Volunteering at the APL is a great way to get involved with your community by making a difference and preparing for high school, college, the job market, and beyond! Take a look at the positions below and see what looks good–or if you have other suggestions as to how you can get involved at the APL, email us! To be eligible for volunteering, youth must be currently in 7th-12th grade.
If you have any questions, please email mwitherell@sailsinc.org!
2026 UPDATE: The APL’s Teen Volunteer program is currently accepting applications for new teen volunteers. We accept applications on a rolling basis and contact applicants when we have a training planned. Training is held every few months depending on demand. Please note that you may not be contacted right away after applying due to the timing of the next training.
Click below to access the online teen volunteer application, fill out this google form completely to be considered. Applicants may not be contacted right away depending on the timing of the next volunteer training:
APPLY HERE for the APL’s Teen Volunteer Program!
Steps to Becoming a Teen Volunteer:
- Fill out an application online! On your application make sure you provide a current email address, we are not able to contact school issued email addresses year-round, please make sure to provide an email address not affiliated with your school. This is the main way we get in touch with potential volunteers!
- Wait to receive an email regarding the next volunteer training. Once you receive the email, respond to let Mrs. Witherell know if you plan to attend.
- Attend volunteer training.
- Once trained, you are ready to start! (Volunteer trainings are held 3-4 times a year depending on need and scheduling.)
Things to Know About Our Program–
- Volunteers who are interested in being a children’s room aides typically volunteer once a week for an hour. This allows room in our schedule for more volunteers.
- Due to the training and practice needed for our volunteer positions, we are not able to accept volunteers who need to complete a very limited number of hours. Also, it does take some time to become a volunteer due to the application and training process. Therefore, our program may not be the best fit for a volunteer who needs to complete volunteering hours ASAP.
2026 VolunTEEN Positions:
- Book Reviewers: Choose a title from the list of options provided by Mrs. Witherell, and write a short book review (2-4 paragraphs)!
- Children’s Room Aides: Shelve and organize children’s books, help prep for children’s activities, and help out at events for younger kids. (Every volunteer is trained to do this, as this is the main volunteering position needed).
- Collection Development: Research and recommend books, music, and movies that you think we should have in the library collection for other teens to check out!
- Program Assistants: Assist the tween/teen librarian with programs! Help set up the the room for the program, assist participants with the program and clean up afterwards.
- Book Club Assistants: Read the book club book for the middle school or teen book club, and attend the meetings to assist in running the discussion!
Volunteers are also encouraged to attend teen volunteer meetings a few times a year, where you get to meet other volunteers, learn about upcoming teen volunteer opportunities, and suggest/plan upcoming teen programming.
