Grants for Job Assistance & Historical Preservation

by Tana Elias, Web Resources Coordinator

When you give to the Madison Public Library Foundation, you are supporting Madison’s future as well as Madison’s past.

Madison Public Library recently received two federal LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grants totaling $27,675.  The grants provide materials and training for job seekers in the Madison area and digitized historical materials of interest to Madison and Dane County residents.

Based on the success of a 2009 series of job assistance training sessions, Madison Public Library applied for and received a $15,590 LSTA grant for 2010 to continue job assistance training sessions at the Central Library and expand them to three branches - Meadowridge, South Madison and Pinney.  The grant will provide 120 drop-in job assistance sessions, as well as larger classes on specific job-seeking strategies such as resume writing, social networking, and interviewing skills, and 250 related books and DVDs for the library’s popular employment collection.  Classes and training sessions begin in February at the Central Library, with training sessions expanding to branch libraries and partner agencies in March.

Job assistance training sessions include individual help with writing or editing resumes, filling out job applications online, and computer training related to getting a job or improving job skills.  In 2009, these library-sponsored training sessions were very popular and exit survey data showed that the library was able to reach its target audience of low-income, unemployed persons in our community and that 100% of participants found the sessions useful.  

The grant will be largely overseen by an Americorps VISTA employee, Jim Handorf, who has worked with Madison Public Library since September 2009 to increase the library’s partnerships with other agencies to best help Madison-area job seekers find the resources they need to return to work.

A second LSTA grant of $12,085 will continue the work of digitizing papers important to the City of Madison and Dane County.  The grant includes funds to digitize local maps, plat books and atlases from 1861-1911, as well as annual reports and important papers of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association from 1904-1929.  In addition, 1500 pages of John Olin’s papers and correspondence will be digitally preserved through the grant.  Digitization and digital storage are provided through the UW Digital Collections Center, and materials will be available through their web site by the end of 2010.

For more information about Madison Public Library’s employment assistance resources, please visit: http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/ref/jobs. For more information about Madison Public Library’s digital collections and local history materials, visit: http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/history

In this time of economic hardship and technological and architectural change, it’s important to know that you can rely on our public libraries to both preserve our past and look forward to a brighter future.