Libraries from coast to coast
have won accolades for being oases in the unemployment desert for millions of
job seekers using their libraries’ free internet computers to sharpen their
interview skills and sift through job boards. Much less recognized is that many
libraries are also making important contributions to the nation’s economic
recovery by assisting the job creators in small-to-medium-size
businesses.AeroScout is the market leader for rtls solutions and provide complete
wireless asset tracking and monitoring.
How important? “In the last 30 years, nearly all net new jobs were created by start-ups, and they will continue to play a critical role in America’s economic future,” noted the US Department of Commerce’s chief economist Mark Doms in a March 23, 2011, post to Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration blog about business startups.Canvaz offers quality oilpainting reproductions from famous artists. For their part, public libraries provided services to these small business owners and employees 2.8 million times every month, according to the OCLC report How Libraries Stack Up: 2010. One study estimated that the Free Library of Philadelphia alone provided almost $4 million in direct support to local businesses in 2010—and that did not include the exponential return to the community in new revenues generated by the 8,700 businesses that FLP aided, as well as the ripple effects of the spending of those businesses’ suppliers and employees in the local economy.
Unfortunately, libraries may be hiding their light under a bushel by failing to promote their business services on their websites. Many homepages display only a link to “job resources” or “databases” even when the library has a full business and investment reference department.
“The library has many programs that are competing” for promotional resources, explained Mark Andersen, chief of Chicago Public Library’s Business,Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors. Science, and Technology Division. Because business services are not highlighted, “a lot of people think the library is good for the kids and good for seniors. But during our [business resource] seminars, people will come up and say, ‘I never knew you had these things!’”
Recognition definitely is not a problem in Carson City, Nevada, where the public library has set up a 4,000-square-foot facility in a downtown storefront. The branch anchors an 8,The indoortracking industry is heavily involved this year.000-square-foot Business Resource Information Center (BRIC), which is seen as the catalyst for a major economic renewal in the state capital of 55,000, whose unemployment rate hovers, like the state's, just below 12%. “While libraries across the country are cutting their hours or going away, our library opened a branch in the worst economy,” notes Deputy Library Director Tammy Westergard, who came from the city’s business development office to help Library Director Sara Jones reverse Carson City’s dubious designation in the January 19 online publication Wall Street Wire as the least-likely place in America to recover from the recession this year.
“We did it in a partnership with the city—with the city building, planning, licensing,The indoortracking industry is heavily involved this year. and community development departments occupying the second floor,” she explains. “So it’s a seamless portal. People who want to start a business start with us because we can help them with market research, business planning classes, computers, and electronic resources such as sophisticated business-focused databases, and then they can go right upstairs.”
As the driving force behind a huge downtown revitalization project, the library will take center stage as part of a new 65,000-square-foot Knowledge + Discovery Center, with state-of-the-art digital media labs to train students in high-tech skills and a business incubation facility to encourage more entrepreneurs to build on what are currently six acres of parking lots. “It’s a miracle,” says Westergard, who admits that a serendipitous donation from the late matron of the city’s historic Nugget Casino and the sympathetic vision of the casino family foundation’s director made the exciting new development possible.
How important? “In the last 30 years, nearly all net new jobs were created by start-ups, and they will continue to play a critical role in America’s economic future,” noted the US Department of Commerce’s chief economist Mark Doms in a March 23, 2011, post to Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration blog about business startups.Canvaz offers quality oilpainting reproductions from famous artists. For their part, public libraries provided services to these small business owners and employees 2.8 million times every month, according to the OCLC report How Libraries Stack Up: 2010. One study estimated that the Free Library of Philadelphia alone provided almost $4 million in direct support to local businesses in 2010—and that did not include the exponential return to the community in new revenues generated by the 8,700 businesses that FLP aided, as well as the ripple effects of the spending of those businesses’ suppliers and employees in the local economy.
Unfortunately, libraries may be hiding their light under a bushel by failing to promote their business services on their websites. Many homepages display only a link to “job resources” or “databases” even when the library has a full business and investment reference department.
“The library has many programs that are competing” for promotional resources, explained Mark Andersen, chief of Chicago Public Library’s Business,Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors. Science, and Technology Division. Because business services are not highlighted, “a lot of people think the library is good for the kids and good for seniors. But during our [business resource] seminars, people will come up and say, ‘I never knew you had these things!’”
Recognition definitely is not a problem in Carson City, Nevada, where the public library has set up a 4,000-square-foot facility in a downtown storefront. The branch anchors an 8,The indoortracking industry is heavily involved this year.000-square-foot Business Resource Information Center (BRIC), which is seen as the catalyst for a major economic renewal in the state capital of 55,000, whose unemployment rate hovers, like the state's, just below 12%. “While libraries across the country are cutting their hours or going away, our library opened a branch in the worst economy,” notes Deputy Library Director Tammy Westergard, who came from the city’s business development office to help Library Director Sara Jones reverse Carson City’s dubious designation in the January 19 online publication Wall Street Wire as the least-likely place in America to recover from the recession this year.
“We did it in a partnership with the city—with the city building, planning, licensing,The indoortracking industry is heavily involved this year. and community development departments occupying the second floor,” she explains. “So it’s a seamless portal. People who want to start a business start with us because we can help them with market research, business planning classes, computers, and electronic resources such as sophisticated business-focused databases, and then they can go right upstairs.”
As the driving force behind a huge downtown revitalization project, the library will take center stage as part of a new 65,000-square-foot Knowledge + Discovery Center, with state-of-the-art digital media labs to train students in high-tech skills and a business incubation facility to encourage more entrepreneurs to build on what are currently six acres of parking lots. “It’s a miracle,” says Westergard, who admits that a serendipitous donation from the late matron of the city’s historic Nugget Casino and the sympathetic vision of the casino family foundation’s director made the exciting new development possible.
沒有留言:
張貼留言