Our Library put on a Gingerbread House Competition. What better way to get participants then to include volunteers?

By getting volunteers to participate in library programs and events, it not only helps with statistics and numbers, but it also gets volunteers involved in a whole different side of library participation.

Volunteers come to us because they want to help or need something. I had community service volunteers build gingerbread houses as a project and they got hours for doing it. I had one young lady turn hers in and said it was the worst punishment that she could imagine!

Her’s fell apart, she had to rebake it, the roof caved in and by the time she turned it in, it was leaning toward one side! She told me that if she knew that she’d was going to do a gingerbread house, she would have waited until she was 21 to drink alcohol!

In the end, she enjoyed doing her task, we had one more house, and she participated in our event, helping with the display and judging as well.

Sometimes it’s not all putting books away, dusting or inventory. Involving volunteers in our books clubs, programs and computer classes are all great ways to increase numbers which help with our services.

Remember, be creative! Volunteers can help libraries in so many different ways. Think outside the box.

It’s the semester end for many high schools and I know lots of the students are seeking extra credit and doing plenty of last-minute panic in trying to get their mandatory hours in. Knowing how the Generation Y and Me seems to operate in regard to volunteering, I organized a Food Drive Blitz. Come to me from 4:00-5:00 with your food items for the Food Banks for the Holiday’s and I’ll sign off on service hours. Our staff Association is running the drive so why not add to it and help it out?

In the first 15 minutes we received 75 food items. Not too shabby, throughout the hour, more donations rolled in, but it was the first 15 minutes that I was stoked about. We had lots of Ramon Noodles, Snack Pack and Ravioli. I really didn’t care what they donated, they were donating. They were helping their community and the library was a place to do that.

It’s not a direct service to the library, but a direct service to the community that we help serve. Every little bit helps. I was thrilled with the participation. We did the same thing around the end of October for the Thanksgiving Holiday and throughout the summer. Sometimes its just getting our young people involved in the easiest way that brings them back for more. On the staff side, we have a tree that we have in our buildings that have the wants of our adopted families. Out in our lobby we have a mitten and hat tree. It feels good to help others. We need to help others, but most importantly, we have to want to help others. As Volunteer Coordinators, creating those opportunities, is a big part of what we do.

Things don’t have to be so difficult. Sometimes an opportunity can be as  simple as a can of Ravioli.

I was taking inventory the other day on where my volunteers are and which ones have taken a leave of absence over the winter.  I was missing one of my favorite elderly geneology volunteers. He has had some health problems and I knew his wife wasn’t well either.

He’s always been dependable, pleasant and constant, and I was just missing him so I sent him an old school card, hand written, snail mail with a stamp. I actually told him we  missed him and I hoped he and his wife were well. I’m not expecting anything back from him. I just wanted to let him know that we were here for him.

I went one step farther and told our Mobile Outreach Coordinator to maybe give him a call and see if he wanted library service over the winter months. He said he would.

Our volunteer has done so much for us over the years, we really needed his help and he did a great job. I’m not giving up on him…I think he needs us now, so if he can’t come to us, we’ll go to him.

I read in the newspaper that a library on the South side was cutting hours. I hate to see that. They were cutting hours to the community because of the economy. That also meant, staff hours would be cut, but the same high quality of customer service would have to stay the same. Probably no raises, more work, more handling of complaints, more and more with less. I don’t know about your libraries, but because of the economy…we are busier than ever! More people are using our computer labs, borrowing our books, reading our subscriptions, checking out our AV collection. Our dvd’s and cd’s seem to be going out more than the books are as of late.

I just couldn’t let another library fall by the wayside without reaching out.  So I sent an email saying “hey…this is what I do. I work with volunteers.” Believe it or not, good volunteers can get us over this hump. We have a National Call to Service going on People! And it’s for this reason, not to cut hours and have people lose more jobs or get less wages, it’s to help us keep things open, keep people employed and paying bills, keep services running and keep things “normal”.

