Above: “How to Ace Your Job Interview” workshop at San Jose Library. Photo via San Jose Library on Flickr.

A new initiative seeks to bring some of the most interesting things happening in Silicon Valley into one of the most public spaces in our communities: the public library. The goal is to bring the ideas of innovation centers and accelerator programs for the community into the city’s library system.

“Public libraries are an entry place for people who are looking to get connected,” said San Jose Public Library Director Jill Bourne. “They have a need that they need to fill. They’re looking for information and referral often.”

With support from Knight, the San Jose Public Library WORKS program is connecting the community with resources to help in job searching and employment training. The program helps refer people to the right organizations that might help in the career process.

The San Jose Public Library system includes a large named library and 23 branches in neighborhoods across the city. Right now, community members can walk into any of these branch libraries to get access to a website and plug into the resources of available programs and calendars.

“We’re often able to reach communities that may not have any other access point, or other access points seem intimidating to them, because maybe they have a language gap or a literacy gap or they can’t travel across town to a program,” Bourne said. “The library is ultimately accessible, and they feel very comfortable there.”

The idea is for the San Jose Public Library system to be an entry point: the library might connect someone to an online training track to get an accredited high school diploma or toward getting training skills to apply for certain jobs. People can access these resources at any branch library or online at home, and the services are also available in Spanish and Vietnamese. (Recent U.S. Census data show that more than 56 percent of San Jose residents speak a language other than English.)

With Knight Foundation’s new support, Bourne said the plan now is to create a physical space for a workforce development and employment training center at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown San Jose. Three dedicated full-time staffers will help run the program.

While a lot of libraries around the country provide entry level job support, San Jose Public Library leadership envisions a larger plan that includes partnerships with tech companies, workforce companies, nonprofits and the nearby patent office.

“The opportunity to bring together the kinds of partners who are interested in this is very, very exciting–and make it available to the public at no cost,” Bourne said.

She added that the vision might even include library resources to help the community pitch business ideas, like people do on ABC’s “Shark Tank”–something uniquely Silicon Valley.

Vignesh Ramachandran is a Bay Area-based freelance journalist. He can be reached via email at [email protected].