Monday 4 February 2019 Wollongong City Library
Bec Edwards (City of Sydney), Peter Green (City of Sydney), Jacky Talbot (Lane Cove), Jane Moffatt (Randwick)
Mark Norman, Central Library Manager and Eileen Smith Outreach Services Team Leader Librarian
Confirmed Bernedette Stephenson (Campbelltown)
Living Connected https://livingconnected.network/ is a not-for profit community enterprise providing services for the social well-being of elders helping them to remain independent, connected and engaged through digital inclusion.
They provide a range of personalised, integrated and continuing services to assist seniors with their IT so that the can reap the benefits of the digital world. It currently operates in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions of NSW.
The Founder of Living Connected is Helen Hasan, Professor of Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction at the University of Wollongong. She has conducted research for over 30 years on how life has changes with advances in digital technology.
The project is part of the UOW: University of Wollongong, IAccelerate Club for startups. The focus of their work is identifying what older people want to be able to do and then show them how, including helping them to set up Borrowbox from the Wollongong City Libraries; bus timetables; checking traffic and local areas via Google maps. A lot of the tutors are University of Wollongong students.
Volunteering Illawarra https://volunteeringillawarra.org.au/ is a community service auspiced by Wollongong City Council, within the Library & Community Services Division. Volunteering Illawarra employs a team of three staff and seven volunteers. Paul Kaiserfeld is the Coordinator of Volunteering Illawarra. They are funded by grants from both the state and federal government. Volunteering Illawarra’s vision is to be a regional centre of excellence that promotes volunteering and the value of volunteers in the community.
Their primary activity is the operation of a regional volunteer resource centre across the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama Local Government Areas. They also provide training services in the Shoalhaven for managers, staff, volunteers and Management Committee Members. Training covers Recruiting and Managing Volunteers; Work Health and Safety; Grief and Loss Issues for Volunteers; Positive Working Relationships; Conflict Management; Kitchen Health and Hygiene; Grant Writing; Roles and Responsibilities for Management Committees. They also have partnerships in place with University of Wollongong (IT and law).
Some resources Paul recommends:
It’s important to note that volunteers cannot replace a paid position and they need orientation and training the same as a paid employee does. Most issues with volunteers come about because of lack of training. Volunteer retention can be a challenge and it is important to ensure the roles are interesting (not mind-numbing), match the volunteers' own skills and interests and that there is a clear role description including expectations, knowledge, skills, duties, hours, days per week.
Some sort of annual recognition event is also recommended. Some organisations have a lot of success with a regular “drop in” event for library volunteers so they can meet and keep their knowledge and skills current. Dates for recognising volunteers include National Volunteering week in May or International Volunteers Day which is 5 December.
There are National Standards for Volunteer Involvement which contain benchmarks specifically designed to help organisations attract, manage, recognise and retain volunteers, and to manage risk and safety with respect to volunteers. https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/policy/national-standards-and-supporting-material/ Please note that your organisation’s insurance for volunteers may only cover the Medicare covered amount, not the additional out of pocket expenses that a volunteer may experience if they are injured.
The steering committee members are responsible for:
Host libraries for meetings are responsible for:
Programming
Thank you to Mary Ryder (Hornsby) for all her work on the previous steering committee over several years, also the other committee members.
Did anyone have success with time banking for volunteers? https://www.timebanking.com.au/ Have people have any success making Borrowbox accessible for very low vision clients? Does it work with Siri / voice commands?
Does anyone have instructions for downloading content onto Navigator readers? Please send to the elist.
Vision Australia are curtailing services due to funding cuts. They are looking for participants in a digital trial in the Western Suburbs. Suggestion to invite them to send a guest speaker to a future meeting.
Macular Degeneration Foundation Navigator project appears to be winding up, some clients have their own Navigators and others used the ones supplied by MDF to libraries. Clients may receive a letter from MDF.
Julie-Anne Jones has discovered a Bluetooth speaker that can have a plug in USB, which is simple enough for low vision users. She will bring it along to the next meeting for a demonstration.