For Teens

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Want to strengthen your community and share your love of reading with others? Santa Barbara Public Library offers a variety of volunteer opportunities to earn community service hours. Whether you have an amazing idea for a library program or want to share your favorite book, SBPL can help you complete your volunteer goals. Learn about volunteer opportunities and find your next read!

Sections

Volunteer Opportunities Book Reviews Reading Suggestions

Virtual

Do you love to read? Get service hours for writing book reviews! Find more information about Book Reviews further down this page.

Central

OG Tutoring

Are you great with kids? Volunteers who are 16 or over are welcome to complete an 8-hour training to become a formal Orton-Gillingham reading tutor and be assigned to a specific child to schedule tutoring sessions at any SBPL Library. All training hours will count as volunteer hours once you are matched with a child.

Ideal volunteers are patient, exhibit strong reading skills, and engage well with children.

Teen Volunteer Time

Do you need to earn community service hours? Become a teen volunteer at the library and help library staff and the library at large while earning your hours. We will meet in the lobby of the Central Library and start promptly at 4:00 PM.

Volunteer Application and Waiver

Eastside

Teen Advisory Board

Do you have awesome ideas about events for teens? Help plan events for other teens, suggest books for the collection, and more! You and your fellow TAB members decide what projects to work on. TAB meets weekly at the Eastside Library.

Ideal Teen Advisory Board members should be excited about getting involved in their community. Contact Teen Librarian Blanca Ramirez for more information at BRamirez@SantaBarbaraCA.gov.

Are you dying to get your thoughts about your latest read off your chest? Do you have an old favorite you wish more people would read? Write a book review for our blog or social media accounts! You will receive 1 service hour for each book review, and you may submit up to 5 reviews per month.

You must be in grades 7-12.
The book must be available from the Santa Barbara Public Library.
Want to review a book we don’t own? Submit a Materials Request with your Library card or email Lisa Neubert at LNeubert@SantaBarbaraCA.gov. We may be able to add it to the collection!
Reviews should be approximately 250 - 300 words and be entirely your own work.
Reviews should include a very short plot summary (no spoilers) and your opinion about the book. Check out Joanna Cutrara’s article How to Write a Book Review for a sample outline and tips and tricks for writing a great review. (But seriously, no spoilers.)

Have fun! These reviews are for other teens, so write in your own style and have fun with it. Your review doesn’t need to be too formal or sound like an essay. Optional: You may also choose to submit a photo of the book with your review, which will potentially be posted on the Library’s social media pages.

Your full name will not be posted with the review - you’ll be able to choose how you want to be credited.
SBPL staff might make small edits for grammar or spelling errors.
Service hours will not be given for inaccurate or incomplete reviews. In such cases, SBPL staff may contact you to request edits.

You will receive a confirmation email within 7-10 days after you submit your review, and you are responsible for following up with SBPL Staff to get your service hours signed. Please contact Teen Librarian Blanca Ramirez (BRamirez@SantaBarbaraCA.gov) with any questions.

Submit Your Review