The new year often brings new activity on the career front.  Calvert Library wants to help and has launched a new Career & Job Center website.  Calvert Library Prince Frederick has also established a weekly Working Wednesdays series to offer support with resumes, online job applications, career coaching and more.

Libraries across the state are participating in the first-ever Career Success Month, a collaborative effort to enhance Maryland’s workforce. Career Success Month, which will run from January 17 through February 17, 2022, will provide customers with a broad spectrum of guidance on business, job advancement, career goals, and legal considerations. This program is part of Maryland Libraries Together, a statewide initiative sponsored, in part, by the Maryland State Library Agency. 

The keynote speaker for this inaugural event will be Kathryn Finney. 

Kathryn Finney is a serial entrepreneur and investor. She is the Founder and Managing General Partner of Genius Guild, a Chicago-based venture fund that invests in scalable businesses led by Black founders using innovation to build and promote healthy communities. A Yale-trained epidemiologist, Kathryn founded digitalundivided after selling her media company, The Budget Fashionista, making her one of the first Black women to successfully exit a startup. Her new book, Build The Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business if You're Not a Rich White Guy, launched in June 2022 and appeared on the Wall Street Journal’s list of bestselling books in its first week of release.  You can register to receive the link on the Howard County site.

"Ensuring career success and workforce development is integral to the curriculum of public libraries in Maryland,” stated Rohini Gupta, Adult Learning and Innovation Specialist for Howard County Library System. Gupta is spearheading the Career Success Month project. “We realize the importance of navigating legal issues for entrepreneurs, the employed, as well as job seekers. Thus, our goal is to present actionable and high-value information for our community during Career Success Month."

Career Success Month will be followed by a series of events across the state, including Lawyer in the Library, Trademark Law, Goal Setting for Success, and more. A complete list of events can be found on the Maryland Libraries Together webpage through the Maryland State Library Agency website.