Libraries Help Veterans Transition to Civilian Life
Services for those who have served
Enlisting in the military involves significant lifestyle changes for the recruits. The transition back to civilian life can be equally challenging. They are used to being part of a community of other military members. They must adjust to the new normal, which often involves changing careers. Many libraries have identified these needs and are working to fill them.
Community Information
Veterans and their families have long found libraries to be great resources when they move somewhere new, a one-stop-shop of community information and events to help them adjust.
Innovative Solutions
Library websites are robust online resources, especially for military members and veterans. The Los Angeles Public Library has a web page on career options for veterans. The page includes the GI Bill, unemployment benefits, Los Angeles business license, fees, and tax details.
Florida’s Broward County Library system offers career and education resources for veterans and links to Broward County Veteran Services. It also has the Veterans Connect Hotspot Program, by which veterans can use a mobile WiFi hotspot. The hotspot can be checked out for four months. The library is also working with the Broward County Historical Archives, located at the main library, to preserve stories of local veterans.
In California, Whittier Public Library has a Veteran Resource Center staffed one day a week by trained volunteers to help veterans with veteran-related concerns and issues. Riverside’s SSgt. Salvador J. Lara Casa Blanca Library houses its own Veterans Resource Center, open five days a week, to provide resources on employment, education, housing, and health. Riverside partners with the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
Texas’s Harris County Public Library has numerous resources consolidated onto one web page, including information on mental health for veterans and a page of resources for spouses, families, and dependents.
Academic libraries also work to help veterans returning to civilian life. Rutgers University Libraries has a comprehensive Veterans Services web page with links to veteran resources at the local and national levels. A section designed explicitly for transitioning vets includes specialized resource recommendations curated by expert librarians.
Libraries Can Help
Libraries continue to support veterans, not just in word but deed. If you know a veteran or someone about to retire from the military, suggest they contact their local library.
Visit everylibrary.org to learn how to support the essential resources that libraries offer their communities.
