A Continuation of Celebrating Books, Art, and Community…..

As a means of encouraging residents’ interest in the arts, the Art in the City Committee coordinated a mural design contest last spring and challenged students at Haltom High School to enter. The contest was co-sponsored by the Haltom City Library 50^th Anniversary Committee. Theme of the winning work was to be military in honor of those who had served in the United States Armed Forces.  Winners were announced before the end of school  last year. They are: 1^st Place – Erik Johnson; 2^nd Place Bethany Ivey.

So that these works could be seen by the public, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department employees constructed two four by 16 foot pallets on the lawn at the library. The students from Haltom High completed the mural by applying the winning designs during the inaugural Art in the City Haltom City Art Festival, held Oct. 1 at the Library. Those who drive by can appreciate the students’ work, just in time for an observance of Veteran’s Day 2011.

A special thanks to Fran Burns who provided this information and photos of the murals in progress, and of course, to all the volunteers of the Art in the City Committee and the Haltom City Public Library's 50th Anniversary Committee for their vision, hard work, and dedication to Haltom City and the library.

New Tools for Finding Jobs

According to the Star-Telegram’s article on October 10, 2011, there are “better-than-expected employment numbers” with employers adding 103,000 jobs in September.  Good news. Yet the same article in the Star-Telegram states that “the number of Americans out of work for six months or longer crept up to 6.2 million.”  Not so good news.

  

The unemployment rate is staying at 9.1 percent which means, chances are, that you or a family member or a friend is unemployed and looking for a job.  This is true for me and a friend of mine.  We both have adult children currently unemployed and looking for work.  My friend and I were discussing yesterday about how frustrated her daughter, a recent UTA magna cum laude graduate, felt when she received feedback from a prospective employer that her resume needed minor tweaking.  I, being the Library Blog Mistress, suggested that she contact the Haltom City Public Library as at one time they had held classes on resume writing.  

That’s when I learned that the classes are no longer available as NTRLS (North Texas Regional Library System) suffered major budget reductions due to cuts from the State Library, their funding source (the State Library sustained  a 64% budget cut, largest of any state agency).  But there is good news according to Lesly Smith, our Library Director.  The Haltom City Public Library has just subscribed to a new database called ResumeMaker.  It can be found on the Library’s website, http://www.haltomcitytx.com/HC_Public_Library/PublicLibrary.html and is free to all Haltom City Public Library card holders.  I wish I’d known about this website before my son paid $150 to have his resume written!  Another new database, www.TWDL.org  which offers multiple job listing websites, will be available on the Library’s website as well. 

Looking for employment is a hard and often discouraging process with the job seekers to wonder: Where do I look for job opportunities?  Why haven’t I gotten that interview?  And how much longer can I go without any income coming in?  Thanks to the Haltom City Public Library, job seekers will now have new avenues and resources to help make their search a more successful venture.