Digital Navigator

About Our Job
The Denver Public Library (DPL) is a growing urban library system that serves the City & County of Denver. DPL sees more than 4 million visitors every year across its 27 locations, serves Denver’s most vulnerable communities through outreach and mobile services, hosts thousands of programs a year and manages a collection of more than 1.4 million physical and digital materials. We believe a strong library is vital for a strong community. DPL is committed to serving the evolving needs of Denverites through inspired programming, diverse collections, culturally-representative spaces and equitable policies & procedures.

The mission of the Digital Inclusion Department (DI) is to leverage the resources of DPL and community partners to connect everyone in Denver with the technology access and training they need to thrive. We oversee and coordinate access to public computers, circulating technology like Chromebooks and hotspots, digital literacy training, and our system of six ideaLAB makerspaces.

What You’d Do:
DPL is hiring two full-time Digital Navigators to join four existing Digital Navigators in the Digital Inclusion Department, performing one-on-one help at multiple branches across the DPL system and at trusted community partner sites. The Digital Navigators’ work is part of the Denver Public Library’s efforts to bridge substantial gaps in access to internet, devices, and tech training for Denver communities like immigrants and refugees, people experiencing homelessness, non-English-speaking communities, and low-income households.

You’ll be working to establish relationships of trust with community members referred to you by both DPL staff and community partners. Meeting with them one-on-one, you will work together to determine clients’ personal connectivity needs and goals, such as affordable home internet, devices, and/or general digital or application-specific skills. You’ll present options and formulate a plan with each client, and then work with that individual toward the accomplishment of that plan.

Some of that work may look like advising community members about free or affordable home internet service options and assisting them to apply. Sometimes you’ll advise people about sources of affordable devices and support their efforts to acquire or repair them. You may also help people through the process of both qualifying for and applying for low-cost internet plans, which can mean time on the phone with customer service representatives.

Most of your time will be spent providing one-on-one digital literacy support through in person, phone, and online interaction, as well as referral to sources of additional digital literacy skill training. Because so much of our life is spent online, you’ll also be helping a lot with filling out forms and applications, working with our Community Resources team to refer people who need resources on housing or benefits.

You’ll check in with clients to verify that they are connected to needed resources, and administer surveys and conduct evaluation to determine success. Through it all, you’ll track each client’s progress and types of requests, keep accurate and timely records, and report outcomes as required.

About You:
We are looking for someone passionate about teaching and empowering their community, who has experience building relationships with a diverse range of people, and who is willing to learn new tools and technology. This position will require travel to and working out of multiple locations, working closely with staff across the DPL system as well as our community partners. Our target populations often live unstable lives and can share hard stories: you are able to balance empathy and boundaries, respect customer privacy, and are willing to develop your own practice of self-care. Applicants who are bilingual are strongly preferred.

Our ideal candidate will:

• Enjoy teaching people new skills and problem-solving with others.
• Have excellent telephone and online communication skills, including the ability to establish trust with clients of varied educational and cultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrate positive attitude, excellent interpersonal skills, cultural humility and a sense of humor in working with diverse customers, coworkers, and community.
• Ability to understand and clearly communicate basic technological concepts related to internet services, computer and device characteristics, and common online services and applications.
• Ability to creatively solve problems, and negotiate and handle stressful situations in a positive manner.
• Ability to embrace the challenge of learning new tools, software and technology.
• Ability to provide excellent customer service and to demonstrate innovation and flexibility.
• Ability to establish appropriate boundaries with clients with care and empathy, and interest in developing skills to ameliorate secondary trauma and burnout.
• Ability to work in a physically demanding environment with continuous lifting of objects weighing up to 75 lbs and moving heavy carts in tight spaces. Some of this work is done in an outdoor environment.

We know your time is valuable. Applicants who meet the following minimum requirements will be considered:

• A high school diploma or equivalent.
• Two years of public customer service experience.
• Submission of a resume that lists your work experience.
• Two years of technology support or training experience (preferred, not required).
• Experience working with people experiencing homelessness, low-income populations, immigrants, refugees, or justice-involved people (preferred, not required).
• Conversational fluency in a language other than English (Spanish, Vietnamese, Amharic, Chinese, Arabic, Russian in particular strongly preferred, not required)

Other Things You Should Know:
The City and County of Denver benefit package will be offered.

The schedule will be determined by the needs of the department, which currently include onsite Tuesday- Saturday daytime hours. We anticipate the position will be mainly onsite and include travel between branches as well as occasional evening and weekend hours.

We anticipate this posting will close on 9/13/2024 . Please submit a resume and cover letter at your earliest convenience.

Position Type

Unlimited

Library Hiring Range

$20.26 – $25.32

Starting Pay

$25-$30.39

The City and County of Denver provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or any other status protected under federal, state, and/or local law.

It is your right to access oral or written language assistance, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning via CART, or disability-related accommodations. To request any of these services at no cost to you, please contact [email protected] with three business days’ notice.

Applicants for employment with the City and County of Denver must have valid work authorization that does not require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the U.S.