Deliver library services and materials to shut-ins
A really good age-group for teen volunteers is those from 12-15, who are too young to drive or get a job and too old to have a babysitter. They need experience and something meaningful to do. Teens are great summer reading program volunteers, puppeteers, performers, newsletter and website contributors, advisory board members, selectors of materials for teens, book reviewers, and assistants in every area of the library. They have refreshing ideas that can turn into programs which they and their friends conduct. Adults can be used in groups or individually, according to their special interests. They may want to serve on a board, form a book club, plant and maintain flower gardens at the library, teach English as a second language, or work in the library’s book store. Adults may volunteer individually, in pairs, or as a club or workgroup. Assess their needs and match them with the library’s needs. Professional adults (attorneys, artists, librarians, public relations, graphic designers, computer technicians, fund-raisers, teachers, etc.) may do pro-bono work for the library. Retirees are especially good as daily or weekly volunteers or individuals who can be counted on for special projects. Many have special skills that can be used in mending library materials, refinishing library furniture, teaching in a homework center, teaching a skill (quilting, chess, drama, computer), staff the genealogy desk, or maintaining a small business center to help entrepreneurs start their own business. In some areas, retiree-volunteers are seasonal; they are available in the winter months but spend summer somewhere else. They may want to run a Great Books Discussion Group or head a special project while they are in the area, but can’t be available every week year-round. Families volunteer as a group to work together on a library project. Families may want to adopt a family, provide transportation to the library, take library services to shut-ins, tutor a family, teach English to new Americans, sort library donations, maintain library flower beds, decorate or redecorate a library space, raise funds for a special project, host a game night at the library, sponsor a walkathon or rockathon or scavenger hunt; maintain display cases and bulletin boards at the library; or teach a new skill. Most communities have a Rotary, Lion’s Club, Kiwanis, Women’s Club, Junior Women’s Club, Gardening Club, or other civic organization that seeks local projects for their members to support. Rotary, Lion’s Club, and Kiwanis have traditionally supported literacy projects. Women’s Clubs have started many libraries. Gardening Clubs frequently provide weekly floral arrangements for the library or maintain a garden on the library grounds. Junior Women’s Clubs provide grants to projects in which their members can be involved. Begin with the organizations to which the library staff belong and get them involved in library projects. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts receive merit badges for volunteering; Eagle Scouts need special projects that they can do; 4-H encourages volunteering; National Honor Society and high school seniors sometimes need community service credit. The library should have some projects in mind for citizens needing special community service projects. There is a strong link between a company’s demonstrations of social concerns and the likelihood that a customer will patronize that business. We all choose those companies we call for help based upon what we know about that company. If they volunteer beside us, we are more apt to call them. Volunteering is good business for corporations. Volunteering with your workgroup also builds bonds that strengthen that workgroup on the job. Many companies pay for the supplies and resources needed by their corporate volunteer teams and match the donations made by their employees to 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations. Court-ordered volunteers (sometimes called Community Service workers) are sentenced by a court to do community service volunteering as punishment for the crime they have committed. Frequently the crime is drunken driving or a misdemeanor. Serious criminals will not be sent to the library as volunteers. The librarian does have the responsibility of knowing what the offender did to deserve their punishment; do not accept a court-appointed “volunteer” without knowing their offense and the amount of time they are to volunteer before their sentence ends. Court-appointed volunteers may be given jobs that are not desirable to other volunteers, such as washing bookshelves, shifting shelves, reading shelves, or mending library materials. If the court-appointed volunteer does not work out satisfactorily, call the referral agency and send them back to the court. Another less desirable job will be found for them. Friends is a volunteer membership organization that advocates for local libraries. The national organization is Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA), which has some great ideas for Friends Projects. Here is a good orientation for Texas Friends volunteers. Interns and Practicum Volunteers Library school students and other college students frequently need practical experience in a library. These students have been trained in the latest library technology and skills and are anxious to apply them in the “real world”. Contact your nearest library school to see if there are students in you area who could volunteer their 3-week to 6-month practicum or paid internship at your library. Whether elected or appointed, advisory or administrative, libraries in 49 of the 50 states (Hawaii is the exception) have volunteer library boards. Library boards should represent the community in makeup and diversity. Board memberships should rotate on a regular basis in order to involve more citizens in governing their library. Orientation materials are available from the Texas State Library and Archives. A library foundation is usually a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation created to raise funds for the library beyond those appropriated by the library’s governing authority. Library Foundation members are those who can and do financially provide for the library’s needs and who can solicit funds from others, especially businesses and granting agencies. Here are some library foundation websites and projects: Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Austin Public Library Foundation, and Fort Worth Public Library Foundation. Virtual volunteers work from their home or office to volunteer in the library. They may design the library’s logo and brands, publish an e-newsletter, design a database, maintain the library’s web page, translate the library’s print publications and e-publications into an alternative language, make certain that the library’s web pages can use all assistive technologies, check for broken links on all websites, provide online orientation and tutorials for library online customers, provide online customer assistance, monitor a chat room or discussion group, conduct an online book club, compile lists of new materials and interesting websites to send to an e-mail list of subscribers, maintain a library listserv, recruit volunteers, maintain volunteer records, do research in special subject areas, grant applications and reporting, compile online calendars of events or lists of local resources. Refer to Virtual Volunteering Resources and The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook for additional information.
Shelve books, straighten shelves
Assist inventories or automation system migrations
Conduct or assist with story times and summer reading programs
Check materials in and out
Create displays and promotional items
Serve on the library board, friends, or foundations
Work in the library book store
Mend damaged library materials
Process new library materials
Maintain the materials rental programs (McNaughton, rotating collections, etc)
Teach English as Second Language or GED classes
Run or work in an after-school homework center
Maintain the library’s landscaping, flowers, and plants
Grant-writing
Assistance with mailings
Fund-raising
Genealogical research assistance
Tutoring
Teach computer skills to people of all ages
Overdue notifications
Celebrity auctions, silent auctions, rare book auctions
Edit newsletter
Provide teen programming (book club, prom alternatives, teen coffee house, etc)
Build library floats for local parades
Give book talks; host book discussion groups
Teach babysitter certification courses
Host a scavenger hunt or toy/book drive for underprivileged children
Teach anything – swing dancing, quilting, chess, Spanish
Sponsor “Born to Read” program for newborns at local hospitals
Create online or print list of local resources, such as social services or places to take children on an outing
Design and sell notecards or holiday ornaments picturing local landmarks
Conduct Library Card Sign-up Month events
Hold a carnival or festival to raise funds for library project
Have a penny drive for a new library or special project
Plan and conduct an oral history project
Sponsor subscriptions to magazines or special collections the library can’t afford