School Librarians Help Students Prepare for Careers and College

Are you a recent high school graduate, or is one of your children transitioning into career-related life changes? Speaking to their school librarian or spending time at your local library may provide the resources they need to succeed after graduation. Here’s how school and local librarians help students prepare for college and post-graduate careers. 

Community Engagement

If you or your child is in a period of school transition, their school librarians can direct you to helpful community activities. For one thing, librarians host their own community events, maintaining work-oriented environments like makerspaces and computer labs. Many jobs and colleges look for volunteer experience on student resumes. 

Thankfully, libraries include a plethora of opportunities to volunteer, whether at the facility itself or through community connections. In other words, if you or your child would like to get involved with their community after grade school, talking to your local librarian is a great place to start. 

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Lifelong Learning

Spending time at your local or school library can nurture your or your student’s love for lifelong learning. Keeping an eye on your library’s calendar may open up opportunities to attend librarian-hosted classes on a variety of topics. This can include anything from foreign languages, library training, and literacy courses. Some libraries may even allow their space to be utilized for college entry exams or other related opportunities hosted by nearby secondary education institutions. Librarians may also be able to help you or your student create their first resume or apply for universities. 

Essential Career Skills

A lot of employers and universities look for skills developed within libraries. A few of these include but are not limited to analysis, interpretation, and problem-solving. This doesn’t even mention the vast amount of knowledge developed within specific school subjects like English, social studies, science, foreign languages, and math. Libraries can also help improve writing and research skills, both of which are highly valued among professionals. Plus, all of these skills combined can prepare them for the independence required after graduation. 

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Helpful Resources

While everyone can and should be able to achieve career success after high school, some students don’t have immediate access to these tools. Thankfully, both public and school libraries bridge the gap by providing completely free access to resources like computers, printers, and wifi. This allows all students to complete essential post-graduation tasks such as job and university applications as well as research universities or careers within their interests. 

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

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