Get On the Fast-Track to In-Demand Jobs with Brooklyn Public Library

The Business & Career Center (by way of our LevelUP program) recently received a grant to provide Google Career Certificates to the public, exploring UX Design, IT Support, Digital Marketing, Project Management, Data Analytics and Cybersecurity. Participants must live in Brooklyn and have an active Brooklyn Public Library. To apply for a scholarship spot, fill out the Brooklyn Public Library's Grow with Google Scholarship application.

Maybe you are unsure of which program is right for you? 

Maybe you find it hard to commit to just one course? 

Have no fear! 

The Brooklyn Public Library has books that explore each of the six courses. Check them all out with your Brooklyn Public Library card.

Books to Becoming a Project Manager

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® guide)  

The Brooklyn Public Library owns unlimited copies (!!) of the PMBOK® Guide, a go-to digital resource for project management practitioners. The project management profession has evolved due to emerging technologies, new approaches and rapid market changes. Reflecting this evolution, The Standard for Project Management enumerates 12 principles of project management and the PMBOK® Guide - Seventh Edition is structured around eight project performance domains.

Agile Project Management for Dummies

Written by one of the original agile technique thought-leaders, this book guides you and your team in discovering why agile techniques work and how to create an effective agile environment. Users will gain the knowledge to improve various areas of project management from learning the steps for putting agile techniques into action to managing the project's scope and procurement. 

Scrum: the art of doing twice the work in half the time

Written by one of the co-founders of Scrum and his son, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time lays out the framework of the Scrum project management method and how it increases teams' efficiency. Readers applaud the book as easy to read, as well as for the practical advice and stories that it contains. 

The PMP Exam: How to pass on your first try

This book has been fully updated for the Jan 2021 PMP exam, including the all-important agile content. This book provides all the information project managers need to thoroughly prepare for and pass the test. This comprehensive study resource includes coverage of predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches, as well as all the processes, inputs, tools, and outputs to be tested, and insider secrets. 

Project Management for Humans: Helping people get things done

Project management is not about following a template or using a tool, but rather developing personal skills and intuition to find a method that works for everyone. Whether you're a designer or a manager, Project Management for Humans will help you estimate and plan tasks, scout and address issues before they become problems. 

Books to Becoming a Data Analyst

SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Managing, Analyzing, and Manipulating Data With SQL

SQL QuickStart Guide is ideal for those seeking to increase their job prospects by providing advice on how to pitch your new SQL skills to potential employers and how to use SQL to communicate with relational databases. 

Big data : a revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think 

The book examines big data, how we have a newfound ability to crunch vast amounts of information, analyze it instantly, and draw profound and surprising conclusions from it. 

Data science for business : what you need to know about data mining and data-analytic thinking

This book digs deep into the importance of data for business decision-making. If you’re interested in pursuing a career as a business analyst, consider this an introduction to how data science and business work together and what goes into data-driven decision making.

Naked Statistics

If you need a refresher of what you learned in college statistics, pick up this book. If you struggle with mathematical concepts presented as a series of numbers and symbols stripped of context, pick up this book. Just pick up this book already.

Storytelling with data : a data visualization guide for business professionals

Showing your data is not enough, it’s important for it to tell a story. Learn how with this book to impress your stakeholders.

Books to becoming a UX Designer

Universal principles of design : 200 ways to increase appeal, enhance usability, influence perception, and make better design decisions

Whether it be a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work--until now. This book gives definitions of different types of principals of designs with examples and guidelines for each. 

The Design of Everyday Things

This book proves it is not your fault when you fail to figure out how to use simple objects such as a light switch or a door lock. It's a design flaw. Product design must not ignore the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. 

Don't make me think, revisited : a common sense approach to Web usability 

Hundreds of thousands of Web designers and developers have relied on usability guru Steve Krug's guide to understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design. He's witty, commonsensical, and eminently practical, it's one of the best loved and most recommended books on the subject. In this substantially revised edition, Steve returns with fresh perspective to reconsider the principles he originally laid out--commenting, amending, amplifying, and offering fresh new examples to underscore their importance. 
 

100 things every designer needs to know about people

What grabs and holds your attention? What makes memories stick? What line length text is best? Which font gets across an idea? This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With this book you'll design more intuitive and engaging apps, software, websites and products that match the way people think, decide and behave.
 

