I will go ahead and get the recording started here and introduce you to our presenters today.
I'm very pleased to introduce Carla Lehn, who is a wonderful ARSL colleague.
She comes to us from the California State Library and I'm excited to welcome Mandy Knapp and Evan Struble joining us from the State Library of Ohio.
And we would like to welcome you all and we're going to get started off here with Carla.
Welcome, Carla. 
>> Thank you so much Jennifer.
Thanks for the shout out to ARSL.
It will be great to see everything in Fargo next year.
We have been working on a project called get involved powered by your library here in California for the last few years helping libraries recruit skilled volunteers in a number of areas, including computer coaches and trainers.
But also skilled volunteers and things like public relations and event planning and all kinds of great skills and resources to have in your library.
What we've learned over that period in our initiative is a couple of things that I wanted to share with you.
First that there is a trend of moving from the old concept of volunteer management, if some of you have been around as long as I have, you have been doing something called volunteer management and we have seen a trend and change in the volunteer world to something that we want to call volunteer engagement.
That is a little different use of a different word.
But it really expresses sort of where we're headed and just to give you a sense of what that means, what today's volunteers starting with the baby boomers but all research showing that Gen-X and millennial volunteers on the same page as the baby boomers are.
They expect us -- not just include them as volunteers in the traditional roles we have played not just in libraries but other organizations as well.
They are not looking to come in for a two hour shift and you tell them what to do when they get this.
Looking to come in to meaningfully use what they know to help advance your mission.
We know that we -- that we provide clear expectation of time, task, and training.
They want to know how much time are you going to immediate from me?
What specifically do you need me to do?
How are you going to support me?
Is there training for this position?
Am I going to have staff available to support me if I need it?
They will want to know that up front before they say yes to your volunteer recruitment.
Finally, very strong on wanting to know what difference their time will make.
If they say yes to your volunteer opportunity, how do we know that their time is making a difference?
Can you show them what changes will happen as a result of their participating in this volunteer assignment.
Jennifer asked me to talk about volunteer recruitment and I know from experience and also from our project we have been working on that you can't do recruitment without starting with identifying what is the job that you need to get done.
I'm going to try to convince you that it is really important to have written volunteer position descriptions.
The reasons for that are many.
First of all, it helps clarify the expectation for the volunteer, but also for the coworkers.
Sometimes I think staff are not all that excited about having new volunteers come on board because they maybe have had a bad experience in the past or they feel like volunteers don't really know exactly what their role is.
You are going to help everybody feel better including yourself, volunteers and their coworkers if there is a clear understanding of what the volunteer's role is and what it is now and that is one of the things that we can do in a written position description.
Secondly, the position description becomes your principle recruitment and placement tool and I will show you how that works in a little bit.
So, know that doing this work up front is going to really help you with your recruitment.
Third, it avoids problems and becomes the basis for voluntary engagement.
If you have had issues or problems with volunteers in the past, it may be that they are not clear with what needed to be done and what their role was and more important what their role is not.
Having the job description up front can help in recruitment and helping people understand the job, later down the road if you might need to bring a volunteer in and coach them on specifically what their job is.
I think a written volunteer job description is your best planning tool.
It helps you focus on and define what you need.
What kind of a job is this going to be?
Is it going to be a couple hours a week?
Is a person going to be teaching classes or coaching patrons individually?
And how will the staff roles interact with this volunteer?
And as you're writing it, you want to be clear on the fact that you're creating a job description that is centered on the volunteer skills.
What skills are you going to need?
How is the volunteer going to be able to utilize those, and finally, as I mentioned earlier, how will their time make an impact on your mission?
Will you be able to show them specifically that they have made a difference?
So, let's just start, I wanted to show you a couple of volunteer job descriptions so that just to give you an idea of what this looks like, and these come from California library, Huntington Beach Public Library and I think they give a good outline of what you might want to do in terms of preparing and putting information down on paper to describe the volunteer job you need done.
I might add I should have and I didn't provide the blank job description format to Jennifer for the web site, but any of you who want that, please let me know and I'm happy to share the blank with you as well.
These handouts are available on Jennifer's web page for today. 
First of all, you're going to give it a title.
In this case they have called it a volunteer computer coach.
Look what they said about the position overview and impact.
This is where they give the volunteer a potential understanding of what the job is, but also an idea of what impact they're going to make, which, remember, is really important to today's volunteer.
Change a life.
Share your computer skills with novice computer users.
As the world becomes more wired and the economy demands computer knowledge, many people are learning to use a computer for the first time.
Help bridge the digital divide.
That's a really powerful statement about what kind of a difference a volunteer's time can make in this job.
Then you list the responsibilities of the job.
Oftentimes when I go work with libraries and ask to see their volunteer job descriptions, this is all they show me, a list of what the volunteer is going to do.
That's really important.
But it's not all that's needed in order to make the sale here and also have that planning tool that we mentioned before.
Just be sure that the key responsibilities as the volunteer reads them creates a picture of what the job would be like.
What it would be like to be in that job.
That's what you're trying to give them in that list of responsibilities.
