Finding Work: A Collection Development Proposal Ellen Ast Emporia State University, LI813

My fictional library is the main branch of a multi-branch county library system. The county is located in a socially and economically diverse outer suburb of a major city. Traveling around this county is wrought with problems because traffic is heavy at all hours and its public transportation system is inconvenient and unsafe. My library is a half-mile walk from the nearest bus stop and busses on main routes run once an hour because usage studies have shown that most people prefer car travel. Statistically, the crime rate on the countys buses is highest during evening hours, and higher than the national average for crime rates on public transportation overall. Major employers in the last two years have relocated to places with better tax breaks, leaving thousands of people in the county without jobs. Online job searching is foreign to many of these people, who are used to newspaper, word of mouth, walk-ins and other traditional job searching methods. They are surprised that these methods are either extinct or no longer reliable. For people who dont have Internet at home, libraries and employment offices are the only places to access jobs and apply for them. Not having a car exacerbates this problem but that is the reality for people and their families who are struggling financially and are too young to retire. My collection will consist of reference materials for job-seeking unemployed library users. It will be geared for people with lower levels of computer technology literacy, but people acquainted with the web will find resources about the best places to find jobs useful. This user group includes people who dont have Internet access at home, dont have a car, who dont have either, or who have one but not the other. They need help with brushing up their resume and cover letter writing skills and with knowing where to look for jobs and how to keep pertinent information organized. Most importantly, users will have to get the most out of their job search during the hour they are allowed per day to use the computer. The point of my mixed format collection is two-fold in terms of theory and practice: To give people an overall understanding of employment in the United States, and of how to use the Internet to look for jobs and what terms and concepts to be familiar with. All of my materials were published since the recession started to take shape a few years ago, so the information is current but the knowledge one can gain from the content of these materials is timeless. Although this collection may not suit a frantic job seeker whose information-seeking behavior is understandably not inclined toward learning, one who can spend an extra couple of days with these materials will find the long-terms knowledge gained outweighs any immediate solutions.

Corcodilos, N. Ask the headhunter: the insiders edge on job search and hiring. http://www.asktheheadhunter.com.

Although Choice Reviews in 2007 published a somewhat poor review of this website, calling it full of information but disorganized, busy and drably written by founder and author Nick Corcodilos, Ask the Headhunter (ATH) has received enough praise since it launched in 1995 to be a worthwhile information source for any job seeker. True, the ATH interface could use an upgrade, but the home-grown feel of this portal rich with quality articles, text and recommendations provides an honest look inside the mind of a professional recruiter. ATH can also be used as a learning tool for new Internet users who are daunted by email, websites, creating personal accounts, signing up for things, and everything else involved with online job searching-. Someone who isnt familiar with the Internet can learn how to explore a website while getting familiar with Corcodiloss job searching techniques. They arent anything to be frowned upon, either. Educated at Rutgers and Stanford, Corcodilos is slowly gaining authority as a wise employment-finding coach. In 2008, Universal Press Syndicate started to distribute his features from ATH. Choices review of ATH bemoaned Corcodiloss article bemoaning CareerBuilder.com because it might discourage people from using online job boards to find employment. However, its understandable why Corcodilos believes CB and other employment website giants like Monster and SimplyHired are what is wrong with Americas employment system. His points in the job search strategy are two-fold: The job hunter must cultivate personal contacts in the industry rather than simply write and send and post resumes, and the job hunter must be prepared to demonstrate at the interview how they can do the job and contribute to the bottom line. ATH clearly teaches how everyone there is also a page on the website specifically for women can employ this job search strategy. ATH is recommended for general readers.

Dikel, M. F., & Roehm, F. E. (2008). Guide to Internet job searching. New York: McGrawHill. Riley, Margaret.

Job search expert Richard N. Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute, describes Guide to Internet Job Searching as the best thing in print on the subject of using the Internet to search for a job. Co-published by the Public Library Association and McGraw Hill, this is the latest edition of the book since its first edition was released in 1996 and reviewed the following year in Choice Reviews. However, subsequent editions have regularly appeared since due to the evolving nature of the Internet and its role in connecting people to jobs. Co-

author Frances Roehm, who has been involved with the book since its beginning, chairs the PLA Job and Career Information Services committee and runs Chicago Job Talk (www.chicagojobs.org), a Chicago-area job guide, while co-author Margaret Riley Dikel is also author of a career and employment website called The Riley Guide (www.rileyguide.com) and is a noted expert on using the Internet for employment and career development. Together, the women teach how to find a job on the Internet without surfing it aimlessly. At around $18 on Amazon, the book covers the pitfalls of Internet job searching and how to avoid them. According to promotional material, readers are promised to learn how to find jobs in every industry, at every level, locally and around the world, research potential employers, identify the biggest employment growth areas and regions, avoid time-consuming false starts and dead ends, get to know the best job-listing and recruiting websites, and compose sure-fire online resumes and cover letters. Guide to Internet job searching is recommended for all readers.

Ferguson Publishing. (2011). Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance. New York: Ferguson Publishing Company.

