Sharing Digital Navigators Among Public Libraries

Every navigation program will need to think carefully about their goals and the type of navigator who can help them meet these goals. The regional navigator sharing project privileged hiring navigators primarily for repeated one-on-one mentoring sessions with clients referred, in part, by community organizations such as those offering adult learning, ELL training, assistance for health issues, and job training.

Based on previous experience with navigation in this state, the participating libraries agreed to look for potential navigators with the following combination of characteristics:

• Basic computer skills
• Interest in community service
• A willingness to demonstrate capacity to instruct clearly in the interview period

Finally, we learned that a candidate with previous connections to under-served populations through family or work were the best prepared to demonstrate respect and empathy when with clients. 

The hiring committee was deliberately made up of directors from both large and small libraries, those with navigation experience and without, and a librarian whose work had long centered on community outreach.

To ensure that the project could meet some of the special language needs identified by participating libraries, community organizations were asked to post the positions. Our Arabic language navigator, for example, was referred to the hiring committee by a prominent refugee support organization.