In March 2020 almost all local businesses and government agencies closed in response to COVID-19, including Hillsborough County libraries. Thousands of residents were suddenly out of work or facing reduced hours. Through their service in the library’s call center and the County’s Emergency Operations Center, library staff identified a lack of unemployment forms available to the public. Many of the people who needed these forms relied on the library for internet access and printing, but reopening was not yet possible.

Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library (THPL) partnered with CareerSource Tampa Bay to distribute and collect printed unemployment forms. Two branches with drive-thru service windows offered safe distancing and no direct contact between staff and customer. CareerSource diligently updated form links on their website and THPL mailed completed forms to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity at no charge. As businesses reopened, form distribution concluded and both partners shifted focus toward employability.

THPL distributed 2,198 unemployment forms and mailed 715, receiving 200 press mentions. THPL’s instructional video for unemployment filing has over 14,000 views. THPL and CareerSource hosted an Employability Workshop on job searching, interviewing and personal branding and a Virtual Job Fair where 17 employers representing 500 jobs received 1,898 virtual booth visits and 234 job applications. THPL expanded Wi-Fi to its parking lots to increase access to reemployment resources, with 405,509 connections since April 2020.