This is the latest edition since 2005 of what librarians who reviewed the product consider to be a classic reference for anyone looking for work. Ferguson Publishing Company first released Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance 25 years ago, although Ferguson has been a publisher of career resources for more than 70 years. Ferguson falls under the umbrella of Infobase Publishing, which publishes materials for schools and markets through Facts on File, Chelsea House, The World Almanac and Blooms Literacy Briticism. At $250 on Amazon, this 15th edition, five-volume set is said to provide comprehensive, up-todate information on a wide variety of career fields, as well as guidance on essential career skills and professional resources. According to promotional material, this hardcover set has new career articles about airport security personnel, aviation safety inspectors, comic book writers, copy editors, corporate librarians, steel industry workers, and video game producers along with 700 other career articles that have been revised and updated with statistical and contact information. Removed from this edition are some articles about adventure travel specialists, biotechnology patent lawyers, shoe industry workers, sports facility designers, and toy and game designers. There are also hundreds of on-the-job interviews, sidebars, websites for further information, and more photographs. Volume one provides career guidance and overviews of more than 90 industries, while volumes two through four contain more than 700 alphabetically arranged career articles. Career guidance includes topics such as assessment tests, job fairs, resumes, cover letters, interviewing, and employment laws. Each volume has a cumulative job-title

index, with main entries in bold. The index reveals that many thousands of additional job titles are mentioned or discussed within articles. The typical career article includes these sections: overview, history, the job, requirements, exploring, employers, starting out, advancement, earnings, work environment, outlook, and for more information. For someone who hasnt been job hunting in awhile, this is a good place to start because of its easy to read format and clear writing and organization. Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance is recommended for middle and high school, public, and academic libraries.

U.S. Department of Labor. Career one stop: pathways to career success. http://www.careeronestop.org/

Recommended in 2009 by Reference and User Services Quarterly as one of the best free reference websites, Career One Stop (COS) is meant to help make job seekers make informed choices. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, COS is designed for general readers at any stage of their lives: Students, job-seekers, businesses and career professionals. The organization of the content and the ability to customize a job search by industry, location, prior work and future goals, status in life, and other factors makes is easy for the individual to decide how to make COS work for them. There are also links to state job banks as well as to resources for people who need support while looking for work: Where to file unemployment insurance, locations of career centers, resume advice, relocating options, and help for people in military transition. COS is recommended for all readers.

Weddle, Peter. (2011). Weddle's 2011/12 Guide to Employment Sites on the Internet: For Corporate & Third Party Recruiters, Job Seekers & Career Activists. Weddles. According to promotional material for the latest edition of Weddles Guide to Employment Sites on the Internet, which was first released in 2001 and regularly re-released since, the best job boards and career sites available on the Internet organized by career field, industry, and geographic focus is contained in this reference for job seekers and recruiters. The 430-page book at about $33 on Amazon.com is comprised of two sections: "The Top 100," which features the top job boards and career portals on the web, and "The Best and The Rest," a comprehensive directory of more than 10,000 employment sites. Further topics include how

many people come to each site per month, the number of resumes found in each database, the cost to search resumes and post a job, how many jobs are posted on each site, the salary ranges of these jobs, which sites store resumes in their databases, and whether or not the site offers automatic notification of a job-resume match. Also interesting to note is author and editor Peter Weddle, who is CEO of his publishing group Weddles, a specialty publisher in the fields of employment and leadership. He has published books about job searching and the Internet since 1994. Supplemental to his materials is a comprehensive website (www.weddles.com) offering more help and references for job seekers. Again, Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute, recommends Weddle and his products, which says their content has the seal of effectiveness is trustworthiness. Weddle's 2011/12 Guide to Employment Sites on the Internet allows professionals and employment seekers to decide well about where to invest time and effort online. It is recommended for all readers.

I have been through the job search too many times than I wish to count and every time I have What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles close at hand. When I found a reference source which he recommended, I knew it was a good one. I kept pricing low, with the most expensive item being Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance. Each item I felt had pedagogical purposes, to help people think and approach their job search beyond filling out an application on JobDango.com and hoping for the best. Although they have worked for some people, I have never had faith in these types of services and neither do the creators of the items I chose, which is why I chose them. Anyone who uses my collection will develop an edge as they search for jobs because they will be (hopefully) well-informed, well-connected and confident. As a computer lab volunteer at Multnomah County Library, I help the very people who I describe as the users of my collection. I see them struggle and nearly break down in tears when they get lost in the chaos of sending and receiving emails, opening accounts, matching usernames and passwords, searching job boards and getting no results all while not really knowing what theyre doing. I had them in mind as I picked the items for my collection because they reflect the style of coaching I wish I had time to do for the people I help in the computer lab. I picked websites which were easy to use and good starting points before broadening their search. Then, the books are meant to acquaint them knowledge of reputable experts and give them a basic understanding of how they can use a computer to do what they need to do.

I went through a tedious process of evaluation, selection, and de-selection of materials before I was satisfied with my list. It was difficult at times to gage whether a source was considered reference material, as opposed to a how-to guide which can be checked out. I also could not justify spending more than a few hundred dollars to build this collection, which is why one expensive, five-volume set had to be offered along with two free websites and two books about how to search for jobs online and what employment websites to use. The most difficult book to ax was the latest edition of The Almanac of American Employers by Jack Plunkett, because it was $300 on Amazon.com and geared toward a different set of professionals than my user group. Hopefully, if my library lets me spend as much money as I would like, I can add this item to my collection.