The Teen Tech Tutors program at the Olympia Timberland Library has been bringing people together for over a decade in a symbiotic, intergenerational program that pairs tech-savvy teens with patrons in need of technology assistance.
The program was originally founded by former TRL Librarians, Sara White and Kelsey Smith, in 2011. After taking a pandemic-induced hiatus, the program restarted in August of 2022 with an enthusiastic new cohort of tutors led by Librarian, Aggie Burstein, who has been involved with the program for nearly 10 years. Burstein describes the program as a “win-win-win” situation: A win for the library as the program helps more patrons, a win for the patrons who receive quality help from trained volunteers, and a win for the teens who get volunteer experience as well as skill and confidence-building.
“We see teens start out really shy and then blossom and become more confident,” Burstein explains. “It’s a cool shift in dynamic when teens realize that they have skills and knowledge to offer others. It helps them to feel valuable. It’s beautiful to see them in the span of mere months go from being quiet and timid to becoming confident leaders.”
The Teen Tech Tutors (typically ages 13-19) are interviewed for these positions, then trained, and complete a session-shadowing prior to tutoring solo. Going through this process gives them important interview and training experience, preparing them for future jobs. As the facilitator of the program, Burstein often serves as a reference and provides letters of recommendation for job and college applications. They explain that these volunteer positions look great on resumes as skills in customer service, problem-solving, troubleshooting, and technology lend themselves to countless jobs.
Teen Tutor, Robin Burlingame, a 16-year-old Junior at Avanti High School, says that he thinks the volunteer experience will be helpful for future jobs as it will add valuable technology experience to his resume’, while 16-year-old Tutor & Sophomore at Capital High School, Danielle Taylor, says that being a Teen Tech Tutor has become recognized and respected volunteer experience in the community.
The tech assistance requests from patrons have evolved over the years, reflecting the quickly advancing nature of technology. A recent issue, according to Taylor, is a sign of the times as requests for assistance with Zoom have become more frequent. Older patrons who may not have learned technology skills in school or did not grow up with its ubiquitous presence, often aren’t sure where to start. In recent years the majority of tech requests have begun to revolve around hand-held devices such as smart phones, but patrons often bring in laptops as well.
Patron Margie Mann brought her 91-year-old mother, retired librarian Joyce Ogden, to a recent Teen Tech Tutor night to receive assistance with a new eReader. Mann says that she used to provide this assistance for her mother, but because technology has changed so much in the past few years, she can no longer provide the answers.
Paula, a self-proclaimed “Library Fan”, has attended Teen Tech Tutor night twice, most recently for assistance with her privacy settings on her phone after a recent software update made unwanted changes. With help from the tutors, her issue was resolved in a matter of minutes.
A valuable experience that Tutors Burlingame and Charles Gong, a 14-year-old freshman at Olympia High school, detail is when they may not initially have the answer to the issues the patrons present them with. Burlingame says, “I’ve actually learned stuff about technology myself because helping people with their various problems, you see all sorts of odd problems that you wouldn’t normally deal with, so you learn as well. You solve the problem together.”
“It’s really fun because we don’t always know what the solution is, but we go through it with them and learn ourselves how to solve the issue, and then we use that experience to help when the issue arises again with other patrons,” says Gong.
Burstein says it can be reassuring and empowering to the patrons to realize that even the teens may not know the answer. It gives the tutor an opportunity to show the patron how they would go about researching and solving the problem through trial and error. Often patrons assume they are the problem, but problem solving together shows them that while these issues can be frustrating, usually a solution can be found.
While the staff overseeing the program have witnessed the tutors blossom throughout their time volunteering, they also see the patrons grow in their knowledge and confidence, sometimes to the point where they could teach others themselves.
The Teen Tech Tutor program is beneficial to all involved. Participation fosters life-long learning, personal growth and skill-building, and intergenerational connection, a key focus of Timberland Regional Library’s community-developed strategic direction.
Teen Tech Tutors meet every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. You can contact the Olympia Timberland Library 360-352-0595 for more information or follow them on Facebook for updates.
Timberland Regional LIBRARY provides for the entertainment, information, and lifelong learning
needs of Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston county residents at 29 community public
libraries locations. The library system is funded mainly by local property taxes, timber tax, fundraising
efforts of TRL Friends of the Library, and generous donations by individual supporters.
All Timberland library programs are free and open to the public. Anyone needing special
accommodations to participate in a library’s programs may contact the library one week in advance.
For more information, visit TRL.org.
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