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Getting Support from Library Staff

Good volunteer programs are supported by all levels of staff. They have deep internal support, top down and bottom up and inside out.

Here are some suggestions for winning support from staff for a teen community service program in your library:

• Be certain that the Community Library Manager is aware of your plans from the beginning. Ask the CLM if s/he sees any problems with your plans; ask for help in solving them.
• After the CLM is on board and supportive, get the rest of the staff involved. Tell them what you plan to do and why. Be sure that they understand the benefits that will result for both the library and the teens.
• Communicate the goals and objectives of the program to all staff. Enlist their help in evaluating the effectiveness of the program as you go along.
• Find out what reservations staff has about the program. All of the staff will be interacting with the teens at one time or another; you want to be sure that those interactions are positive. Be honest with everybody about what to expect. Share some of the tips from this handbook about working effectively with teens. Assure them that you will be there to solve problems if they arise.
• When the teens start work, be sure that they are introduced to the rest of the library staff. Help everybody get acquainted. Many teens are very shy about meeting adults and may have difficulty remembering names at first. Help them understand the different jobs that people do in the library. This will help make this an effective job readiness experience for the teens.
• Make rules about the teens' use of staff space clear to everybody. The teen volunteers should have more privileges than regular customers, but they should not have more privileges than staff.
• Make sure that everybody is clear about lines of authority. Both the teen volunteer and the rest of the staff should know who is supervising the teen at all times.
• Throughout the program, provide a forum within which staff can provide ideas and input into the program and also voice and discuss any concerns they might have

 

Determining Objectives | Choosing a Model of Community Service | Getting Support from Library Staff | Getting Community Support | Designing the Program

 

Revised 03/07