Rep. Carfagna Announces Free Access for All Ohioans to LinkedIn's Online Professional Skills Learning Platform

COLUMBUS—State Representative Rick Carfagna (R-Genoa Township) participated in a press conference today announcing free access to LinkedIn’s online professional skills learning platform, Lynda.com (Lynda), though Ohio’s public libraries for all citizens in the state of Ohio with a library card.

Lynda contains more than 12,000 courses to help users advance in their career field or jump into a new profession. The Ohio Library Council (OLC) and the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) announced a three-year, $710,000 yearly, contract with LinkedIn for the service. Currently, only 30 of Ohio’s 251 public library systems offer access to Lynda. Through this new partnership most of Ohio’s libraries should have access to the platform by the fall of this year.

This is the first such agreement between LinkedIn and a statewide public library system, and will provide access to business, software, technology and writing skill video courses, taught by industry experts, to help Ohioans better themselves. These skills can aid those who are seeking their first job, looking to progress their professional career, or striving to achieve personal goals. The skills taught in the videos are strongly correlated with Ohio’s in-demand jobs, helping provide free skill-building tools for current and hopeful employees and a trained workforce for employers.

“This partnership provides Ohioans with access to more than 12,000 online courses to help anyone learn new skills,” remarked Carfagna. “This incredible resource provides Ohioans, of all ages and abilities, with a chance to gain more knowledge, enhance their skill sets and increase their marketability in the workplace. Best of all, this resource is free to all Ohio library cardholders. These courses can be accessed at any time of the day, and people have the flexibility to use this service from either their own home computer or at any Ohio library.”

Normally a paid subscription, Ohioans will not even be required to visit the library to access Lynda, and can simply use their library card number and PIN to access this robust resource. Access to broadband will therefore be a vital component to the success of this initiative. This importance of broadband access was highlighted at the press conference by OLC, bringing attention to Rep. Carfagna’s House Bill 281, which would help fund projects that bring broadband to underserved regions of the state.

OLC, OPLIN and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation held the press conference, along with Rep. Carfagna.