“This was one of the best workshops I have attended. It was relevant and had great information. The presenter was EXCELLENT!”

“It was an inspiring day full of useful information. Carla’s energy is contagious and she offered information at a lively pace.”

“Wonderful. The presenter was extremely organized and had a wealth of experience. Very impressive.”

“I’ve been employed with this library since 2001 and have attended numerous library conferences, training seminars and workshops during that time. This was the BEST library related training I’ve ever attended!! Thanks!!!”

These comments are direct quotes from the evaluations for the recent round of Successful Volunteer Engagement for Libraries workshops held in eight libraries around Washington State, ranging from Liberty Lake to Bellingham. The workshops were presented by Carla Lehn from The Lehn Group based out of California. Carla is also the Library Programs Consultant at the California State Library.

This workshop grew out of the Transforming Life After 50 project that involves fellows from Washington, California, Idaho, and other states. One of the courses taught as part of the fellowship, which focuses on serving adults 50 years and older, was Volunteer Engagement and Carla was the instructor. Her templates for volunteer job descriptions and targeted recruitment plans proved to be valuable tools.

As libraries across the nation and in Washington struggle with budget cuts, volunteers are more in demand than ever. However, creating successful volunteer programs is not always easy. Carla’s experience in this area provided a great blueprint for libraries in Washington to follow.

The workshop focused on baby boomers and the generations that will follow them and how they are seeking new ways to use their skills and experience to make a difference in their communities. The workshop focused on how to start or “re-tool” a volunteer engagement program that will not only capture the talents of these potential volunteers, but will reap the benefits of ongoing support for the library that comes from having these people meaningfully engaged.

As a result of these workshops, a WebJunction Washington page has been created under “Washington State Library Resources” on Volunteer Engagement Strategies for Libraries. You can access the page at http://wa.webjunction.org/685.

Among the resources shared on the page are links to Carla’s Transforming Life After 50 archived course and a recorded webinar presented by David Junius (Washington Talking Book & Braille Library/WTBBL) called The Bottom Line on Volunteers.

For the workshop scheduled in Seattle at WTBBL, WSL partnered with David Junius and WTBBL volunteer Steve McCarthy to add their unique volunteer perspective as well. Here’s David’s view of Carla’s workshop:

“Both Carla and I have a nonprofit fund development background, so I appreciated her approach to the identification, recruitment and stewardship of volunteers, and her point of view on the generational pools of talent we have available to meet our needs. Fund development is akin to relationship development, which is what managing volunteer programs is all about.

“Carla’s workshop was valuable for new and veteran volunteer managers. Saying WTBBL has 400 volunteers donating 32,000 hours annually is the standard statistic I share, to the point where it almost doesn’t register with me anymore.

“However, when I mentioned this statistic at the start of Carla’s workshop, people were impressed.
That reminded me that even after doing volunteer management for three years, on top of another dozen in various nonprofits working with volunteers, I still have something to be excited about…especially in this economy where volunteers are (even more) valued.

“While we often look at outputs in volunteer management – how many hours, how many volunteers, how many items circulated by those volunteers, etc. – we also need to look at the outcomes. Just as our volunteers help the lives of our libraries’ users, they are also elevating their own lives by being involved with us. Carla’s workshop re-amplified this for me.”

WTBBL volunteer Steve McCarthy also attended the workshop, and he has started to use a few of Carla’s tools in further developing the volunteer corps at the local nonprofit where he is the board chair. Carla’s information is transferable between types of organizations, with the common denominator being a respect for the people involved in each part of the organizational relationship: staff, volunteers, and library users.”

Tags: Training, volunteers, workshop

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