Digital Inclusion Month: Digital Skill Building Pathways and eResources

Information Updated: October 2024

Happy Digital Inclusion Month!

In October, the San José Public Library (SJPL) is celebrating its commitment to digital inclusion for all. In our first blog, we focused on how we are stronger together. This week, we’re spotlighting one key part of digital inclusion: ensuring everyone has the opportunity to learn and develop digital skills.

Why Are Digital Skills Important?

Digital skills help us do many things online, such as:

Find information
Communicate with others
Create and design content
Solve problems
Protect your privacy

What's Available?

Digital Skill Building Pathways

Last year, we launched our Digital Skill Building Pathways program to make learning digital skills easier and more accessible. With these lessons, you can:

Learn at your own pace anytime, online.
Attend an in-person or virtual class at your local library.

Since the program launched:

18 lessons are now available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Five new lessons were added, bringing the total to 20 lessons.
Over 160 programs have been held, reaching nearly 650 people.

Attend a Program at Your Local Branch

Many SJPL branches host digital skill-building classes, both in-person and virtually. Workshops are led by library staff and trained volunteers and typically last 1-2 hours.

Here’s what some participants have said:

"I desperately need this class against fraud and identity theft and SJPL was able to help me."

"The instructors spend a lot of time explaining new techniques. I learned something new about scanning documents and adding places to Apple Maps. Thanks so much!"

"I like the class because we learn a lot [of] information. Thank you for the support."

"I have a lot of fun learning in this class. The teachers are very good at facilitating and it's easy to understand. I like it a lot."

"The teachers are very thorough in facilitating and it's very fun when I'm in class."

"I very [much] like computer class because instructors [are] very nice, friendly, and dedicated towards us."

Self-Paced Online Lessons

If you can't attend a live workshop, try our self-paced online lessons available 24/7. Lessons are grouped into categories like digital skills, career, tech for fun, and online forms. Each lesson includes definitions, examples, images, and videos.

Whether you want to review a lesson, explore a new topic, or share your skills, there’s always something new to learn!

eResources

SJPL offers a variety of eResources for anyone with a library card, available 24/7. You can access:

eBooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, TV, music, newspapers, and magazines.
Computers and Technology eResources to help you learn digital skills.
Databases on a wide range of topics—from popular hobbies to homework help to learning languages.

Visit our eResources by Subject list to see everything we offer. All you need is your free library card.

Tech Mentor / Tech 1-1 sessions

Need help with printing, using Word, setting up an email, tech security, or using SJPL's eResources? We are ready to assist you. These one-on-one sessions can be booked found on our events site.