In communities all around the country, people have felt the impact of a weak economy and they are still turning to libraries with a variety of needs. While libraries have vigorously responded to many immediate needs and the economy is starting to improve, the library has a continued and vital role to play to move their communities from recovery to growth, from surviving to thriving.

This webinar will build your knowledge and confidence to deliver programs and services that will keep the workforce in your community moving forward in the 21st century. It covers core responses to the basic needs of patrons impacted by the weak economy and specific responses to job seekers. The session also explores the variety of ways in which your library can support entrepreneurs and local small business in your community and how you can help your patrons strengthen their personal financial skills.

This webinar archive was created from sessions presented in the Summer of 2011 as part of the IMLS-funded Project Compass, a national initiative to support public libraries' services to the struggling workforce.

Presented by: Betha Gutsche, Christine Hamilton-Pennell, and Holly Fulghum-Nutters

Access Recording

• View Webinar Recording (You will be prompted to log in to our free Course Catalog.)

Webinar Attachments

• View Slides (pdf)
• View Chat Part 1 (xls)
  
• View Chat Part 2 (xls)
  

Related Resources and Links

• IMLS 21st C Skills Initiative and Project Report (PDF)
• Pathways: Pathway for Small Business and Entrepreneurs and Personal Financial Skills
• 25 Ways Your Library Can Support the Small Business Community
• Dane Stangler, The Coming Entrepreneurial Boom, Kauffman Foundation, 2009; Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity: 1996-2009
• YourEconomy.org from the Edward Lowe Foundation.
• South San Francisco Public Library's Project Read on Facebook Project Read of North San Mateo County
• smartinvesting.ala.org/
• FDIC Consumer Resource Center
  
• Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas free resources for financial management, including Building Wealth
• Shift Happens video