say no more! Go to your local library today and ask them what kinds of services they offer to adults seeking employment.
If you can’t make it to your local library, take a second and head to our website and see how you can help us at EveryLibrary ensure that no one in our community is ever without the life changing resources offered by public libraries.