Wausau, WI — Books aren’t the only thing drawing job seekers to the library.
The Portage and Marathon County Public Libraries are seeing a 10 percent increase in computer usage, over this time last year.
Instead of only fishing through the Classifieds, your local library wants to help you cast a wider net in hopes of reeling in that perfect job.
Bob Stack is the Director of the Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point.
He says, “When our job service closed, immediately we saw an increase in people coming in to do job searches.”
They have about 20 computers, but they are planning to add 4 work stations to accommodate job seekers, but until those computers are in place they are making upgrades.
Stack says “As part of our coping, we’ve added resume writing software, to some of our general computers so people can work on their resumes, and this is the same software the job center used.”
Mike Hartkopf is the Customer Service Manager for the Marathon County Public Library in Wausau says, “We have seen a definite increase. We have one hour time slots and certain times of day, we have a waiting list of people getting ready to use the computers.”
Hartkopf says you can reserve computers at the Marathon County Public Library, but that’s not the best draw for job seekers.
“The computer usage is free, you don’t need to pay a monthly fee like you do at home. Everything is free, books, different materials on looking for a job.”
With all of these resources hopefully you’ll snag that next job.
The Portage County Public Library hopes to have their new computers in place by the end of the month.
The Director of the Lincoln County Public Library in Merrill says computer usage is up 11% for them.
By Margo Spann
September 2, 2009
source: wsaw.com