Public libraries are increasingly positioned to act as learning and skills intermediaries, helping individuals use technology to access learning, demonstrate and verify their skills, and navigate emerging microcredential and Learning & Employment Record (LER) systems. While public libraries do not typically issue formal academic or workforce credentials, they play a critical intermediary role by connecting community-based learning and support to education and employment pathways.

Public libraries are distinctive in their ability to serve learners across the full life course, including K–12 students, young adults, mid-career individuals seeking reskilling or career change, and older workers adapting to evolving labor market demands. This age-agnostic reach positions libraries as continuity institutions within a fragmented learn-and-work ecosystem, supporting learning and skill development before, during, and between formal education and employment experiences.

A central feature of this intermediary role is technology and digital navigation support. Public libraries are commonly trusted sites for device access, broadband connectivity, and hands-on assistance with account creation and recovery, online safety, and the use of learning, credential, and employment platforms. These forms of support are often prerequisites for participating in furthering education and career goals.

Public libraries also contribute an accessibility and inclusion infrastructure that strengthens learning ecosystems. Through assistive technologies, language access, flexible learning spaces, and in-person support, libraries help ensure that education and workforce systems are usable by individuals with varying abilities, languages, and levels of digital readiness. This role is particularly important as higher education institutions and employers seek to serve learners at multiple stages of life rather than at a single point of entry.

In addition to direct learner support, public libraries often function as local ecosystem connectors. As trusted, neutral community institutions, libraries can coordinate with higher education institutions, workforce boards, nonprofit organizations, and employers to align learning opportunities with local needs and reduce fragmentation across systems. In emerging partnership models, libraries typically focus on learner-facing support, accessibility, and navigation; and higher education and credential issuers provide assessment of individuals' competencies, quality assurance, credential issuance, and Learning & Employment Records (LERs).