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May 8, 2009

Librarians learning how to help find employment, not just books

Thursday, May 7, 2009
BY MERRY FIRSCHEIN
NorthJersey.com
Staff Writer
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS — Librarians usually help patrons find answers, but the recession has raised a new question with increasing frequency: How do they help people access unemployment information?

A special seminar Thursday taught librarians from more than 30 municipal libraries throughout northern and northwestern New Jersey the most important answers for patrons who are applying for unemployment and accessing programs to help them find jobs.

The 90-minute seminar was sponsored by the New Jersey State Library, state and regional library associations and the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

People seeking unemployment information “need someone reliable, dependable that they feel comfortable in confiding their situation,” Hasbrouck Heights Library Director Mimi Hui said. “It’s one more hat that we are now being asked to wear.”

Librarians learned the difference between applying for unemployment insurance on the state’s Web site and applying by telephone, which questions to ask patrons to help them figure out how to apply, how to understand the language used in the application itself and even where to find the information on the Internet.

About four or five people each day are asking reference librarians in Hasbrouck Heights for help with unemployment-related information, said Catherine Dodwell, head of reference.

Knowing where to find information is the first priority, librarians said. Sylvia Zasloff, reference supervisor at the Paramus Library, said a man called her recently wondering how to find out about unemployment insurance.

“He scrolled with me [on our Web site] and said he was grateful” that Zasloff could show him exactly where the information was, she said.

Librarians can be a reassuring presence to people who are shocked at being out of work and do not know what to do, said John Maguire of the Labor Department.

“You can set expectations for the claimants,” Maguire told the librarians.

Maguire gave the librarians tips to ease patrons’ anxiety about the unemployment process. For instance, for people who need to file for unemployment over the telephone, the best time to call is Wednesday or Thursday afternoons, not 9 a.m. Monday, when phone waits could be as long as two hours, he said.

The collaboration with the librarians helps both the state and libraries, said Glen Jacobs, an employment training specialist for the Labor Department.

“We are trying to reach people who we don’t usually see,” he said. “We are trying to do more with less.”

E-mail: firschein@northjersey.com

Posted by tumulty at May 8, 2009 6:57 PM

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