And then you're going to identify qualifications.
What does this person need?
It is not going to be every individual out there who wants to volunteer for the library who has the skills to do whatever computer job you have available for volunteers.
Think about what is it specifically that you need and in this case, they have said that they want a good working knowledge of PCs, Microsoft office, internet, as well as familiar with basic functions of saving and printing material.
They know what their needs are in the library and have described them here.
They're looking for people with patience and good communication skills and reliable people so they even describe what will happen if they can't -- if you can't make it, this is what you're going to do.
Then we list training and support provided.
This is really an important aspect.
Volunteers don't want to fail when they come to work with you.
They want to ensure that they're going to be successful, and even if they don't need training in the computer issues that you have identified, because you have recruited them based on their qualifications, they may want to know how they're going to have support from the staff.
What if they have a problem?
What if they have a question, who will they go to?
We list the time commitment.
This one is suggesting two to four hours a week for a minimum of three to six months.
Then we list the benefits of volunteering.
Again, because we're trying to help people understand what will they gain from this?
The goal of volunteer recruitment is a mutually-valuable relationship, something valuable for the library and people you serve as well as something that is valuable for the volunteer.
They suggested that the benefits of this job are the opportunity to share your computer skills with others and help bridge that digital divide mentioned earlier.
An opportunity to hone your computer communication and teaching skills and develop relationships with other computer coaches and library staff, all things that volunteers might be interested in gaining from working on the volunteer position. 
I'm wondering as you are looking at this and those of you that have downloaded the job description, if you see how using a form like this could help prepare and help you prepare and help potential volunteers respond appropriately.
We would love to see your chat on that.
Does this look useful to you I guess is what I'm asking?
I am going to go on to the next slide.
I want you to see this other great idea, and that is that sometimes we all have too much to do.
Lord knows we do.
But here is a great strategy that they use in Huntington Beach and I have seen this used in other libraries as well, and that is they actually promoted a volunteer and put somebody in charge as the computer coach program coordinator.
So, think about how you could take somebody who is really good, one of your good computer coaches and you find out that they have excellent management skills.
Maybe they have years of experience as an administrator or manager, and would like to be promoted and take more responsibility.
This is an opportunity for you to give them that chance to make a real difference as the person who works in conjunction with staff to make the computer coach program successful.
So, you'll see their primary duties to manage the computer coach program, maintain a weekly schedule.
They have even put this volunteer in charge of recruiting, interviewing, and training potential volunteers, developing training programs, tracking statistics.
So, they have given this person some responsibility and they have been having great success with this.
What do you think of this idea?
Is it something that you could see yourselves using and as a way to not only get additional work done with skilled volunteers, but also give some recognition to a volunteer who has shown a particular sense of responsibility and interest in pursuing more than just being one of the coaches, but taking on more responsibility for that. 
So, be sure to have a chance to take a look at these job descriptions.
I'll show you another place in my resources piece when I get to it about where to find more samples just like this or different kind of volunteer computer coach concepts.
Some libraries are doing you know two-hour shifts.
Some are making individual appointments with computer coaches.
Some are recruiting people with -- with computer skills to do training for them.
There is a variety of ways I think you can engage volunteers with this kind of skill in your libraries program.
Let's talk about recruitment.
First of all, I want you to think about recruitment as a targeted recruitment.
You are going out looking for something very specific.
You are not just putting out a call for hey, anybody who wants to volunteer for the library come on in and we will assess whether or not you're eligible for this.
You defined in the job description what it is that you need, what qualifications the people need, and you will recruit based on that.
The WIIFM is a radio station we all listen to.
What's in it for me?
You're looking to share with potential volunteers not only what's in it for the library, but what's in it for them to get involved with this and you do that with the job description we just looked at.
I think something really important for you to know is not every warm body fits every volunteer position.
We're going to do targeted recruitment, looking for specific people to do specific skilled jobs.
And when you get those folks in, you're going to do interviewing and talking to them to make sure that you're assessing their skills and interests and putting them in the job that will not only make them happy, but give you the work that you needed to be done as described in that job description. 
It's really important not to be limited to who you know when you're doing recruitment.
I know sometimes that is how we end up doing it.
We think who do we know that has these skills?
Let's ask them or let's see if we can talk them into being this person.
I think you want to reach out beyond that and have multiple recruitment methods where you're talking to other volunteers and staff and the library director and maybe the Library's board about how do you know that might have these skills that we can reach out to.
And I think one of the most important things I can tell you in the session, the time I have with you today, better to have a vacancy than to have the wrong volunteer in the position.
If you have the wrong volunteer, then you have a personnel problem.
Nobody wants that.
If you can do the stuff up front, defining the job, targeting the recruitment, interviewing for the best fit, then you're going to have much greater chance of having the right volunteer in the position and not having the kinds of issues and problems that sometimes arise in the volunteer world.
So, I provide you with with a little tool here, also a handout that Jennifer has available for you if you haven't downloaded it yet.
A little piece of paper you can lay down next to the job description you created and you can see that the things in the two boxes at the top come directly from the volunteer position description.
You've already defined the qualifications for this person.
