mySkills, myFuture: A New Tool for Job Seekers

As part of the ongoing collaboration between IMLS and the Employment & Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL/ETA), WebJunction is hosting this ETA presentation on the new job-seeking tool, mySkills, myFuture. Coming in September, this free online tool will enable job seekers to increase their career mobility and economic prospects.

Specifically, the self-paced tool will help previously employed to (1) use their previous experience to identify occupations that they might be qualified for; (2) identify the skills s/he needs to acquire to qualify for a specific job; (3) identify education or training institutions where these skills can be obtained; and (4) provide links to relevant job opportunities in national and state job banks. Libraries will want to add mySkills, myFuture to their resources to help job-seeking patrons in their community.

To register for this relevant and vital workshop visit L2.

Course Description

Increasingly, libraries have become the “go-to” place for help with all kinds of things. Because you are the librarian, people expect you to either have all the answers, or to at least know where to find them.

This course will provide you with some of the tools to help you do this and do it well. You will learn how to use search engines effectively, so that the results are both relevant and reliable. You will learn how to identify what is and what isn’t a reliable source of information.

The tips and techniques shared in this course will make you an even more effective librarian, better able to respond to patron requests for help.

Learning Objectives

In this course, you will:

• Learn how to prepare yourself and your library resources to better respond to questions posed to staff members every day.
• Create lists of reliable online resources to use with frequently asked questions.
• Learn how to evaluate online information sources, and to decide which Web sites you can trust as authoritative and reliable sources of information.
• Learn skills to pass along to your patrons, in either formal or informal workshops offered at your library.
• Get an overview of copyright issues, and understand why you need to be aware of this.
• Hear about ways to continue to improve your own skills, to keep up-to-date on the ever-evolving online world of research and learning.

To enroll in the course, visit WebJunction Illinois, click on the IL Course Catalog tab and then explore the “Reference and Information Resources” link under the “Library Services” topic. You must be a registered user of WJIL to enroll in this course for free.

Prepare and Respond: Partnering with Local Emergency Management, Tuesday August 3, 1:00 – 2:00 pm CT

Libraries are looking for ways to be better prepared for disaster response and recovery. Join guest presenter Lauren Mandel, research coordinator at the Information Use Management & Policy Institute at Florida State University’s College of Communication and Information, as she introduces a new key service role, Get to Know Your Emergency Operations Center (EOC), to the existing Hurricane Preparedness & Response for Florida Public Libraries Project. The Florida-based project helps libraries throughout the U.S. serve their communities through partnerships with fellow responders (e.g., emergency management, local government and other agencies) and become a safe haven, recovery center, information hub and evacuee resource. Come learn how this project can inform your library’s disaster preparedness plan and how your library can play an important role in community preparedness and recovery by working with your EOC.

Helping Job Seekers: Using Electronic Tools, Wednesday August 11, 1:00 – 3:30 pm CT

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) invests in resources and services to support national and local workforce development needs. ETA staff will join us for a 90-minute webinar to provide an overview of the public workforce system and present the electronic tools most helpful to library staff who assist unemployed workers. Attendees will learn how to direct patrons to the right tools for their needs and to find local Workforce System partners. The presentation will also include an online tour of the O*NET System, CareerOneStop.org and America’s Service Locator and including Occupational Crosswalks, job search/resume preparation and State Job Banks and Labor Market Information.

Digitization and Preservation Symposium, Wednesday August 25, 1:00 – 3:00 pm CT

WebJunction is hosting a two-hour symposium that will feature four presentations on current trends and practical approaches to library digitization and preservation projects.

Our guest panelists will address:

• Designing a digital preservation system using a framework that includes all stakeholders, from library administrators to archivists to IT workers to vendors.
• The difference between access and preservation tools, and why we need to consider both.
•  Harvesting social networking websites for preservation.
• The organizational “long-view” of preservation resources, technology, costs and policies.

