So, what do you put in the collection to help your patrons get a job when they get out? An important part of our libraries’ mission is to have the resources to help our patrons re-enter the community. A big part of a successful re-entry is getting a job. Using a day labor agency isn’t always a viable option for an ex-offender. In the Spokane, WA area where I’m at, it’s estimated that you need to earn at least $10.50 to support a family of four. That often isn’t what these types of jobs pay. So, what resources do you get that will help an ex-offender get a good job where they can make a decent living?

Any public or school library has (hopefully) shelves of nice career guidance materials aimed at high school students, college students and people that are re-careering. The professional literature is full of reviews for these kinds of materials so you can easily pick out the best for your patrons. For some of the people using these resources, the worst they may have are bad grades or maybe a bad job performance report to contend with during their job search. The good career materials have hints and suggestions of how to deal with these types of things.

This isn’t the case in the prison libraries. What realistic career guidance materials do you recommend for someone who has a conviction or three and some prison time to contend with on a resume or during a job interview? It’s like wearing a scarlet letter and isn’t really covered by most career guidance materials. Over the years, there were some good items out there, but they’ve aged beyond being useful. The Washington State Prison System helps by providing GED & adult education classes as well as some computer user and vocational training. This can provide a good foundation to build on and for a very few, a career they can take with them to the streets, if the offender is willing to apply themselves. The other 98% aren’t so lucky; they’re still at the beginning of their job search.

Many of the offenders realize that they’ll be facing some pretty big obstacles finding a job when they get out and so they start to research starting their own business. Adams Publishing and a few other publishers have good current titles on businesses that can be started with little capital and few resources and the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Center in Spokane has a great booklet on how to start a business in Washington State. But these are only the starting point for someone who wants their own business. The patron that decides to go this way still has to do the market research, create a business plan, find a place for the business and try to identify funding to start the business. Try doing it from prison, with no internet or easy phone access to the outside. All of the calls are collect and the staff has to provide the information from the internet. All too often, the application process is completely on-line and the staff can’t act as the patron’s administrative assistant. The patron could try writing, but the big red stamp on the envelope saying that the correspondence is from a prison often gets the letter filed in the trash can.

The offender is expected to “hit the streets running”, that is, start earning a living right away and get their whole lives in order. Could any of us do this, start from the very beginning, not job, little money, no transportation and no housing, with little or no outside support? Think of doing it with criminal convictions and prison time on your resume. Sure, Washington State does have a better system of social assistance than most states, but once you apply, it often takes time to get approved and to start getting the assistance. The State gives an ex-offender $40 “gate money” and can, in certain circumstances, increase it to $100. That’s it, all they have until they can get the assistance or get the business started. Hopefully, the patron has managed to save up some money, but how much can that be when most of the jobs pay about $0.40 an hour and the State deducts from that 5%-45% for the patron’s keep and support orders. By the way, when you have a job, you don’t get the free personal care items; you have to buy them off the “store” and at regular prices. This works out to 5-7 hours for a bar of soap. And did I forget to mention that because of the head counts throughout the day, 6 -7 hours is the average you can work in any one day. Forget about working two jobs, the superintendent has to authorize is and rarely does. If one offender has two jobs, one other offender won’t have any.

Let’s consider regular jobs, where you work for someone else. Right now, only Impact Publications has any materials directed specifically at ex-offenders for finding a job. Add to that the old standbys of “What Color Is Your Parachute”, the “Damn Good Resume” series, the occupational outlook titles, and the “Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance”, and you have just about all that is current and useful for someone leaving prison. Not a lot of variety here, but what there is, is good.

Unfortunately, this is only part of what our patrons need. Once they are out, the ex-offender has to know where to look for jobs, housing, food, clothing and transportation. The library comes to the rescue here too. We have the phone books (yellow pages only please) and the newspapers. We also have at least one large notebook of information about community re-entry resources, especially local organizations that the patrons can contact for more help. Even with this, the ex-offender is still behind the curve. A lot of the jobs are now listed on-line. Go back to the 4^th paragraph if you can’t remember why this is a problem. Hopefully, when our patrons are ready to walk out of the prison, they know where to go, how to get there and what to do once they are there.

The best place we can point them to is another library “on the street” where they are going. When job hunting, the potential employer needs to know how to contact you. A phone number, street address and email address comes in handy for this. The local library has the internet terminals where they can get an email address and search for jobs. The library also has the contact information for local organizations that can help the ex-offender get a mail box, PO box and a phone number.

It’s rewarding to be part of something that can help someone whether they are in or out of prison. We may have to create it from what seems like a thousand little pieces, but we’ll do it.