Service Learning OpportunitiesAt — Ventura County Library Administration and eLibrary

Ventura County Library (https://www.vencolibrary.org/) is seeking students for service-learning projects focused on delivering fun and meaningful experiences for Ventura County families. The goal of each opportunity is for students to foster community connections, gain experience in early childhood literacy, and contribute to projects that build and reinforce lifelong learning skills. Opportunities include:

• Sociology Students can participate in a service-learning project that studies its community. The goal is to provide the library with a report that helps ensure its services and resources continue to be relevant and meaningful to Ventura County residents. The project may include the following:
  • Research and literature review
  • Statistic and demographic study of population
  • Service areas and user characteristics
  • Analysis of needs for library programming, services, and resources
  • Recommendations and future projections for library branches
• Storytime Leader - Share the love of reading with children, ages birth to five, at weekly storytime events. Students assist library staff with early childhood literacy activities that may include storytelling, crafting, and performing songs, finger plays, etc. Students are expected to dedicate one hour a week to this project. Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, storytime events will be held outdoors and details are subject to change. Please email the library coordinator for an updated list of dates, times, and locations.
• Content Creator - Produce engaging virtual content for families with infants and toddlers under guidance from library staff. Students incorporate best practices of preschool-readiness to create and deliver social media posts, unboxing videos, and virtual demonstrations of educational activities and parenting resources. Students are expected to dedicate at least one hour a week to this project, alternating every other week between content creation and meeting with library staff on Zoom. Some in-person meetings may be required to manage supplies and materials, which will be held at the library's administrative building in Ventura.
• Audiovisual Storyteller - Create compelling videos or photo essays that document the library’s Parent and Child Together Class. Content should be an audiovisual narrative relating to project outcomes for grant reporting and library promotions. With guidance from library staff, this may include video/photo evidence of the project and interviews with library staff and participants. Examples of previous service-learning deliverables at the library may be found here - School of Cosplay Camarillo Public Library - YouTube; Camarillo Public Library Comic Con 2019 - YouTube. 
• Assistant Makerspace Manager(s) - Have a passion or a willingness to learn maker technologies such as 3D printing, CNC carving, and/or Robotics systems operations & coding?  The E.P. Foster Library is looking for a few in-person Assistant Makerspace Managers to co-lead library makerspace services.
• Assistant Volunteer Coordinator(s) - Interested in helping with a teen volunteer program?  The E.P. Foster Library is seeking a few in-person Assistant Volunteer Coordinators to co-lead and co-develop volunteer tasks for current and future library volunteers.
• Assistant Minecraft Server Administrator(s) - Ventura County Library is searching for a few in-person or virtual Assistant Minecraft Server Administrators with experience in all or some of these areas of Minecraft: *Collaborative multiplayer building and furnishing of large structures. *Redstone engineering and mechanics. *Command blocks usage. *World editing and modifying. *Using and configuring server plugins. *Developing and implementing ideas to engage with players on Minecraft servers.