Today’s Teen Volunteer, Tomorrow’s Future Librarian on Sunshine & Stories

What is Sunshine & Stories?

Sunshine & Stories is a Colorado State Library podcast dedicated to all things summer in public libraries. During our 2024-25 season, keep an eye out for new episodes twice a month from August to May. We’ll explore topics like performers, incentives, outreach, volunteers, capturing impact, and many more ideas related to designing a summer public library program for your whole community (adults included!). Featuring interviews with other Colorado State Library staff and ideas from Colorado library professionals around the state, this podcast aims to provide valuable insight and spark creative ideas in your public library’s own 2025 summer planning. Whether you’re a veteran in the summer library program planning world, a newbie looking to start a summer program for the first time, or someone who’s considering changing up your program a little or a lot this year, we hope this podcast will be a valuable resource for you. Sunshine & Stories is available on most major podcast apps.

Ep. 114 Today’s Teen Volunteer, Tomorrow’s Future Librarian:

Episode Summary:

Kate and Kate explore the possibilities of designing a teen volunteer program grounded in the development of workforce skills. How does that shift how you design, manage, and evaluate a library’s teen volunteer program? Could this sort of approach improve retention and create a lasting impact on teens in your communities of services? (Full transcript available here.)

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00:00 – Introduction
01:47 – Why have a teen volunteer program?
05:06 – Steps to take to get started
08:35 – Strategies for retention
13:06 – Capturing and evaluating impact
17:22 – A program recommendation
18:23 – Closing

Resources:

Collaborative Summer Library Program
Colorado Youth Services Library Network mailing list
Pikes Peak Library District Workforce Readiness – Basic Training
PPLD Workforce Readiness – Intermediate Training (15+)

Next Drop-in Chat:

Join us on March 11, 2025 at 11:00 am to noon Mountain Time for our next online Summer Drop-in Chat. Come when you can, stay for as long as you can. See you soon!