Get Involved Blog - What's New

May 2012 What's New

We are thrilled to announce some major upgrades to our Get Involved webpage!

(1) The new “Resource and Training Center” tab will take you right to a searchable database (we call it the “Clearinghouse”) of all the great resources we currently have stored in the system:

Management Tools, Policies, and Handbooks
High Impact Volunteer Position Descriptions
Training Materials, Videos, and Tutorials about best practices
Professional Photos related to position descriptions

NOTE: You’ll find hundreds of professionally taken photos – all with permission from the subjects in the photos . . . they are sized for immediate use on your VolunteerMatch postings. Remember, VolunteerMatch research shows that opportunities posted with a picture of a volunteer engaged in the job you’re recruiting for gets 3 times as many “hits” as one without. You can browse all of the photos, or search for a particular one by using some general volunteer job titles in a Keyword drop down menu on the photos page.

(2) You can also do a Site Search to display all resources in the database (management tools, position descriptions, training materials, and photos) that relate to the search words you submit (such as "computer coach" or "adult literacy").
NOTE: It is important to use the quotation marks if you want to search for phrases (e.g. "computer coach", otherwise the system will perform an OR search on both words (e.g. computer OR coach).

(3) You’ll see that you can “Suggest a Resource” – please do!! As you develop more volunteer engagement materials, please use that option to send us more things that we can share with everyone.

(4) Also new on the site www.library.ca.gov/lds/getinvolved.html is a “Hot Topics” tab, where we’ve grouped materials around these topics so far:

Getting Staff Buy-In for Volunteer Engagement
Union Issues
Engaging Baby Boomers as Volunteers

Please make suggestions for new “Hot Topics” and/or for additional materials we could add to these special pages.

April 2012 What's New

A veritable treasure trove of useful documents from the San Jose Public Library's award-winning Volunteer Engagement Team has been added for April!

Mar 2012 What's New

Successful Volunteer Recruitment Strategies: Capturing the Talent of Baby Boomers and the Generations that Follow (60 minutes)

• Do you ever wonder what motivates volunteers?
• Are you wondering where to find talented volunteers?
• What projects or programs do you have that will attract them?

Baby boomers and the generations that follow are seeking new ways to use their skills and experience to make a difference in their communities. Your library is uniquely positioned to benefit from these volunteers. This webinar will provide tools, techniques, and models for volunteer engagement.

Feb 2012 What's New

One of our sustainability strategies for the Get Involved: Powered by Your Library statewide volunteerism initiative is the development of "Regional Peer Networks." In addition to our statewide efforts, the goal is to facilitate the sharing of library volunteer engagement success stories, resources, ideas and materials among folks in various geographic areas. This will help to sustain current gains, share strategies, and ensure that libraries new to Get Involved are exposed and mentored to achieve their own successes.

The Bay Area Network has scheduled 3 FREE workshops -- San Francisco March 2, Marina April 9 and San Jose May 4. Find workshop flyer here: Workshop Flyer with registration and contact information. Lunch and potential for regional travel reimbursement are part of the deal, so check it out! If you can't make it to one of their workshops, at least let them know if you're interested in being kept informed of Bay Area activities.

Bay Area:
Cathy Andrews - Monterey County - andrewscs@co.monterey.ca.us
Jennifer Baker - St. Helena - director@shpl.org
Kai Wilson - San Francisco - kaiwilson@sfpl.org
Joan Young - San Jose - joan.young@sjlibrary.org

The other 3 networks are gearing up too, so if you haven't made contact with them yet, here's how -- and many thanks to ALL these folks who've stepped up to take the lead!

Sacramento Region:
Randi-Kay Stephens- Sacramento - rstephens@saclibrary.org
Gail McGrath- Roseville - gmcgrath@roseville.ca.us

Central Valley:
Sherry Gomez- Kern County - sherry.gomez@kerncountylibrary.org
Elizabeth Finkle- Fresno County - elizabeth.finkle@fresnolibrary.org

Southern California:
Hillary Theyer- Torrance - htheyer@torranceca.gov
Monica Miltko- Huntington Beach - Monica.Miltko@surfcity-hb.org

Jan 2012 What's New

Thinking of using volunteers on your bookmobile? Libraries who have done it or investigated it say that the issue, of course, is insurance!