Panelists include:

• Sarai Lastra, Vice Chancellor of Information Resources/Director of Virtual Library at Universidad del Turabo, Puerto Rico.
• Sarah McHugh, Statewide Projects Librarian, Montana State Library, including Montana Memory Project.
• Amy Rudersdorf, Director of the Digital Information Management Program, State Library of North Carolina and lecturer at San Jose State University, School of Library & Information Science.
• Taylor Surface, Senior Product Manager, Digital Collection Services, OCLC.

For more information on all WJ webinars visit L2.

These subjects were identified by Library System Consulting staff as consistent areas of importance for Illinois Public Libraries.  The table provides links to resources, courses and webinars available on WebJunction Illinois relevant to these topics.

The table is available for download in either PDF or Word format by clicking on the previous links, or by going to the Documents Tab of the Public Libraries or information about WebJunction Illinois pages in the Illinois Center of the site.

On June 17 at 1:30pm there will be a second Webinar on “Empowering Library Staff to Use Online Legal Resources to Assist Library Users in Financial Crisis.” You can register here.

Knowing how to find and use E-government resources is critical for patrons who need access to information related to unemployment, food stamps, Medicaid, tax forms, health and housing; and many people are asking their public library to help them navigate this information. To meet these new and increased demands on frontline staff, libraries in Florida are collaborating with government agencies and social service organizations to provide the best service possible to patrons in their state. Join us for this webinar with representatives of Florida libraries, who will share their strategies used to educate both the public and frontline staff on how to access this information and their experiences building partnerships with other agencies in their communities to respond to workforce development needs.

Presenters include Nancy Fredericks, E-Government Librarian, Pasco County Public Library Cooperative; Karen Clinton Brown, Library Program Specialist, State Library and Archives of Florida; Sol M. Hirsch, Library Director and Otto C. Pleil, Reference Librarian from the Alachua County Library District.

To enroll for this webinar visit L2.

The Webinars, funded by a mini-grant awarded by the National Center for State Courts, to the Lewis & Clark Library System, are available without cost all library staff, volunteers, and trustees. Illinois Legal Aid Online will present both Webinars.

Introducing Library Staff to the Uses of Illinois Legal Aid Online Free Resources, the first Webinar, scheduled for 11 May 2010 from 1:30 to 3:00, focuses on the free legal resources available at www.IllinoisLegalAid.org. The session also includes a discussion of the ethical and legal issues concerning library staff assisting residents and conducing legal resource reference interviews.

Empowering Library Staff to Use Online Legal Resources to Assist Library Users in Financial Crisis: Information on Foreclosure, Consumer Debt and Unemployment, the second Webinar, 17 June 2010, familiarizes library staff with resources available to assist residents seeking information and assistance with legal issues such as mortgage foreclosure, credit and debt issues and unemployment benefits.

Register now for Introducing Library Staff to the Use Online Legal Resources on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. The confirmation e-mail contains access details for the May 11th session. Registration information for June’s Webinar will be announced.

The Self-Represented Litigation Network is an open and growing group of organizations and working groups dedicated to fulfilling the promise of a justice system that works for all, including those who cannot afford lawyers and who go to court on their own. The Network brings together a range of organizations including courts, and access to justice organizations in support of innovations in services for the self‐represented. It operates in a number of Working Groups and is hosted by the National Center for State Courts under a Memorandum of Understanding. Participant organizations are listed in the materials.

We hope that you will find the Conference materials energizing, and helpful. Above all, we hope that they will cement your commitment to the use of public libraries for access to justice, and that it will help you build the partnerships and give you the tools to be effective in this work.

Public libraries are critical access points to government institutions. As times get tougher, it becomes more and more important that people have libraries where they can find out how to protect their rights and navigate the complexities of our society. It also becomes more and more important that libraries can show how important and effective they are at meeting this need.

For more on the Illinois connection with this conference read the blog post by Charm Ruhnke of LCLS, a conference attendee.

This collection of materials has been copyrighted by the National Center for State Courts. All files are in PDF format and you are free to reproduce those of these materials directly copyrighted by the National Center for State Courts, for governmental and nonprofit use in access to justice training programs.