You've already defined the benefits that the volunteer will receive.
In the next two boxes, you ask yourself how can we find these people?
Is there a particular profession, particular age range or educational level?
Where can you find people who have computer skills?
Hopefully some of you are thinking about that now.
Type things in if you have ideas about where you can find these.
When I talked to some libraries preparing for the session, I asked them, where did you find these folks?
Many said they found teens, college students, they found people who work in local businesses who have computer skills, maybe the bank even in your community has somebody whose job is IT and they might know other people who will be interested in serving in that way.
Another library told me they found their first person, college student, their program, called book a techie, one of the ones where they have time slots where people can sign up and get individual help from a techie, they found their first college student on volunteer match which I will tell you about in a little bit.
The college student led them to more college students and the faculty at the university that she attends so that we could reach out and talk to those people about other folks they might find that would be useful or interested in this.
Personal connections, your board, volunteers, staff, do they know you're recruiting for people with skills like this?
Don't just look at volunteers as the volunteers that currently have and that's all they are in the world.
Remember, they have a whole life that surrounds them way beyond what they do for us in the library and they may have resources and able to find people that you wouldn't have access to finding.
Do you have other local volunteervolunteer recruitment options, like a local volunteer center, united way, local newspaper.
I don't know how many of you have the penny saver, a free newspaper that you can find in laundromats, etc., lots of people here tell me that's a great way -- a great local recruitment option.
Think about doing that.
I want to talk about online recruitment resources.
Some of you might have used idealist, or craigslist.
I want to spend a moment telling you a little about VolunteerMatch.org, they're an organization that we have a relationship with here in California and have had a great response to them.
Anybody who wants to find a volunteer opportunity anywhere in the country can go to VolunteerMatch.org.
They type in the city they're in.
And Volunteer Match, will find them volunteer opportunities within a 20 mile radius of the city or zip code that they type in.
And this is also available on this same page, VolunteerMatch.org, any nonprofit or government agency seeking volunteers can use Volunteer Match for free.
You go there and you create an account just like you create any other kind of free account, and you can use it easily by paying nothing and they also have a paid version which gives you a few more resources to help the visibility of your volunteer opportunities be seen.
And I believe those accounts are $75 a year.
Take a look at that and see if it is of interest to you.
And I will show you a little bit about how this is working.
We're having great results here in California, but, as I said, we don't suggest that you only recruit by Volunteer Match.
You also have a variety of other personal and local resources that you use to find the kind of people you're looking for for your library's program. 
Finally, I wanted to share resources that we have for you.
This is our get involved clearinghouse where we collected all resources that libraries have been putting together during this project.
You can go in and find management tools like handbooks, applications, forms, confidentiality policies, etc., and also volunteer position descriptions.
So, when you -- I just want to show you if you click on position descriptions, you can select from the keywords and one of them is computer and tech coaches.
What you will find are sample volunteer job descriptions in all of those areas that you can download and print and revise for your own use.
We also have training materials as well as those management tools and volunteer job descriptions I mentioned. 
Here is just a list of the resources.
This is in the slide that you can download today.
Our web site, our clearinghouse.
The link for VolunteerMatch.org.
They have their own number of training resources there.
Also resources available for you that we have put together.
Happy for you to use any of them or for you to contact me if I can help you with anything.
That's really all I wanted to share with you today and I wish you all good luck with this project because it is showing real benefits here in California. 
>> Jennifer: Fantastic.
Thank you Carla.
I gave a shout out to your champion award from Volunteer Match.
I was excited to find that as I was searching.
So congratulations on that.
We did have a couple of questions.
Someone asked if Volunteer Match, is U.S. only.
Can you talk a little about what else is going on?
>> Volunteer Match, is poised to expand.
As a matter of fact, I worked with the state library of Victoria, Australia, last year, and they're looking at getting started there.
I don't think it's live in other countries yet but it's coming. 
Nationwide in the U.S.
>> Jennifer: Excellent.
That's fantastic.
There is another question that I think I am actually going to -- you can maybe chime in on chat in terms of -- I'll just read it, our computer area serves a transient population with low-level computer abilities.
We want to train college students to help but worried about patrons using bad language or demanding more help from them.
Any advice?
I know mandy and Evan can touch on that as well.
I will pass it over to mandy and Evan.
Feel free to chime in on chat and we will circle back with outstanding questions at the end. 
>> Hey, guys, this is Mandy Knapp.
>> Hey, this is Evan Struble.
How is it going?
>> I was going to say about the earlier point about bad language and setting boundaries, I will say with some of the younger volunteers, you have to set their expectations for what -- I call them our special snowflakes.
We will talk about it more in a bit.
I'm getting ahead of my self.
You do have to coach them on how to deal with some of the saucy patrons.
He -- 
>> My name is Evan Struble, I'm a library consultant.
With me -- 
>> Mandy Knapp, also a Library Consultant.
Evan handles -- together we are a dream team of training volunteers on technology.
>> We joke during this program, guiding the Ohio online -- just very quickly, some topics that we are going to cover during our portion is a brief overview of what the guiding Ohio online program is, and what it takes to recruit the technology trainers, which will be a little duplication from what Carla shared earlier.
