As Baltimore's unemployment rate rose, many people headed to the library.
Since the onset of the recession, attendance at the Enoch Pratt Free Library's career center classes has jumped 92 percent.
For free, the Central Library on Cathedral Street in downtown Baltimore offers a range of classes that teach how to build a resume, network strategically, search and apply for jobs online, make job seekers' employment "recession-proof," get a federal job in 10 steps and develop basic interviewing skills.
The rise in attendance is nearly in sync with the city's rise in unemployment, which came close to doubling between April 2008 and March 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"If there's a silver lining to the recession right now," said Roswell Encina, director of communications for the Pratt Library, it's that "people are remembering what libraries have to offer."
The library added its job and career resources section during the recession in the early 1980s and has built on it since then.
"These are classes that for the most part we've always done, but we started doing them more regularly since the need has risen," said John Damond, manager of the library's Business, Science, and Technology department.
The recent increase in attendance is not unexpected, Damond added. People are returning to the library for both practical and recreational purposes.
This spring, attendance rose 50 percent at the free City Lit Festival, a six-year-old annual literary celebration co-sponsored by the Pratt Free Library and the City Lit Project, a Baltimore-based nonprofit dedicated to a culture of literacy. Also, in recent months, the Central Library has begun screening newly released family movies at no charge to guests. The library is providing such services and activities because it knows there is a need.
"In Baltimore, we understand that 42 percent of people at home don't have a computer," Encina said. "We've heard from some of our patrons who've cut Internet services at home and are now relying on us for Internet use."
To a large extent the job market has become digital and moved exclusively to the Web, making employment searches difficult for Baltimoreans who do not own a computer.
"We have so many customers ... who aren't as comfortable using computers," Damond said. "And really about 80 percent of job announcements and applications are online now."