If your library is one of those closing earlier, draw on volunteers to help! If you can run the library at the same level that you were doing without them, maybe you were heavy on the cream and gravy. I know it’s something that people don’t want to take a look at but it’s there. Some people are afraid of volunteers taking their jobs. We’ll if that’s the case, look at the staff and see how they are working. Volunteers don’t need to be looked at as the enemy, many of them can save us, but we choose not to include that part of it.

Most of the public libraries are being run by volunteer boards aren’t they? We need to look toward the volunteer to help us through this. If we think outside the box, we’ll be ok.

I  have about 100 volunteer applications on my desk this week. Since I manage volunteers in 2 libraries, I have them sorted on 2 clipboards. It’s almost like having twins. I need to treat them both fairly. I get more walk ins at the library where my office is, but the volume at the other library seems to be more so the placement there is more urgent.

This is the Human Resources part of Volunteer Management. How do we keep up with the mountains of paperwork that comes along with the job? I put together a manual of my job. In it are all the forms, agreements, master copies, and the “why’s” and “how’s” of what I do. It’s a big binder. Lets just say, if I need a step stool to reach something, I can just stand on it for height.

As for the volunteers, attached to their application is their handbook consent form, any letters or notes, copies of probation or school related forms, any special waivers, their resumes if they have submitted that and any other information that find their way to me while they are currently volunteering, such as time sheets. Those are all the current ones.

As for keeping previous volunteer information. Let’s just say I keep it all. I had a call about a year ago from a volunteer who needed her time sheets to prove that she did volunteer to the IRS during an audit. She claimed her mileage, which was allowed, but she needed the paperwork for her accountant. Luckily I had it. It was buried in a drawer, but I had it all the same.  I’m excited for 2010. I’m going to move all the applicants and current volunteers to an access data base. That way if we need volunteers to repair books, and they checked that box on the applications, I can pull everyone up. I mentioned Volgistics in an earlier post, and hopefully that will help me track hours better and have better communication with the volunteers via the web.

I don’t want to go paperless yet, but I need some way that will help me organize better and stay on top of it all.

I did not bring my “A” game to work this morning. I had a new job training session in Youth Services, my mail box had applications from over the weekend, I had voice mail galore and I had to confront a volunteer on a situation regarding quality control without stepping on toes or hurting feelings, plus when you just wake up to snow…and extra cold..it just throws you off. I had no idea what shoes I should wear…any way..

I’m running around like a crazy lady and I at least listen to my voice mail only to get another call right when I hang up my receiver about a potential volunteer wanting to talk with me about opportunities who was in the lobby. I decided, what the heck, I’ll throw him in to my craziness…what harm could it do?

I invite him in to my office, turn to close the door and start looking over his application that he had laid on my desk. He proceeds to tell me he is court ordered community service. I looked on his application and school ordered was circled.

“Are you school ordered too?” “No” he said. I circled court ordered and marked out school ordered. I told him we had a lot of dusting to do in our Youth Services area and would it bother the chronic asthma he had listed on his application under health limitations. “No” he said again, with his eyebrows scrunched. We chatted a little more, getting to know each other. I flipped the application back over. It listed that he was 8th grade home schooled. Not being allowed to ask age on applications, I was going with what I had in front of me. Could this just be a big 8th grader? He continued to talk about his interests, what he’s on probation for, when his next meeting is with his officer…and there I was flipping the application over and back looking at it and then looking at him. Finally, I couldn’t wrap my head around it…”Ok” I said. “I have to ask you, and it’s up to you if you don’t want to answer, but how old are you?” “That’s fine, it’s no big deal. I’m 22″. I was more confused than ever, “And you’re being homeschooled  for the 8th grade? Who are you?” He told me his name, I clearly had the wrong application in front of me. I had grabbed an application from the pile of the ones from my mailbox from over the weekend instead of the one he laid on my desk, I didn’t notice it because I had turned my back to close my door for privacy for our meeting.

After sorting through it and having a few laughs, this guy, this 22-year-old guy without chronic asthma, will start tomorrow helping dust our shelves and shift our YS Non Fiction. I hope you all had a better Monday then I did!

I met the cutest retired couple this week wanting to volunteer. I wanted to adopt them they were so adorable. I got a phone call last week about the status of the wife’s volunteer application. We set the interview and chitty chatted about opportunities and interests. When I went to meet her this week, her husband was with her and he also was interested in volunteering.

