Job and life skills were learned at my public library! I provided a supportive & welcoming atmosphere, appropriate activities, and work experience opportunities for high school and junior high students with varying abilities.
These young men wanted to make a paper chain for the holidays that stretched around the whole library. They succeeded! Every semester, my library welcomed a group of student volunteers with special needs. They were paid a stipend by their school's Workability program.
Another group of Workability students completed the weeding of our large mystery section by working for 1 hour a day, 3 days a week. ("Weeding" is the removal of older books that don't check out to make room for new titles. The older books are sold at Friends of the Library sales.) Despite some reading challenges, they used a printed catalog report and successfully found all the books by barcode. This task was a tremendous help to my library staff, and a great source of pride for the students.
