[OPLINLIST] ALA publishes new issues brief on online job-seeking in public libraries

[Hickson-Stevenson, Pamela]

News from ALA:

Contact: Larra Clark
Project Manager, ORS
312-280-2129
lclark at ala.org <mailto:lclark at ala.org>  

NEWS
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2009

Online job-seeking focus of new issues brief

CHICAGO - In the second of a series of reports related to technology
access in U.S. public libraries, the American Library Association (ALA)
Office for Research & Statistics (ORS) is drawing attention to the
increasingly important role public libraries are playing in supporting
job seekers. The issues brief draws from national data published in the
Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study
(www.ala.org/plinternetfunding <http://www.ala.org/plinternetfunding> ).

"Job-seeking in U.S. Public Libraries" discusses the range of library
resources available to job seekers and challenges to maintaining these
services. Library staff and users in site visits in nine states report
increased use of library computers for job-seeking and e-government
services. Nearly 73 percent of libraries are their communities' only
source of free computer and Internet access.

"More and more employers - from grocery stores to casinos to state
governments - are requiring people to apply for jobs online," said ALA
Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. "Americans are depending on
libraries not only for free access to hardware and software, but also
for the assistance and training library staff offer every day. Nearly
three-quarters of public libraries report offering information
technology training for library patrons."

One Indiana library director put it this way: "People come in every day
to apply for unemployment. They could also go to the unemployment
office, but the lines are long there, and
there is no one to help them navigate."

Library staffs are encouraged to use these briefing papers as
educational tools with community stakeholders, including elected
officials, funders and program partners, as needed, to raise awareness
of the specific - and sometimes unique - concerns of libraries around
technology deployment. Staff may also use this format as a template for
providing local data and examples related to a given topic.

The briefing reports are not intended to be comprehensive, but rather to
share key findings from the largest and longest-running study of
Internet connectivity in libraries.  The Public Library Funding &
Technology Access Study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
and ALA, continues work begun in 1994 by John Carlo Bertot and Charles
R. McClure. The study assesses public access to computers, the Internet
and Internet-related services in U.S. public libraries, as well as the
impact of library funding changes on connectivity, technology deployment
and sustainability.

For more information on the study and to download a copy of the
job-seeking report, please visit www.ala.org/plinternetfunding
<http://www.ala.org/plinternetfunding> . The research team also invites
feedback about future topics and additional tools that would be useful
in raising awareness around library technology needs. Please write Larra
Clark at lclark at ala.org <mailto:lclark at ala.org> .

 

 

 

Pamela J. Hickson-Stevenson, Ohio Chapter Councilor to ALA and

Assistant Director

Akron-Summit County Public Library

60 S. High Street

Akron, OH  44326

 

Phone 330.643.9102

Fax 330.643.9160

 

phs at akronlibrary.org <mailto:phs at akronlibrary.org> 

www.akronlibrary.org <http://www.akronlibrary.org>  

 

The Akron-Summit County Public Library provides resources for learning
and leisure, information services, meeting spaces, and programs for all
ages that support, improve, and enrich individual, family, and community
life.

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