Training Materials | Get Involved! Resource Clearinghouse

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
Virtual Volunteer Orientation - San Jose CA This online training was developed to introduce new volunteers to the San José Public Library and provide a basic overview of the volunteer policies… more	Engaging High Impact Volunteers, Capacity Building	virtual volunteer, virtual, orientation, Volunteer Orientation	2020
Bibliography on Volunteer Engagement Bibliography and Web Resources on Volunteer Engagement developed by Carla Lehn	Capacity Building, Staff Training	bibliography, Lehn	2020
Social Media & Blog Content Guidelines for Staff & Volunteers - CMBCL, OR This document is used by Cedar Mill & Bethany Community Libraries to provide guidelines for staff and volunteers who are assisting with community… more	Engaging High Impact Volunteers, Job Specific Volunteer Training, Staff Training	social media, blog	2020
Systemic Exclusion in Volunteer Engagement The vast majority of managers of volunteers absolutely abhor deliberate acts of racism and want to be more inclusive. Since they don’t engage in… more	Capacity Building, Staff Training	racism, inclusive, diversity, Recruitment	2020
Virtual Homework Help Coach Online Training - San Jose CA During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, San Jose Public Library moved it's homework help program online. This is the online training they use to train the… more	Job Specific Volunteer Training	Homework Help, COVID-19	2020
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
Capacity Commons Guidebook on Skills-Based Volunteerism This guidebook will help you prepare your organization for the idea of utilizing skills-based volunteers, help you scope out the project(s) you need… more	Engaging High Impact Volunteers, Capacity Building	Skilled Volunteers, Skills Based Volunteers	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
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
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
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
Controlling Complaint Conversations This quick read provides quick tips to being a better listener and sorting through ‘provable facts’ from emotions and hearsay when a volunteer… more	Staff Training	Complaint, problem, unhappy	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
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
Skills-Based Volunteering Toolkit This toolkit complete with worksheets was developed by Serve Ohio and Common Impact to assist in preparing to engage skills-based volunteers.	Engaging High Impact Volunteers, Capacity Building, Staff Training	Skills Based Volunteers, high-impact volunteers	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 Build a Successful Volunteer Program This brief guidebook was created by the International City/County Management Association.	Capacity Building, Staff Training	toolkit	2019
Skills Based Volunteering Toolkit - Common Impact Since 2000, Common Impact has supported nonprofits in effectively utilizing skills-based volunteering to build internal capacity to better serve the… more	Capacity Building, Engaging High Impact Volunteers	Skills Based Volunteers	2019