After driving out of New York City 13 years for Greyhound Lines, Thade Corbett wanted to see more of the country behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer, but first he needed to go back to school to get the Class A license required for driving the big rigs.

The 50-year-old Harrisburg resident initially tried, unsuccessfully, to get help at a local career center. Then a family member suggested searching on the computers at the uptown Harrisburg Madeline L. Olewine Memorial Library.

“I don’t have internet at home and I’m not that computer savvy,’’ says Thade, who friends call Brother Thaddeus. “When I came to The Library, the staff were really nice and helped me with my computer searches and even helped me print out the application I needed for school.’’

Thade’s job search led him to the school run by trucking firm C.R. England, which was tuition-free in return for a year of service with the company. In February 2019, he celebrated his first work anniversary and, as he hoped, Thade has hauled freight throughout the country.

More recently, he accepted an intermodal trucking position, where he drives freight arriving by rail the last miles to its local destination. Though he did like cross country, the intermodal job gets him home every night so that he can spend more time with his 16-year-old son, a junior at Bishop McDevitt, and his older daughter, a nurse at Harrisburg Hospital.

“The Library helped me find a new career so I could support my family,’’ Thade says. “They’re supportive, they’re encouraging and they’re kind and that’s a blessing especially for people who are intimidated by computers. When you go to the library, there’s no excuse for you not to be able to look for opportunities that will better your life.’’