GREEN BAY, Wis. — Each day brings a little bit of everything to staff at the Brown County Library on Green Bay’s east side.
It’s where branch manager Bobbie Kuehn helps people find books. She and other staff also help them find employment.
“We do everything — just about — at the library,” Kuehn said. “Many people come in and say, ‘I was told you can help me here.’ That runs the gamut for just about anything. Besides checking out books, we help people on the computers all the time.”
The Brown County Library system is partnering with agencies like the Bay Area Workforce Development Board and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
The partnership is reinforcing the role libraries play in helping people looking for work
“Sometimes people are just beginning and want to create a resume,” Kuehn said. “We have resume templates built in on our computers. Right on the desktop, people can click on links to create a functional resume, a chronological resume or a cover letter and just plug in what they need.”
The east branch recently held a job fair. It’s also launched an area designated for job seekers called JobPod.
Officials said the space is the first of its kind in Wisconsin. It’s designed to give job searchers their own space in the library while connecting them with local and state employment resources.
Sarah Sugden is the executive director of Brown County Libraries. She said the branches serve as a bridge between job seekers and workforce experts.
“We’re not those experts, but we love being that encouraging, dependable, reliable bridge to those experts when folks are experiencing those insecurities,” Sugden said. “They can look at the public library as a lifeline and be able to connect with the help and resources and services folks need.”
Josh Bahr of the Brown County Job Center said these kinds of partnerships are intended to reach new groups of job seekers.
“We wanted to find ways to reach a population we weren’t touching before. That is this east side Green Bay population,” he said. “Anything that we can do that’s innovative and meets people where they’re at, we’re going to want to do.”
A career navigator is available at the library twice a month to help job seekers.
Kuehn said helping people find a job is fulfilling.
“If we can just help them along the way and make it a little bit easier, there’s no greater reward than that,” she said.