1. Expanding Opportunities Program
In third and final year of Library Services and Technology Act grant
Education
Entrepreneurship
Employment
Toolkit to be published. See
The Expanding Opportunities Program is in its third and final year of a Library Services and Technology Act grant exploring ways that library resources can support economic goals in relation to education, entrepreneurship, and employment. Josephine Community Libraries will publish a toolkit with insights from the program. See the website for details.

2. Learn employer needs
Interview employers about what is wanted in community
Get help from an Advisory Council
Form partnerships
Offer solutions within your mission and scope
Gather information about your community and then act on it, but keep in mind your library’s mission and ability to respond. An Advisory Council made up of business representatives could provide insight and guidance; look for people from your area’s major industries and business associations, such as the chamber of commerce.

3. Understand existing support
Understand what is available so that you can make an informed referral. We partnered with the Job Council, later reorganized under WorkSource Oregon, and that partnership included participating in WorkSource classes, offering workshops on databases and LearningExpress in the library, and giving a tour to Job Council students with a review of databases. What is already being done in your community? What goals are these employment professionals emphasizing?
Assessment of WorkSource Oregon as partner
Walk through employment resources from a user perspective
Visit Foundational Skills workshops
Learn about classes, such as computer basics

4. Inform patrons about community resources
WorkSource Oregon services, brochures, calendars
in the library
Other resources, such as those specializing in helping veterans, people with disabilities or those with criminal backgrounds
Wages, labor trends:
Train front-line staff about resources
Once you understand what the community offers, inform patrons. Provide agency information, such as event calendars and brochures, and include employment help on your community resources list. State websites offer information about wages and labor trends. Train your front-line staff in use of your tools, creating familiarity with these resources.

5. Inform your community about library resources
Workshops about
library resources offered in the library and outside the library to clubs, groups, employers, elsewhere you encounter job-seekers, such as Head Start
Workshops at places such as Community Corrections
Train-the-trainer for employment helpers such as Goodwill, Options for Southern Oregon
Go beyond your library’s walls to take information to the community. We offered workshops about library resources to various groups and clubs, as well as employers such as at a staff meeting of Fire Mountain Gems, which has more than 400 employees. Tailor your workshops to your audience. Head Start parents may want to know about job-seeker resources, in addition to education databases. At a higher level, Community Corrections staff would need tools to help their clients access resources as they meet their job search requirements. For organizations that are employment helpers, such as Goodwill or mental health care nonprofit Options for Southern Oregon, conduct a more extensive training so that a trainer level of understanding is available to their staff.

6. LearningExpress Mention in presentations to community
We promoted resources available through the State Library first, before we selected new databases. Arlene Weible will share more about these.
Mention in presentations to community
LearningExpress tutorials build skills
Job & Career Accelerator resume and job hunting assistant

7. Cardholder survey results
17 percent don’t use online resources; 7 percent don’t know about them
We conducted an online survey of cardholders. Here are some employment-related results. With 2 ½ years of workshops, we still have 17 percent of our cardholders who said they don’t use online resources, with 7 percent saying they didn’t know about them. Educating about resources is a long-term effort. Of those who did use the library for employment-related reasons, here is what they said they did.
Other 12.6% includes legal contracts, product information related to work, professional tools, supplies, community resources

8. National Career Readiness Certificate
What is it?
NCRC preparation on LearningExpress (WorkKeys tests)
Proctoring for the NCRC
For information:
The National Career Readiness Certificate is the result of three proctored tests provided by ACT that measure practical workplace skills in the areas of math, reading, and locating information. The NCRC was developed working with businesses and is a resume-building tool. LearningExpress offers preparation for these tests, called WorkKeys. We applied to be an NCRC proctor. Because of staffing reasons, we did not offer it on Saturdays, which could have been a good time because WorkSource Oregon is not open then. Our Monday morning proctored tests did not draw a big response, and we discontinued offering them.

9. The need for soft skills
Soft skills, more difficult-to-measure skills such as leadership and professionalism, were frequently mentioned as a desire for workforce development in our community. We faced the challenge of contributing to this effort in a sustainable way, after the Expanding Opportunities Program grant ends.
What are soft skills?
Frequently mentioned as a workforce need in Josephine County, as a result of assessment, from employers to Department of Human Services
How do you teach them?

10. 2016 soft skills pilot
Package of 250 webinars offered by global training company
Each about an hour, include video and interactive components
Save progress, print certificate of completion
Reception so far: Should your library try it?
We chose to pilot offering Skillsoft webinars, all of which relate to business and professional skills, using LSTA grant funding. Some hard skills are included, such as professional software, but many relate to soft skills, such as diversity and conflict management. So far, we are getting good feedback as we approach companies in the community, including from nonprofits and representatives of government and business organizations.