Crisis in Employment

December 15, 2009
As the unemployment rate has soared across the United States, libraries have become busier than ever. This American Library Association (ALA) special report provides suggestions for providing low-cost assistance to job-seeking unemployed library users. With examples from various public libraries, the report offers advice for planning, how to get the most out of resources at hand, dealing with the need for additional computers, suggestions for community partnerships, and how to best assist users who need to become computer literate for a successful job search. Appendixes include a collection of recommended recent books, web sites, and databases for job seekers and a sampling of documents (also available at the book's web site), such as job-hunting worksheets, sample résumés, and fliers created by the libraries featured in the book. VERDICT The book does not consider how academic libraries might address the needs of the newly unemployed. Some discussion of how academic libraries have been dealing with the unemployment crisis (e.g., partnerships with campus career services, providing community computer use, etc.) would have been useful. Still, for public librarians, this is a valuable book.Julie Elliott, Franklin D. Schurz Lib., Indiana Univ. South Bend

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