Training Materials
Learn more about best practices in volunteer recruitment and engagement, and how to get the results you need.
NOTE: These are examples from public libraries and should be reviewed and modified to ensure fit with local policies and culture.
Title | Keyword | Tags | Year |
---|---|---|---|
Volunteer Background Checks: Giving Back without Giving Up on Privacy
How do nonprofit organizations screen volunteers? There are several options. The choices depend largely on the volunteer job involved and the… more |
Volunteer Screening / Interviewing, Capacity Building, Staff Training | background checks, screening | 2018 |
Beware of These 6 Trends Lurking in Your Volunteer Program
This brief article from November 2019 delineates troubling trends about volunteer engagement programs gleaned from the most recent Volunteer… more |
Capacity Building | 2019 | |
Could Volunteers Replace Paid Staff?? Have No Fear!
An organization’s decision to bring in volunteers may spark fears that volunteers could eventually replace staff. After all, volunteers can do many… more |
Staff Training, Engaging Staff and Unions | Staff Resistance, staff buy-in | 2019 |
Arizona's Buckeye Library Shares it's Experience with Get Involved
In this 6 minute video, Krista Cornish, Buckeye Library's (AZ) Volunteer Engagement Coordinator shares her library's experience and best… more |
Capacity Building, Engaging Staff and Unions | 2019 | |
How to Prioritize When Everything Feels Important
There's never enough time to do everything you want to do. It's a universal problem. And we all accept that fact and live with its reality until the… more |
Staff Training | prioritize, priorities, planning | 2019 |
Shelving with Dewey - Illinois
This 1 hour self-paced course from LibraryU, a program of the Illinois State Library and the regional library systems is archived by WebJunction. It… more |
Job Specific Volunteer Training | shelve, book shelving, shelver | 2019 |
Planning for Including People with Intellectual Disabilities in Volunteer Programs
A tip sheet created by The Arc to help you to include people with intellectual disabilities in your volunteer program. |
Staff Training | disabilities, diversity, equity, inclusion | 2019 |
Recruitment Success Story - Flagstaff Arizona
In this 4 minute video, Claudine from the Flagstaff library talks about her successes in finding a volunteer to serve as her assistant volunteer… more |
Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers | online booksales, Book sale | 2019 |
Volunteer Appreciation Guide
is Volunteer Appreciation Guide is a free resource developed by Wild Apricot to offer tips and advice for volunteer programs just getting started… more |
Capacity Building | recognition | 2019 |
Want to Write a Volunteer Program Annual Report? Here's How to Start
VolunteerMatch blog guest post by Elisa Kosarin. This post originally appeared on Twenty Hats. Your volunteers tell a compelling story. It’s time to… more |
Capacity Building | 2019 | |
How to Write a Strong Reference Letter for a Volunteer
A reference letter showcases a volunteer’s achievements and the skills they’ve gained through volunteering. It can help a volunteer who is looking… more |
Staff Training | recognition, reference letter | 2019 |
Playing by the Rules: Creating an Effective Volunteer Handbook.
This one hour archived webinar was presented by Jennifer Bennett of VolunteerMatch in conjunction with the 4 state Get Involved: Powered by Your… more |
Volunteer Handbooks | policies, handbook | 2019 |
How to Build a Successful Volunteer Program
This brief guidebook was created by the International City/County Management Association. |
Capacity Building, Staff Training | toolkit | 2019 |
NextGen Nexus: A Peek Inside the Millennial Mind
What if you could have a young person authentically share their viewpoint about your social issue and cause? What would they say, and how can you… more |
Millennials | 2019 | |
Do's and Don'ts of Supervising Library Volunteers
This July 2019 article from Public Libraries Online provides an excellent overview of working with volunteers in large and small libraries. |
Capacity Building, Staff Training | supervision | 2019 |
Talking Racial Equity? Make Sure You Understand These 17 Words
A good list of terms to be familiar with from Technical.ly |
Capacity Building, Staff Training | racism, inclusive, diversity | 2020 |
Building Better COVID-Related Volunteer Roles
VolunteerPro's approach to re-tooling our volunteer engagement during COVID-19. Includes a template for a Quick-n-Dirty Needs Assessment. |
Staff Training, Capacity Building | job descriptions, COVID-19, needs assessment | 2020 |
Fighting Racism Through Diverse and Inclusive Volunteer Engagement Programming (Part 1 of 2)
Thoughts on how to audit your own diversity, equity and inclusion strategy (DEI) in how you engage volunteers from Jerome Tennille, CVA, social good… more |
Capacity Building, Staff Training | racism, diversity, Recruitment, inclusive | 2020 |
Volunteer COVID-19 Safety Guidelines - Cedar Rapids IA
General guidelines for volunteers returning to the library during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. |
Capacity Building, Job Specific Volunteer Training | COVID-19 | 2020 |
Racial Equity and Inclusion Resources for Volunteer Engagement Leaders
This is a terrific list of links to articles, books, research, podcasts, movies and toolkits on this subject put together by MAVA - the Minnesota… more |
Staff Training, Capacity Building | inclusive, inclusion, equity, racism | 2020 |