Public Library Volunteers: Appreciated and Essential
By: Miriam Chiasson
Tags: Library Board, Public Libraries, Libraries, Volunteering, Volunteer

Public libraries depend on the work on volunteers to run smoothly.

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If you’re ever looking for a volunteering opportunity, perhaps to give back to or draw links within your community, for work experience or even for fun, a public library is a great place to look into. Public libraries generally offer lots of volunteering opportunities. Of course, that varies from library to library, so you should definitely ask at yours.

At my public library, our volunteers accomplish the following tasks.

Shelving, straightening shelves and shelf-reading

It might sound like a tedious task, especially if you’re shelving tiny children’s books, or non-fiction works with long call numbers, or shelving every single day, but it actually can be quite meditative.

There isn’t much greater sense of relief in my work than the feeling you get when, after dreading to check your shelving cart all day because you know it’s full to the brink, you finally check your cart and it’s already empty, because a volunteer has shelved its contents.

Shelving, straightening shelves and shelf-reading are pivotal tasks. They all ensure that books are easy retrievable by placing them where they belong, and that the collection is presentable and attractive. Being able to find books is a pretty basic requirement for a library, and volunteers are essential to meet this requirement efficiently and consistently.

Other circulation-related tasks, like weeding, inventorying and cataloging in foreign languages

When volunteers have been around for a while and have demonstrated their reliability and dedication, librarians are glad to vary volunteer tasks by delegating some of their more straightforward duties. These include weeding (scanning books to be removed from the collection and blackening out their bar codes before throwing them out — and, hey, if you find something you like, we might even let you keep it), inventorying (somehow even more tedious than shelving, this involves printing a list of all the books in a collection and double-checking that they are actually there and not missing), and cataloging in foreign languages.

Our city is increasingly home to a diverse population of newcomers and we are seeking to have our collections reflect that. However, catalogers need some help from speakers of foreign languages to add items to the collection. A particular volunteer at our library donated some beautiful books in Arabic to add to the collection and was asked to help out with their cataloging. Volunteers are instrumental in diversifying our collections.

These tasks allow volunteers to discover even more of the inner workings of libraries, which can be a really rewarding experience. In addition, librarians can free up some of their time to do more specialized things, like programs and outreach.

Facilitating language-related programs

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We have a number of volunteers facilitating conversation circles at the library, which allow language learners to practice a specific language by conversing with other learners. The activity requires participants to have some bases in the language, and of course, the facilitator must be a fluent speaker.

Being a facilitator is pretty easy. Librarians prepare questions and conversation topics, and you just have to keep the conversation going, make sure everyone gets a chance to talk, and help correct pronunciation and grammar. Some facilitators go a little further and prepare their own material, but that’s definitely not expected. It’s pretty important to ensure everybody understands conversation circles are not a class.

We currently offer two conversation circles in English, two in French, one in Mandarin and one in Spanish. Actually, the Spanish facilitator, a newcomer from Peru, was first a participant at the English conversation circles and expressed her interest in giving back to the library. We were of course glad to give her that opportunity, and continue to be grateful for her involvement. Her program is highly attended and much appreciated by patrons.

Facilitating specialized programs

Something else librarians deeply enjoy is when patrons want to share their expertise with others, through library programs, especially when we’re talking about skills that no librarian on the team possesses, or if they do, when we’re given the opportunity to focus our time on something else by having skilled volunteers take over.

For example, one of our long-term volunteers makes her own soaps and cleaning products, and practices a variety of crafts. She offers a bunch of workshops in our Makerspace, which most librarians would not be able to do.

Another volunteer is very tech-savvy and has started facilitating a drop-in program for people to receive tech help. Librarians also offer one-on-one sessions for tech help during the day, but the volunteer’s efforts allow for more people to be served, and during the evening if they prefer.

We have one more volunteer who enjoys word processing. He will soon begin to offer his services to people who need help typing and formatting documents, such as resumes and letters. Patrons often request help with their resumes and librarians don’t have the time to sit down and type a resume, so we are certain this will be a very successful service.

Helping with fundraisers and large-scale events

Your help might be required on a one-off basis, too. Our library organizes a few large-scale fundraisers for which we need many volunteers, but for one night, here and there.

Other events require a lot of volunteers, like Living Libraries. Living Libraries invite volunteers to act as Living Books and share their story with participants during a short conversation. We have had three Living Libraries, over the years, and about 3 dozen Living Books, each with a fascinating life story, volunteered their time for an afternoon. Moreover, we had a few additional volunteers to help run the event, by walking readers to their meeting spot, and keeping time.

The success of these events rests on the shoulders of valiant volunteers.

Teens, too: Teen Advisory Group

Teens are always welcome to volunteer their time at the library. It’s a great opportunity to gain work experience and meet new people. Teens can shelve, and even run programs. Our weekly teen game night event is run by a younger adult and a teen.

Another fun volunteering opportunity for teens is the Teen Advisory Group. Teen volunteers meet twice a week to discuss what they want to see happen at their library, prepare special activities and decorate the teen space. It’s always difficult to have teens participate in programs, but when they are given a say, they are more interested in attending.

How do you become a volunteer, anyway?

Most libraries have similar policies and procedures, but you should of course ask your local library to make sure.

At my library, volunteers first need to identify their interests, experience, and availabilities by filling a form and also need to provide a police background check. If they already have one that is less than six months old, a copy will do great, or we can prepare a letter to have one issued for free. The police station is right next to the library, too, for convenience. When the need arises for the volunteer to join our team, we contact them, proceed with intake procedures (reviewing policies and procedures, health and safety standards, punctuality requirements), and train them for their assigned tasks. Volunteers are asked to track their hours in a binder at the reference desk.

We recognize the input and value of volunteers by organizing a volunteer get-together, giving them cards periodically, and gifting them certificates for our book sale. These are just little tokens of our great appreciation.

Next level: Library boards

A lot of libraries are overlooked by library boards, which are run by a group of dedicated volunteers. Their tasks involve fundraising to support the library, its services and its collections, and advocating for public libraries with different levels of government.

We are facing a shortage of library board members in the coming months as five of them are moving on, or literally moving out of the city limits.

Often, the best way to recruit library board members is to approach people one-on-one and explain the need for members and their importance. I’m glad to say that I was able to convince (it was not hard at all!) one of our longest-serving volunteers to join the board. A newcomer from Jordan (the one who donated Arabic books!), she completed the application process with the city, and I’m proud to be one of her character references.

Her genuine appreciation for her library is evident from all her hard work as a volunteer, her frequenting the library with her children, and now her upcoming involvement with the board. I hope my and our appreciation for her is evident, too.

Thank you, volunteers

The work of dedicated, hard-working volunteers is crucial to running a library, offering a variety of services that reflect the needs of the population, and advocating for public libraries in general.

To our library volunteers, I can only thank you, thank you, thank you, and know that I will be able to count on you in future.