Volunteer Requirements

• Volunteers must either have 1) completed 6th grade, 2) be in grades 7-12, or 3) be in the summer after their graduation.
• Volunteers must reside in the city of Mason or in Deerfield Township.
• Volunteers (or a parent) must have a Mason Public Library card.
• Volunteers are required to join our Remind class in order to receive announcements and to use SignUp Genius to commit to volunteer slots. These are free communication and scheduling tools that connect teachers, students, and parents via email and/or a free app.
• All Teen Volunteers are expected to be courteous to their fellow volunteers by giving at least 24 hour notice when canceling a volunteer commitment. This allows time for someone else to arrange transportation and fill the spot. Not showing up for a volunteer slot you committed to,  canceling with less than 24 hour notice, not following dress code, arriving late or leaving a shift early, or using your phone in front of library customers are all tracked as Problems. Three or more Problems lead to at least a 3 month suspension from shift eligibility. Repeated issues lead to dismissal from the volunteer program and impact eligibity in future years.
• Volunteers must purchase a TAB shirt to wear during public-facing shifts. Our dress code for volunteering at events or where the public can see us is Business Casual - i.e., TAB shirt & khakis/jeans/pants). Leggings, sweats, and shorts (among other things) are considered too casual. If you can wear it to work out in, it's definitely too casual!

Note to parents: This program is designed to develop job, communication, and customer service skills in teens as they provide volunteer service to the library. Parents already have those skills. Please support your teens in scheduling themselves and in communicating with the library. Please do NOT do it for them. Instead, please teach them how to remember when to be ready for each month's scheduling race, how to make sure there are no conflicts on your family calendar with their shifts, how to make sure you are available for transportation, how to use signupgenius, and how to communicate professionally via email or Remind, especially if they are canceling a shift. We understand that middle school volunteers typically require more family support than high school volunteers. Thank you for supporting your teen and for letting them take the lead.