>> Mandy: We will skim.
>> Evan: Actual training of the technology trainingers.
Tools available for the technology training er- 
trainers, and finally how to maintain that tool of technology trainers throughout a predetermined set of time.
>> Mandy: Yes, excellent.
So, Guiding Ohio online.
So, is anybody here an Americorps alum? 
Type it in the chat. 
Okay.
Well, I am.
Oh, we have a current Americorps member.
Yay, way to go Gary and Joseph.
I hope you can hear my applause.
Woo!
Americorps is a national service program, we like to say like a domestic peace corps.
Our Americorps members, not employees, paid volunteers that receive a living stipend.
Federal program, we have a statewide program through our local Americorps office.
>> Evan: Our program's objective, Guiding Ohio online objective, place Americorps volunteers in rural public libraries throughout the state of Ohio.
Statewide technology training program.
For those of you familiar with Ohio, predominantly the southern and southeastern parts of the state -- we do have rural pockets outside of the central core as well.
The duration of this program, it is -- the grant we received is for three years.
We -- 
>> Mandy: Our Americorps volunteers serve 11 months.
Constant rotation and flow.
They can sign up for another term of service.
We're always thinking about training because we're on-boarding new members and trying to enhance current members.
We are always thinking about how can we nurture these folks.
>> Evan: It is a constant cycle and a good cycle.
What happens, we have some alumni so to speak from year one who stuck around for year two and so they helped mandy and I develop the skills of the newbies in year two, train the trainer concepts further on in the presentation. 
>> Mandy: Carla talked about this a bit.
And I would say one of our biggest ways actually that we get our technology trainers is through advertisements in local papers.
And also through local radio.
You know, I think -- you have to really know your community and know how are people accessing information and for most of our sites, it is like a local paper.
>> >> Evan: I would agree with that.
I think we need to remember the volunteers we want are not just going to show up in our libraries.
We need to pound the pavement a little bit.
Flier placement outside of the library.
Where do people congregate in your community?
Is that the grocery store, the church?
Hang up the signs there and make connections there.
Don't be afraid to post your jobs online, whether it is of your own library site, other job-seeking sites as well.
>> Mandy: Yeah, I mean, sometimes people -- especially our younger folks are trying to build that resume and enhance their skills.
They might be looking for different opportunities.
I mean, when I was an Americorps volunteer we always used to say that the grocery store was the hub of the community because everyone had to go there and so their bulletin board was like the hot space.
So, you have to make sure, too, that your fliers stay up.
>> Evan: Job and career fairs -- I know some of you might think my town is too small.
We don't have these sorts of things.
I'm here to tell you, I'm from rural southeastern Ohio myself, farming community, our local chamber of commerce will from time to time partner with the state job and family services one-stop shop or on their own have job fairs, career fairs, maybe they're not terribly robust because of where they're located but it is really important for you, for the library to have a preference there as well especially if you are recruiting technology volunteers.
>> Mandy: I mean, it can be part of a larger piece there.
You could have a booth at the job and career fair.
Promote the services of the library and mention volunteers.
I mean, you know, it doesn't have to have a sole focus.
The next one is really good, too.
I was thinking, you know, if you already go to the high school, especially when you are promoting summer reading, why not also just mention, by the way, guys, you know, you have service requirements.
Why don't you get them done at the library.
>> If you are fortunate to be in a community, a county with a community college, those are excellent places to do some recruitment for technology trainers because like Mandy said, not just high school students that have a service component, a lot of college students have the same types of requirements nowadays.
They have to get out and about a certain amount of hours.
It seems like a perfect marriage of those two needs.
>> Mandy: One of the things we do and would encourage you to do is interview the volunteers.
They get to know you.
You get to know them.
I mean, we have to do it as part of our Americorps program.
It's required.
I mean, you do -- you know, it's like you want to go on a couple of dates before you get married, you know what I mean.
You just want to test out, get a sense of what they're interested in.
>> Evan: Something that Carla mentioned that I think is an excellent topic, remember not all volunteers have to be tech volunteers.
You bring someone in for an interview or you are having an informal conversation with someone who wants to help out the library, and maybe it becomes very obvious to you that that person does not have maybe the tech savvy or the skills to be a technology trainer.
Maybe find other places that you could use that person, but don't feel like you must use every person that comes to you saying I want to be a technology trainer in a technology capacity.
>> Yeah, and one thing that I would ask you guys in chat is when you're interviewing your volunteers for technology or thinking about folks for technology, do you have them demonstrate technology skills at the interview?
We do that sometimes, and sometimes we don't.
It depends on the needs of the particular position.
Like, for example, one of the interviews we did, we had the person actually hook up the computer equipment to a projector.
Any thoughts?
I'll let you type.
>> Evan: Mandy just talked about the final bullet for this slide, the testing component.
Like she said, sometimes it's not necessary.
Sometimes it is.
You know your community best.
You know what the specific needs of your library is going to be.
