Lisa- I'll be glad to see other responses.
What are other libraries doing with their volunteers? We do lots, though not enough. We have a team of four staff members to oversee our volunteer program. Comments below are from the team and various staff members that work with volunteers. * Where do you find/solicit volunteers? Library staff, word of mouth, our website and the Round Rock Volunteer Center. We have large, outside banners to promote Volunteers that we use during Volunteer month or at outreach events. We are working on a brochure. * What are your greatest challenges with library volunteers? The ongoing challenge is just getting enough committed volunteers, especially among minorities. We're trying to develop a core group who can be advocates for the library to the community. The challenge is to not just be a place where they come and put in their hours, but that they feel appreciated as individuals. We're working on trying to get all staff to make a greater effort to know the volunteers and express an interest in them as well as just say thank you as they leave. For some volunteers, the bigger challenge is to provide meaningful tasks rather than routine shelving and clerical work. This is especially true for our teen volunteers. To provide more opportunities for volunteers to interact with one another. * What do you find most rewarding in working with library volunteers? Listening to their stories and experiences; exposing them to the library; knowing that we are providing a service for the community by providing a place for other people to contribute to their community; learn a different way of doing a task. It varies from staff to staff, but all in all it's a win-win situation. Seeing their sense of accomplishment. Watching teen volunteers develop a sense of responsibility and a desire to give back to the community. We have teen resource volunteers from a local high school special education program and we find it rewarding to see them develop. * How do you track volunteer hours? Do you use written time cards? An online database? Other? Volunteers record their hours on sheets kept at various work areas around the library, the sheets are collected at the end of the month and a staff member enters the hours onto a spreadsheet. * How do you communicate with your volunteers (personal email, phone, email distribution list, blog, website, wiki, etc.)? Generally by personal contact, we use the mail for invitations and cards such as get well, etc. We also phone volunteers on occasion. * Do you have volunteer policies and/or guidelines? If so, what do they look like and how do you distribute them? We have a volunteer hand out that is given to the volunteer at their orientation as well as a map of the library. The handout includes a letter from the director, our volunteer policies and guidelines, including a copy of dress codes and a list of staff and phone numbers. We ask for a minimum commitment of twenty hours over a three month period except in our processing unit. The minimum commitment is 40 hours over six months. We ask for these commitment because we do have an investment of time by staff especially in training the volunteers. * How do volunteers apply and what information is required? They can come to us through the Volunteer Center or we have one scheduled orientation session a month or they can make an appointment with one of four staff who comprise out volunteer team. Name; address; phone number; email address; emergency contact information; where applicable we note their interests, skills. For teen volunteers we also note how many hours they need for what organization/activity; get their parents signature. * What tasks do you assign volunteers? It's as needed. Some volunteer opportunities are limited or not needed at all times. The following is a list of things we've are doing or have done with volunteers: put incoming materials in order on carts; shelve materials; check in materials; help at our service desks with basic circulation functions and reference questions (this is limited to professional librarians, library student or other interns); help with weeding collections; data entry; process new materials; mend and repair existing materials; check in new items in acquisitions; help prepare bindery orders; copy cataloging; conduct computer classes for the public (and we hope that two of our current volunteers will be presenting gardening classes); write press releases, create signage and other marketing related activities; translate materials (brochures); help to interpret Chinese language materials for our catalogers; help with preparing materials for story times and other children's programs; outreach story tellers to local daycares and the Y; act as a disc jockey/moderator at teen gaming tournaments; organize local history materials; even, dusting and cleaning on occasion. We will be having a volunteer help to digitize some local history materials in the near future; a Teen Advisory Board that helps direct teen events and book club; help with summer reading logs, prizes, etc.; I'm sure I've forgotten some. * How do you manage volunteer schedules, abilities, and preferences? Schedules are set up when volunteers start. They are flexible and often changed as agreed on by the volunteer and the person they are working for. Our only requirement is that they let us know if they are unable to make their scheduled time. As to their abilities and talents, we have a dialog with them as they complete our application- what are their interests, what is their background, etc. We then give a mini-tour of the library. It's a behind the scenes look at what we do. We ask the volunteers what they see themselves doing here and try to come up with a good fit. This also means touching bases with the various divisions and exploring what their needs are. Each division handles its own volunteers in regard to training and schedules, support and adjusting assigned tasks based on the volunteer's abilities and desires. It can be a challenge to find the best fit as I said before. * How do you recognize volunteers? (Do you... celebrate anniversaries? host an annual reception? etc.) We have an annual winter luncheon for our adult volunteers and another celebration for our teen volunteers. The latter is generally a pizza party during the summer but it's also been a pizza/swim party. We give special recognition to the volunteer with the most hours overall and by division. Staff votes on a volunteer of the year. These volunteers re recognized with an extra gift. We give certificates, longevity pins, and small gifts in addition to the luncheon. Volunteers are also invited to the staff holiday party. We are ironing out a method for recognizing their birthdays and we send out cards when they are unable to come in due to a major illness or loss in their family. * Other comments?...please share! Last year we formed a volunteer team. It is composed of a team leader and three other staff from each of the three main divisions in the library; public services, children's and technical services. We are responsible for setting the policies and guidelines; preparing handouts, application forms and website information; coordinating with each of the library divisions as to their needs; keeping track of volunteer hours; arranging the volunteer recognition events; promoting relationships between volunteers and staff, between the volunteers, and between the volunteers and the community; working with the Round Rock Volunteer Center. Some of these responsibilities are still in initial planning stages, especially the outreach related ones. We no longer work with court mandated community service workers. We have established a relationship with one of our local high schools to provide vocation guidance training. Usually these students work with a teacher/mentor from the school. We have had homeschoolers and their parents and scouts and even local business who will do a day of volunteering as a group. We are consolidating our teen volunteer program. It was three different programs and still is to some extent but we're trying to find more opportunities for them. Teens under the age of sixteen are required to provide a letter of recommendation from school, church, scouts, etc. Tricia Brauer Horizon System Administrator Round Rock Public Library 216 E. Main St. Round Rock, TX 78664 512-218-7007 512-218-7061 (fax) A word ... is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in colour and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. <[email protected]> Please note that our city has instituted a spam blocking program. It is currently in its early stages, and some business-related mails are being blocked. If I have not responded to your email (and I almost always do), please resend to my personal account at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> . Foreign emails, hotmail accounts, and some yahoo and .org accounts are the common extensions being blocked. I am sorry for this inconvenience.
