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Library staff outlines volunteer program: 1,177 service hours last year, recruitment and fingerprint process explained
Summary
Felicia Fiedler, training and volunteer librarian, briefed the Flagstaff County Library Board on volunteer statistics, recruitment, screening and onboarding, including a fingerprinting requirement for adult volunteers and separate rules for teens.
Felicia Fiedler, the Flagstaff Public Library's training and volunteer librarian, told the Flagstaff County Library Board that volunteers performed 1,177 service hours last year and that the library's volunteer program includes roles such as computer tutors, collection support, program assistants and teen volunteers.
"I have my master's degree in library and information sciences," Fiedler said as she introduced herself and the volunteer program. She said volunteers completed 178 computer tutoring sessions last year, and the library received roughly 70 applications; the board heard that 23 applications had been received so far this year.
Fiedler described the current volunteer composition: 32 active volunteers at the time of her presentation, including 12 computer tutors, 10 collection-support volunteers, six program assistants and about 14 teen volunteers. She said teen volunteers generally serve in summer programs or year-round at the East Library location and are not required to be fingerprinted because they are under 18. Adult volunteers must complete a fingerprint-based background check as part of onboarding.
Fiedler outlined recruitment and screening steps: assessing department needs, posting high‑need positions on the city's volunteer portal and VolunteerMatch, reviewing applications, contacting references and checking for prior incidents. She said onboarding can take about a month because of callbacks to applicants, reference checks and the fingerprinting process and noted the library provides a short orientation and role-specific guides for volunteers.
On volunteer tasks, Fiedler said computer tutors provide one-on-one 30-minute sessions that cover basic software, social media, e-books and job applications. Collection-support volunteers help shelve and tidy materials; program assistants help prepare and run library events.
She also described volunteer appreciation efforts, including annual holiday thank-you cards and small gift-card raffles supported by the library foundation.
Board members asked how the process compared across branches and whether county volunteers follow the same rules; Fiedler said the application and process are identical for both city locations and that the library currently has one county volunteer.