If the specific need of your library is help using the mouse, basic browser instructions, they might not need quite an intensive test as if your community really needs help with Xcel or photo shop or something more advance where you would want to see the technology trainers' skills in question.
>> A good question, match tech savvy seniors with nontech savvy seniors needing help?
I think it depends on the senior.
If you have a non-tech savvy senior, really intimidated, they don't really want to ask -- I'm using -- a whippersnapper, you know, it might be intimidating.
They are -- sometimes it is better for those folks to have another tech-savvy senior.
That being said, we have had a lot of our younger Americorps members have had a lot of success with seniors.
It is really just patience.
That is something that you have to look for in the interview, is this person going to be patient with a beginning learner?
Or are they impatient?
I would say more it is like a skill that you want to look for rather than a specific age.
>> A little later in the presentation, we are going to talk about some skills that are necessary for a one-on-one technology training set-up versus classroom style technology training.
>> Another good question.
If a potential volunteer is not a good fit for what you are looking for, how do you say no in a way that is sensitive?
Is there a good way to prepare them for this possibility in the interview.
Yeah, I would think so.
When we're interviewing, we always have a caveat, and I always have to write it down and remind myself, if you are selected for this position -- 
because, you know, you don't want any Johnny come lately to be in your library representing you as a volunteer.
I mean, or you could flip it like -- you could say what you appreciate them -- I have stolen from Evan's technique of a compliment sandwich, where you -- I will let Evan down as a volunteer right now.
I am going to say Evan, you are so wonderful and so many wonderful skills to offer.
>> Evan: Thank you, Mandy.
>> Mandy: But I'm afraid that this position is not the best fit for you.
>> Evan: What?
>> Mandy: I just really -- I see how good you are with, you know, being really organized, so really need so much help shelving our books.
Could you help us out with that?
>> Evan: Okay, let's talk about that.
>> Mandy: That's what I would do.
Here we go.
We're getting a lot of good questions.
Stumbling block, requirements for volunteers to -- state and federal background checks.
Is there any way to put a good spin on the requirements and maximize them as barriers -- 
minimize them as barriers to becoming a volunteer?
Excellent question.
We also have to do all of those background checks but we pay for them.
So that is difficult because they can be expensive.
I mean, one thing you could say is like once they have that check, a lot of places will accept it up to a year.
So, one of our members, they were like can I get a copy of my background check?
I would like to also be a substitute teacher.
Sure, no skin off of my teeth.
I gave him a copy and they were able to use that to become a substitute teacher.
So, I mean, that's one way to kind of spin it.
>> I think it is really tough.
I mean, it is necessary.
I think that most people nowadays get that.
I think it is just that, you know, people don't want to front the cost.
Like Mandy said if you can put the best spin on it as possible.
Most people are understanding.
Yeah, I think that is tough.
Certainly if anyone else on the webinar today has any suggestions for that question, I would encourage them to type it in the chat.
>> Mandy: Also the sex offender check is free.
If you go to NSOPW -- I might have that wrong.
I usually just Google it.
It is the national sex offender data base, and you can run a check through that for free.
Now, it is not perfect.
It's just a check on somebody's name.
So, if you have someone with a really common name like, I don't know, James Smith or something, it will come up with a lot of results.
They should have a picture with them.
At least that part is free. 
Okay.
>> Evan: Going back to the slides a little bit.
One of the most important piece that Mandy and I encounter training technology trainers for this program, it is very important to give them an overall expectation of what they are going to encounter when in the library, in the rural libraries in Ohio doing their training.
We do this through an orientation period.
They actually come to us for three days for intensive orientation training.
I know that that is not maybe viable or necessary for the libraries that you are working in, but certainly some of these ideas can be scaled down a little bit.
But many times these technology trainers have never even stepped foot in a Library lib for lengthy periods of time.
They have no idea, like the question asker mentioned earlier, come in, stay all day, maybe slightly more transient.
They might use colorful language, act out, or have mental health issues.
It is very important to be up front with your trainers that all of these things and more transpire in a library so that they don't get shock and run out of the doors kicking and screaming.
It is very important.
>> Mandy: I would say honesty is really important especially if you have a volunteer who has never really worked with the public before.
It does take a special skillset.
Like I said, there is a lot of special snowflakes in the world, and they all come into our libraries.
>> Evan: We talk a lot during orientation and in future trainings with our Americorps members about classroom style of training and instruction versus one-on-one training.
Because in the library setting, as you know, typically technology courses are covered in both of these methods.
So, it is important for us to really hit home some of the points of how to manage a classroom versus how to manage someone who is sitting right next to you for a pre-determined part of time.
Do you want to talk a little about that?
>> Mandy: Sure.
I would say overall one of the things we've noticed is a decline in classroom attendance but a major upsurge in one-on-one assistance which is why we really need these volunteers.
It's great that people really get what they need.
Get a lot of attention, but it is very time-intensive.
We really intend on the trainers.
We discuss with them like how to handle situations like -- 
that are uncomfortable for them.
How to handle people who are rude, or close talkers.
How to handle people who are, you know, disruptive in the classroom, all of this kind of personnel management sort of thing.
>> Right.