Bottlenecks : aligning UX design with user psychology

This book bridges entrepreneurship, design, and marketing with foundational psychology and user-experience design. The first generation of books on the topic focused on web pages and cognitive psychology. This book covers apps, social media, in-car infotainment, and multiplayer video games, and it explores the crucial roles played by behaviorism, development, personality, and social psychology.

Books to Becoming a Digital Marketer

Digital marketing strategy : an integrated approach to online marketing

Build an effective and practical digital strategy with this bestselling guide to digital marketing, covering everything from automation and analytics to integrating AI. Learn from real-world case studies including Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Adidas, and Uber so you can view best practices to build your own digital marketing strategy.

Epic content marketing : how to tell a different story, break through the clutter, and win more customers by marketing less

This is an easy-to-digest guide to content marketing strategy, operations and success packed with real-life examples. 

The digital marketing handbook : a step-by-step guide to creating websites that sell

Worldwide online retail sales totaled $1.9 trillion in 2016 and it's estimated that revenues will hit $4 trillion by 2020. Even a microscopic share of this market can make anyone rich, yet most everyone who tries to make money online fails. The Digital Marketing Handbook was written to help marketers of all skill levels -- from Fortune 1000 and SMBs to small business owners and solopreneurs -- take their websites from cost centers to profit centers. 

Digital trust : social media strategies to increase trust and engage customers

How do brands build trust and engage with customers? This is the question in the forefront of every business. Trust can take years that a business does not have. This book not only emphasizes the importance for small and medium-sized businesses to market their services and products on social media to foster brand loyalty, but practical advice on how to achieve it.

See you on the internet : building your small business with digital marketing

Marketing your small business effectively takes some careful thought. In See You on the Internet, Avery Swartz, one of North America's top tech leaders, gives you a failsafe framework to plan and execute a brilliant digital marketing strategy with confidence. The best part of this book is that you don't need a technical background to follow it. In five simple steps, you will learn to build your brand, increase your customers, and generate more revenue.

Books for Careers in IT Support and Cybersecurity 

The IT support handbook : a how-to guide to providing effective help and support to IT users

This is the go-to book for becoming a more effective IT support professional for your users, whether you're an individual, part of an IT support team, or managing staff supporting PC users in their homes. You'll learn how to efficiently and effectively deal with any type of problem, including operating systems, software, and hardware. IT support is often complex, time-consuming, and expensive, but it doesn't have to be with the right processes in place. With this guide, you'll understand the right way to approach, troubleshoot, and isolate problems so they can be handled efficiently.

Cybersecurity all-in-one

Cybersecurity All-in-One For Dummies covers a lot of ground in the world of keeping computer systems safe from those who want to break in. It is 6 books in one, after all! This book offers a one-stop resource on cybersecurity basics, personal security, business security, cloud security, security testing, and security awareness. Learn how to lock down your computers, devices, and systems--and understand why doing so is more important now than ever. 

Building a career in cybersecurity : the strategy and skills you need to succeed

Here's a complete guide to creating a cybersecurity career whether you are migrating to cybersecurity from another field or are already a cybersecurity professional. Building a Career in Cybersecurity doesn't teach detailed technical skills you can get from a thousand books and videos. Instead, Yuri Diogenes focuses on make-or-break knowledge you won't find elsewhere: personal strategy, planning, process, mindset, and the critical "soft skills" today's employers are desperate to find. 

The Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay

Women have a place in tech! Alana Karen, a twenty-year tech company veteran and leader, brilliantly and systematically replaces what we think we know about women in tech with more than eighty women's stories of what it's honestly like to join, lead, and thrive in today's top technology companies. The Adventures of Women in Tech delves into why we join tech, the challenges we face, and the skills and support we need to succeed and stay in an often challenging environment.

Crushing the IT gender bias : thriving as a woman in technology

Conscious and unconscious bias, societal pressures, and discomfort with women's ambition are issues that women are confronted with in any male-dominated setting, and tech is no exception. Statistically, women are a disproportionately small percentage of the technology industry. How did we get here, what is changing, and what can future generations of women in STEM expect? In Crushing the IT Gender Bias , author Kellyn Pot'Vin-Gorman applies her two decades of experience in tech to these meaningful questions, plus many more. Learn how to get your voice heard in an industry that has been male-dominated. Additionally, this book is for male professionals who desire to grow in their understanding and eliminate bias in their work environments.