Job seekers keep library computers humming
CENTENNIAL — Eight of 23 computers were idle at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at Arapahoe County Public Libraries Castlewood branch.
“This is really quiet. We have open computers,” said Daisy Grice, the library’s site supervisor.
There’s a 30-minute time limit when the place is really busy. And the busiest days are Monday and Friday, Grice said.
The computers are online almost all the time the library is open, chairs in front filled with people looking for work.
It’s a scene played out at most metropolitan Denver libraries, according to a spot check.
Darrin McKnight looks online for jobs recently at the Denver Public Library, 10 W. 14th Ave. McKnight was laid off from his machinery job four months ago and has worked for temp services, but has not found permanent work yet. Photo by Gabriel Christus
There’s even a Post-News job kiosk in the computer lab. But it offers little in the way of leads. Punch in jobs under advertising and marketing and on the screen pops up a box “There are currently no jobs listed for this category.” It’s the same story for agriculture, and bartender, categories. There was one opening for a bookkeeper and a part-time listing under deliver/courier.
Castlewood has pitched the two job kiosks it had.
Computers have access to more markets, more jobs. That and a rotten economy mean more people wanting to use the library’s computers.
“The recession is slower to hit this part of town. But it’s finally hitting,” Grice said. “Even those who aren’t laid off have someone in their family who is. You don’t have to go very far from home to see the recession.”
One patron was luckier than a lot of others. He has a job. But he’s looking for a better one. He declined to give his name, for fear that his employer would fire him for looking for another job.
He uses the library to check e-mail.
“You never know who’s looking over your back at work,” he said.
And he checks job leads.
Castlewood plans to free up more computers in its lab in July after staff has gone through more training to help customers, said Laurie Christensen, manager of Castlewood, Kobel and Southglenn libraries.
“We don’t want any unused real estate,” Christensen said.
She said people looking for work in their fields of expertise, such as food service, don’t have to use computers on the job. But they need to use computers to find and apply for jobs.
The bum economy is good for the library in other ways.
“Anytime we see a down economy, we see people being more careful with discretionary income,” Christensen said. “Instead of buying a book or a magazine, people come to the library and check them out.”
So too come the job seekers, whose numbers increase every day, Grice said.
“People are treating their job search as a job,” Grice said. “They are casting a wide net, definitely looking for what’s out there. People who want to get out of the house have a place to go.”