And in the same vain, we talk about what a one-on-one transaction looks like, maybe not the need to be quite as formal as you would in a classroom style.
Listening tools important and body language comes into play.
We like to think about our technology trainers in online and in-person methods.
We have standing conference calls and webinars with our cohort -- I should have mentioned this earlier.
We have 30 members that serve in libraries around the state.
And we meet with them on a very regular basis to talk with them kind of a round-Robin style what they have been encountering in their libraries.
Maybe difficult situations that they have encountered so that maybe Mandy and I can coach them, or fellow members can coach them.
>> Mandy: Say you have five high school students volunteers.
Once a month, I don't know, bring them together and have them chat about what they have learned or what has worked well, or, I mean, again, I think it is important to be honest with them.
What hasn't worked well?
When do they feel nervous?
When do they encounter situations that, you know, they weren't sure how to deal with and then you can coach them, you know, look, when you have to deal with -- I will use the bad language example, someone who swears a lot.
Be up front.
Sir, your language is offensive to me.
Can we tone it down.
There are children in the area or something like that.
>> Evan: Also we try to bring our group in person as much as possible but because they are spread out amongst the state, that is not always quite as feasible.
That in-person training is invaluable.
If you have a reason to bring them in and keep them up to date on maybe new developments with technology or maybe new initiatives that your library is wanting to push, that makes them feel that much more valued because they're kept in the loop.
I know we're starting to look at time.
I want to get through some of the bullet points here.
Personality types always come into play.
We do a lot in our training of getting our group ready to encounter all types of personality types.
I think that the hardest one for people sometimes is the dominating or the -- in the classroom setting, sometimes they can take over when you are trying to instruct.
We spend time discussing how best to diffuse that situation.
That goes back to the first bullet point of what to expect overall.
>> One of the best trainings that we use is actually from the Colorado state library.
They have a really good tech trainers web site.
And we stole the personality-type training from them.
It goes through different bad personalities -- problematic, supposed to say, not bad, just the behavior is a problem and how do we address and deal with that behavior?
>> Evan: We're constantly sharing general tips of training from our own experience and backgrounds of others that we work with.
Basic things like where to place your sign-in sheet and how to draw up appointment cards if you are going to do one-on-one scheduled appointments, those general tips that don't fall elsewhere in the training I wanted to highlight.
We do quite a bit of role playing.
We will role play with our group when we can get them together to get them comfortable, to get them thinking about the different types of people they might encounter, and hopefully it makes them feel more comfortable than when they are actually doing the training on site.
>> Mandy: I think what you will notice with all of the training of the trainers things is it is never -- sometimes the technology is a problem.
I mean, we all have snafus, projector won't turn on, everything needs to update.
All of those things happen.
But the thing you really have to focus on a lot is that technology is really about the people at some level.
And those are the things that you really have to coach people, your technology trainers on is how to deal with people who are very frustrated, because, you know, it is totally -- the technology is totally new to them.
How to deal with, you know, these classroom behaviors or problem behaviors because you can interview and select for the technology trainer skills, but then sometimes that coaching piece is the thing that you have to keep re-enforcing.
>> And it is an ongoing process.
Technology will be upgraded and updated and changed.
We need to always be aware of that and be willing to provide that training.
Sometimes that's difficult if windows jumps to a different number that maybe our library doesn't have.
We might have to call in a favor, tap a neighboring library to provide that training.
Don't be afraid to reach out to your own personal professional connections to see if they can provide some of that instruction to your trainers.
Moving right along, some things that we do to provide tools and resources to our technology training Americorps members to offer templates on the guidingOhioonline.org web site under training.
You can see some templates that we have created.
This allows for consistent branding for our members.
They can create PowerPoints and presentations, handouts, sign-up sheets that have our logo and that sort of thing.
Anything you can do to alleviate that stress, I think, is helpful.
The second thing that we have is kind of a boxed curriculum.
Mandy and I worked with a third consultant to develop some boxed curriculums of different training topics.
I think there is 15 or so.
>> Mandy: I think there is 20, right?
We are telling you this because we wants you to go ahead and use these.
>> Evan: Yes, feel free to use or borrow them.
>> Mandy: Reappropriate.
>> Evan: Reappropriate for your own uses.
Boxed curricula talk about basics of the internet, of word, PowerPoint, excel.
Nothing too too crazy, but a good starting point for maybe a technology trainer who knows the text but is nervous about presenting it.
It takes the pressure off of them from Cree -- creating that PowerPoint off the bat.
We encourage our group to tweak them and add to them.
They can scrap them and start fresh if it is more comfortable with them.
>> Mandy: I mentioned the Colorado state -- there are lots of different tech training programs out there that are really wonderful.
We also looked a lot at New Mexico's broadband initiative.
They have a lot of good training materials.
Vermont, they had an another community technology program which was also excellent.
And New York public library, I believe, also has all of those -- their handouts online, which we also encourage our folks to use and kind of tweak.
>> Evan: Administrative support is really important.
I know that not every library has the luxury of having some sort of volunteer coordinator.