Tulare County Library provided these two job descriptions to deal with that exact issue. When their library has a seatbelt in the bookmobile for the volunteer, the volunteer may “Ride Along.” But when there’s no seatbelt, the volunteer meets the bookmobile at a specific location. You’ll see the difference in the “Days and Hours” section of these two job descriptions. Enjoy!

o Bookmobile Volunteer: Ride Along – Tulare County
o Bookmobile Volunteer: Meet in Own Car – Tulare County

Dec 2011 What's New

Check out Huntington Beach Public Library’s volunteer opportunities brochure
What’s New for Get Involved in 2012? -- In this archived webinar, you’ll learn about new initiatives to support your volunteer engagement efforts, and see how the new VolunteerMatch works, including how to use some of the top free tools you get through your free upgraded California Libraries VolunteerMatch account. (November 2011, 60 min)

Nov 2011 What's New

For those who are thinking about purchasing software or a database or an online mechanism to track your volunteer data, we have added a segment to the website called “Volunteer Management Systems.”

We have asked some of your colleagues to “review” the system that they’re using. You’ll see some of the commercially available systems, such as Volgistics reviewed here, and finally a “Consumer’s Guide” that can be helpful with comparing several products.

We have also posted examples of systems libraries have created in house using Access, Excel and FileMaker – some were created by staff, and some by a volunteer. In this case, screen shots of the system, in addition to the “review” are provided for your in-house designing pleasure.

If you are using a Volunteer Management System, and would like to provide a review for us to share with your colleagues, please contact Carla Lehn at clehn@library.ca.gov.

F. Volunteer Management Systems Information

And finally, for those of you who have not been able to put the Get Involved “widget” on your library’s website – which increases volunteer referrals dramatically in some cases – we’ve provided a couple of tools to help you understand why you want it, and if you’re already convinced, help you to convince those in charge of the website that it’s a good thing:

A 1 & 1/2 minute video about how the widget works and how to install it: You Tube - Get Involved Widget

And a colorful clear FAQ on “Why the widget?”

Oct 2011 What's New

Meet Monrovia Public Library’s Volunteer Management Team -- 3 high skilled volunteers who serve as a Team with the Library’s part-time volunteer coordinator to help to take on specific responsibilities to help increase and sustain the expanding roles of volunteers at the library. (July 2011, 3:42 min)
Tips from Monrovia Public Library’s Volunteer Management Team (July 2011, 3:10 min) – Listen to the team describe their goals, and how they reach out to find ways to engage volunteers in meaningful ways throughout the library.
Re-posting Tutorial – One of the most important tools you can use on VolunteerMatch to get your volunteer opportunities noticed is “Re-Posting,” which keeps your opportunity closer to the top of the search results. This 2 minute tutorial will show you how to use this tool. (June 2011, 2:16 min)

September 2011 What's New

Social Media and Volunteer Engagement webinar - What do you need to know about social media as a volunteer program manager? How can you use sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote your library’s volunteer program and recruit volunteers? This webinar will offer an introduction to social media and some of the most popular sites, along with how other libraries are using social networks to increase their impact. Presented by Victoria Pacchiana of VolunteerMatch.org. (July 2010, 60 minutes)
Gaining Staff Buy-in for Volunteer Engagement webinar – Jennifer Rackow presents success stories on one of the more difficult challenges libraries have faced – getting buy in from library staff members who are initially resistant to engaging volunteers. (October 2010, 60 minutes)

August 2011 What's New

A reminder that when browsing and selecting sample materials in the “Volunteer Policies, Handbooks, and Training Manuals” section of the Get Involved Resources, that these are provided just as examples from public libraries in California, and should be reviewed and modified to assure fit with local policies and culture.