The North Olympic Library System, working in partnership with the Washington State Library, will offer multiple testing sessions for Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exams at no charge June 8-20.
A MOS exam typically costs between $99 and $130 per exam, depending on the location.
Testing will be held at these times and locations:
• Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St. — 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. June 8 and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 15.
• Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave. — 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. June 14.
• Forks Library, 171 S. Forks Ave. — 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. June 20.
Limited space is available and registration is required at www.nols.org/events.
Fifty minutes are allocated for the exam.
Those unable to attend one of the designated testing sessions can contact ehelp@nols.org to schedule an individual testing appointment with library staff.
Microsoft Office proficiency is one of the most requested job skills, across all occupations and industries, and holding a MOS certification can earn an entry-level business employee as much as $16,000 more in annual salary than their uncertified peers, organizers said.
In late 2016, the library system was awarded a $4,500 grant from the Washington State Library to help assemble a mobile laptop lab.
The laptops are now used to offer MOS certification testing around Clallam County in addition to other library programming, such as computer coding camps being held in Port Angeles and Sequim through February and March.
To help prepare for success on MOS exams, Washington residents can take online courses through the Microsoft Imagine Academy Program free through the North Olympic Library System website.
The Microsoft Imagine Academy offers hundreds of introductory classes covering everything from sending and receiving emails to navigating the web.
Popular courses cover the basics of Office 2013 and 2016, Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. For more practiced users and IT professionals, the academy offers courses tackling advanced subjects such as SQL Server, ASP.NET, Visual Studio and Microsoft Dynamics.
All Imagine Academy courses are conducted in one-on-one virtual sessions and are free of charge with a library card.
Free certificates of completion can be downloaded at the conclusion of each course, and official Microsoft certification and testing also are available.
Access to the Imagine Academy is made possible through an ongoing public-private partnership between Microsoft, the Washington State Library, the Office of Secretary of State and the state Legislature.
To get started, visit www.nols.org and click on “E-Resources” and then “Microsoft Imagine Academy.”
