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
How to Align Your Mission with Millennials and Civic Engagement
America’s millennials are poised to reshape society to a greater degree than any generation since the Greatest Generation. As 2 million baby boomers… more
Millennials Millennials 2022
Online Book Sale Operation - Mesa AZ
The link below to a 10 minute video will introduce you to the Mesa Public Library's amazing online booksale operation (about $100,000/year) which is… more
Engaging High Impact VolunteersCapacity BuildingJob Specific Volunteer Training online booksales, Friends, Friends of the Library, Booksales 2022
10 Must Have's for a Well-Crafted Volunteer Job Description
Great reminders about what every volunteer job description should contain.
Capacity BuildingStaff Training job descriptions, Position Descriptions 2022
Beyond Younger Volunteers: White Paper on What Rural Friends Groups Need to Thrive
2022 White paper from the Friends of Libraries Section of the New York Library Association.
Capacity Building Friends, rural 2022
Tips to Attract & Retain Skilled Volunteers that Grow Your Nonprofit
Great tips as you venture into the world of skilled volunteers . . .
Engaging High Impact Volunteers Skilled Volunteers 2022
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Resources - California State Library
This website of applicable materials was developed and is maintained by the California State Library.
Staff Training diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging 2022
Staff Training: Volunteer Vaccination Verification - San Jose CA
Training developed by San Jose Public Library for volunteer engagement staff at branches to learn how to do volunteer vaccine verifications in order… more
Staff Training COVID-19 2022
Volunteer Engagement 101
This one hour archived video was presented by Carla Lehn of the Get Involved: Powered by Your Library initiative for the incoming AmeriCorps members… more
Staff Training job descriptions, Recruitment, Staff Resistance, staff buy-in, Motivation 2022
Recruiting Local Volunteers to Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
This blog post by Jayne Cravens provides some ideas for expanding diversity among your volunteers. Includes a number of links to related topics as… more
Staff Training diversity, equity, inclusion, Recruitment 2022
Survey Design: The Top 10 Best Practices to Maximize Your Results
Survey design is extremely important as it can make or break your survey's completion rate. This article reviews some survey design fundamentals, and… more
Capacity BuildingStaff Training surveys 2022
Professional Ethics in Volunteer Administration
These handouts and powerpoint are from a webinar titled: "Sticky Situations: Applying Ethics to Your Work with Volunteers" presented by Katie… more
Staff Training Ethics, CVA 2022
Service Enterprise & Libraries: Is it for you?
This webinar was presented on July 27, 2022, and was presented by and based on the Points of Light Service Enterprise certification experiences of… more
Staff TrainingCapacity Building Service Enterprise, strategic planning 2022
Questionnaire Design Tip Sheet - Harvard University
A tip sheet on question wording from the Harvard University Program on Survey Research.
Capacity BuildingStaff Training surveys 2021
Outdoor Programming and Outreach Best Practices - Oklahoma City OK
Developed by the Metropolitan Library System in Oklahoma City during the COVID-19 pandemic as a guide for staff.
Capacity Building outdoor, outreach, programming, COVID-19 2021
Recruit Volunteers Online: Find Your Next 20 COVID Superheroes with Smarter Strategy
The author describes three essential strategies needed to build a presence online that can recruit the ideal volunteers you need, those that are… more
On-line Volunteer Recruitment Recruitment, online recruitment 2021
Measuring Success: Strategically Assess Your Volunteer Engagement Strategy
This one hour webinar was presented on April 28, 2021 by Jennifer Bennett, Senior Manager of Education and Training for VolunteerMatch as part of the… more
Staff TrainingVolunteerMatch Tools and Resources evaluation, Assess, Strategic, Webinar 2021
Volunteers and the Law: Legal Considerations
A good summary of legal issues from Tobi Johnson & Associates, 2021.
Staff Training law, legal 2021
A Savior No One Needs: Unpacking and Overcoming the White Savior Complex
White savior complex is a term that’s used to describe white people who consider themselves wonderful helpers to Black, Indigenous and People of… more
Staff Training diversity, equity, inclusion 2021
Getting it Right! Nine Areas Managers of Volunteers Sometimes Get Wrong
A terrific brief article by Martin Cowling to help us find our way.
Capacity Building 2021
How to Write Volunteer Recruitment Messaging that Converts
Strategies to enhance your volunteer recruitment.
Capacity Building Recruitment, Volunteer Recruitment 2021