But hopefully there is someone in your organization that is kind of the point person for heading up these volunteers that you are going to have in your location.
Mandy and I provide a lot of administrative support to our group.
Mandy moreso than me.
We're there when things get tough.
We're there to cheer on their successes and talk positively about them to other library conferences.
Any time you can play that administrative role for them, I think, is hugely important.
>> Mandy: I also liked Carla's idea of the megavolunteer, VOLvolunteer who coordinates the other volunteers.
I think this is really important.
You might have an amazing volunteer, super organized and dedicated to the library but maybe doesn't have the technology skills.
Why not utilize that person to coordinate these other people.
You don't necessarily need to know the technology in order to help with scheduling and to do the training, you can schedule the training, but not provide the training.
>> Evan: Finally, a central location for all of the above.
Mandy created an intranet this year and I'm not sure it can be shared publicly.
This is the hub for everything that your technology trainer might need.
And, again, this could be scaled down to your locations, if you don't have time to create an intranet.
Maybe it is a giant binder that lives somewhere at the desk with all resources that might need to make photocopies of sign-in sheets or volunteer hour forms so that they can keep track of their hours.
We have created an intranet for our program that allows our members to have access to that.
>> Mandy: All our intranet is of course amazing because I created it.
It is just a Google site template which are free from Google.
>> Evan: And finally I want to talk a little about once you have a good group of technology trainers how to maintain them.
Look at the actual photo of the first year Guiding Ohio online member.
We heart them very much.
They're wonderful.
If there is any small incentive you can give them, a little gift, a shirt -- 
>> Mandy: I would say don't get too hung up on the -- I will throw away your coffee mug but I will remember your kind words forever.
It's true.
I take every thank you note anyone has given me and pin them around my desk when I'm feeling blue I can look at them.
What a great job you did today, Evan.
>> Evan: Thank you.
Also, too, involvement, I believe there was either a question or Carla, someone mentioned this, but if you at your library can involve your technology volunteer in some of the basic decision-making of the library when it comes to technology, any time you can --
any time they feel heard or feel like they have even just had a small say in something, it adds to that investment in the program and makes them want to stick around and give back.
Other ways to involve them, other than just setting them loose and saying, okay, here is your two hours, go do it, I think goes a long way.
>> Mandy: That can be as simple as like, hey, volunteer Evan, what do you think about upgrading to windows 10?
Have you read anything about it?
>> Evan: Yes, I have.
It's really hard.
>> Mandy: It doesn't have to be like, you know, a scientific study.
You can just like ask.
>> Evan: And finally, this was mentioned earlier as well, but to hit home the point, the ability for them to actually train other trainers.
Maybe it is not even within the local library.
Maybe you're partnering with a neighbor library.
One of the things that we do with our program is called my Americorps legacy.
It is an outgoing, leaving Americorps member has departed, they actually construct a document that guides the incoming member who will then take their place on what he or she needs to do in the coming year.
What has been tried in the past.
What has succeeded.
What has failed.
Any time you can have that continuity where one shares with another, you get that buy-in and you get them wanting to stay a part of your pool of technology trainers.
>> Mandy: Say you have high school students and they graduate, and, you know, you're a little -- have them write to next year's high school volunteers.
What did they learn?
Who should they talk to?
What was great?
What was a challenge?
You know, have them document that and give them the next year kind of a letter about it.
And the other train the trainer program we do, we call it our resource program, where we make all of these -- these fine folks in the photo here, we make them do a presentation to each other to test out the waters.
And, you know, I would encourage you to even do that with your staff.
I mean, have them all try, you know, a new thing they learned and have it shared like a technology show and tell. 
>> Evan: That's it for Mandy and I's portion.
I want to leave enough time for questions to be asked.
>> Jennifer: Fantastic.
Thank you so much.
It is really exciting to see and hear about the success of your project and to see your cohort in a picture is always so exciting to know that they're out there doing this great work and knowing that all of the volunteers that Carla has inspired as well.
So, thank you all for all that you're doing.
And I just want to encourage folks to explore all of the resources from both the California and the Ohio project.
There is a lot there to use and repurpose.
I know that many of you might just be getting started or perhaps are trying to build on some existing work that you have going.
Know that these are great tools for you to repurpose and use.
And if you do have questions, be sure and follow up with these experts and there were a few questions -- you guys did a great job of answering questions as they came through.
I know that this may be a little bit different from your project, but both of you -- 
both of you and Carla can just talk a little about if you have ever seen it work to have sort of an orientation period or, you know, maybe a test period so that then if it maybe doesn't work out with a volunteer or if they're not meeting expectations you can sort of back up with them a little bit.
Do you have suggestions for that?
>> Excellent question.
We do have a disciplinary policy for our volunteers, and it is kind of a three strike disciplinary policy.
Our program is a little bit -- 
part of the Americorps piece --
>> Evan: A little more regimented because it is a federal thing.
>> Mandy: I mean, it is going to vary about how much you are depending on the volunteer.
Like, if they are supposed to present a class and they don't call and show up, I would just say, I'm sorry, volunteer, but we need to have reliable coverage for our program.
We don't do a trial period.
