The Information Professional

“People comment that they prefer coming to the library [rather than the OneStop]. It’s welcoming; it’s open; it’s easy to deal with,” Poland said. “The OneStops had this feel of the unemployment office.” Besides that positive atmosphere (and potentially less stigma), the library is centrally located, and already attracts high traffic, likely making more people aware of the services. (The reverse is true as well: Poland says the services are bringing new people into the library.)

But the library location’s most important advantage to CTWorks is what Poland calls “wraparound services”: the career agents refer their clients to the library-offered citizenship resources, language classes, and digital literacy help as needed. “Where better to do that than the library? It’s where we do it anyway,” Poland commented.

-Meredith Schwartz