Tuesday, April 26, 2011

V is for . . .

Volunteers!

National Volunteer Week was April 10 -16 and this post is in honor of all the volunteers that work in libraries. Without the hours that volunteers put in at libraries would have fewer books re-shelved, repaired, and stories read. Thank you to everyone!

Duties of Volunteers

At my library we have volunteers from 6th grade and up to adult. Many of the students who volunteer do it as class requirements and the library is able to provide this partnership with the schools. For those of you out there who are looking to start to include volunteers to do daily duties, here is a list of some of the tasks that volunteers at my library do:

  • re-shelve materials
  • repair materials
  • clean materials
  • read to children
  • participate in the read to your bread program (therapy dogs listening to kids read)
  • prep for crafts
  • help at programs for kids
  • set up for programs
  • crowd control at big programs
  • make summer reading program prize bags
  • give out summer reading program prizes
  • lead programs
These are just a few of the duties of volunteers at the library.

How to find volunteers?

Contacting local schools (don't forget colleges) and ask if you can be put on a list of places to volunteer.

We put out a small flyer asking interested teens to who want to volunteer and then we try to do a large orientation, especially at the start of Summer Reading.

You could put up a poster in your library asking for volunteers and you would be surprised by the number of regular patrons who come in and want to volunteer.

Other posts have also mentioned where to get volunteers and programs for volunteers young and old.

posted by Anna

1 Comment:

Beverly Diehl said...

Hi folks, new follower here. I'd put this in an e-mail, 'cept I couldn't find an eddress... :-(

Suggestion - perhaps you might want to rethink your font choice, at least as combined with the beige background (which I like.) My eyes aren't that old, but I'm finding it very hard to read, and this might discourage others from following or visiting as often as you'd probably like.