We just have the disciplinary policy.
>> Jennifer: Carla do you want to talk a little about what successful approaches you have seen used?
>> Carla: I saw somebody mention one in chat.
That is the idea of shadowing the person initially, either being there when they are doing their training or having them cotrain with you the first time or if they're working one-on-one with patrons, just to be available to shadow with them the first few times to see how they're doing and give them feedback.
If you find in the first few times that this isn't a good fit, you have that conversation with them about gee, I appreciate your interest in this, but this just doesn't appear to be a great fit for you.
They're probably uncomfortable too if it is not going well.
They may be relieved to hear you say that and if you can find them another opportunity either in the library or refer them to another place in the community, because you know they have an interest in volunteering, if you know another organization that needs volunteers or even referring them to VolunteerMatch.org, I think, people understand that.
They know if it is not going well.
And they're not sure what to do or how to tell you.
>> Jennifer: Yeah, I would think it sort of takes some of the pressure off of them as well knowing that they can sort of try it out and know that both sides will be sort of doing it as a try-out.
There was -- go ahead.
>> Mandy: Younger folks like who have never, you know, maybe are in high school or in college, but have never had a job, that sometimes it's not clear to them.
Like when they haven't had to do a schedule, when they're expected to be, you know, 15 minutes beforehand to a class and not just show up at that exact moment and do it.
So, I do think there is a bit of a coaching aspect to it, too.
So, I would say, I mean, usually if it is an experienced volunteer they do kind of get that it is not working out, but it really kind of depends, and, you know, you have to find the nuance of the situation.
Is this a person that I just need to like, you know, have a sit-down with?
Or is this we both know this isn't working.
>> Jennifer: Absolutely.
There was another question about how you have seen volunteer set-ups work with just in time training, just in time needs that patrons have.
Do either of you have examples of how that has worked sort of the volunteer being present for that sort of just in time help or is it something that is best scheduled?
>> Mandy: We do both.
We do scheduled one-on-ones, as well as drop-in one-on-ones.
One of the issues, having the volunteer present during maybe busy hours in the computer lab, I mean, I don't have to tell you in the public library.
I don't know what it is, it's sunny out so people don't come at the normal time.
It's snowing out, people don't come at the normal time.
A lot of inconsistency.
You know, you expect people to be busy during, I don't know, generally -- sometimes it isn't.
So you have a volunteer waiting around.
Sometimes they can feel, you know, like they aren't being utilized.
When that happens, we have like these back-up training resources that we use for our Americorps volunteers that are just like worksheets for them to still be, you know, learning about the library, enhancing what the library does, but for those times when, you know, sometimes patrons don't show up even when it is the normal busy time.
>> Jennifer: One final question.
I know that this can vary depending on the size of the library, the structure of the staffing, but can you talk a little bit about how people handle staff to might feel threatened about the idea of volunteers doing the work that someone on staff could potentially do if they were given the additional hours?
>> Mandy: Yes, our volunteer contract includes a non-displacement and nonduplication clause.
Really emphasize with our volunteers that they are there to enhance and supplement what the library does and not to replace any paid staff member.
Concrete examples of what we give them is like so, say, you know, it's a small library, there is a reference -- there is one desk that does both reference and circulation and there are five computers and the volunteer is there to help people with the volunteers.
They can be at that desk as long as there is another paid staff person there.
But they can't be there when someone just would be scheduled.
You can't -- make it clear to the volunteers and to the sites and libraries that we work with that, you know, again, enhance and supplement.
Not displace.
>> Evan: The other piece of the puzzle with the Americorps program, their volunteer time has to be somehow related to technology.
And computers and digital literacy and so it is very -- 
we really hit home in our orientation and on our visits we do visit the sites just to make sure that everything is, you know, doing all right.
We don't want them checking out books at the circulation desk.
We don't want them cleaning the bathrooms at the end of the night.
They're there to -- support and enhance technology training only.
>> Mandy: Only, yes.
That is something that we definitely emphasize with them.
We were concerned about that at first but with our technology training, because, like I said, classroom attendance keeps declining and our one-on-one assistance keeps increasing.
We have actually got the opposite is more true.
Staff we have spoken to are so relieved that they have someone who is there to really give this long, in-depth, help, downloading an ebook.
How to use the mouse.
>> Evan: How to fill out a job application.
>> Mandy: When you have to apply to like, you know, dairy queen or Wendy's or Walmart online, and someone has never used a computer before, it takes maybe an hour just to, you know -- we have experienced the opposite.
>> Jennifer: I can see that.
From my experience in libraries I can see that.
We are at the top of the hour.
I know you are very busy people as are our attendees and folks need to get back to answering some of those questions at their reference desks.
I want to thank you all for being here.
Thank you to Mandy, Evan and Carla for bringing your great work to the Webjunction webinar and all of the work you continue to do to serve your states and the libraries in your state.
We will follow-up with all of you with the link to the archive, as well as a certificate within the week and be sure and share the archive with others who you know will benefit from this as well.
Thank you again all of you.
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Thank you, and thank you to our captioner today.
Bye-bye.