They wanted to come together, but had different interests. They do Meals on Wheels delivery on Tuesdays but wanted to come the other 3 Tuesdays of the month. We went through the front and back of the application-line by line. I was glad I had blocked out a 2 hour span for the interview, tour and orientation.

Just through talking and chatting, I found out that she was a retired preschool teacher and he was a retired meterologist-and surprisingly, when I didn’t think they could, they became even more adorable. He would start going on about weather, she about her interests, they would wait patiently for each other to finish their stories, and then delve into another.

I’d steer back to the handbook and policies and procedures, a cell phone rang and it was their daughter. I sat back and said they could take the call. It was about their granddaughter’s Christmas present. While she was on the phone, he regaled me in stories about weather. Did you know they hung a weatherman in South America for getting a forecast wrong? He obviously loved weather and she obviously loved children.

As I sat patiently listening to a weather story in one ear  and overhearing how hard it was to find a specific Dora toy in the other, the wheels of my brain began to turn. How awesome would it be to have her read a story regarding weather..maybe “Pecos Bill” and then have him talk about weather to the kids and parents during a story time? There are flurries of stories out there to read about weather, and after 40 years in the weather business, flurries of stories for him to share.

I think “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” will be our first event. I’m forecasting a very successful program!

Lots of Libraries and Library Volunteer Managers turn away volunteers that are mandated by some agency or another to do community service. Let me just tell you point blank..you are missing out on some great people. Library Volunteer Managers and other non-profit Volunteer Managers find themselves in this catch 22. Do we offer to be an agency to benefit the community by taking in required community service? or do we set out volunteer opportunities and only fill those positions with our patron base who want to volunteer willingly?

Not many libraries accept Court Ordered Probation, TANF, Welfare to Work, Workfare, SCSEP, or Adult and Teen Disability Job Training to name a few. If the policies are set, you work within guidelines and procedure, have staff support and agency backing, then it’s an incredibly rewarding experience.

I sat down with our County Chief Probation Officer and said, “OK…this is what I do, these are our projects, these are the hours given, this is who we can accept…what fits in with your needs and goals?” We worked together on the list and our goals and voila…a wonderful partnership was formed. In a few weeks, Weekend Probation Work Crews will be assembling wooden stops to go on our AV shelfs to keep our AV/DVD/VHS from falling behind and slipping into  no man’s land along with the dryer socks.

I partnered with IMPACT and Welfare to Work to offer community service to those on assistance. A lot of what we do is understanding the system. People don’t just sit and collect a welfare check. Those getting assistance must work 20 hours a week in the community on job training, and put in 10 hours a week looking for a job. I have volunteer who is very concerned with losing her TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Her volunteer work has been excellent and she hopes to one day work here. She’s developed an enjoyment for what she does, and surprisingly…work can be fun! It’s all about finding the right match. She also is able to take advantage of our free computer training classes. Required service brought her in the door, but other things are making her want to stay!

SCSEP isn’t any different. Our Seniors in this program are great volunteers and through a grant, they are paid to come in. I mentioned before working with several job training organizations. Everyone is nervous at those initial meetings, I had a job coach and a client from an agency working with teens with disabilities sitting in my office for an initial evaluation and interview. As I’m talking to the job coach, the client spun around in the chair and was yelling obscenities. I kept my cool and continued to go over safety procedures with the job coach.

I keep lots of toys in my office, rubik’s cube, wind up toys, Etch a Sketch, magnets, etc.  I continued to talk to the job coach and grabbed a couple wind up toys, a turtle crawled across my desk, a kangaroo flipped, an ape skipped a wire rope. The client began to settle down. The job coach looked at me and said, “No one will take us. We’ve been turned away from 4 other agencies.”

“EVERYONE gets nervous and EVERYONE reacts differently.  Baby steps and close supervision… we’ll be ok.”

They have been with us for 2 years now. It’s great to see the improvement and independence and confidence that has been gained on the client’s end and the family and job coach are happy and I’m happy.

I also need to tell you, I don’t always take everyone. I have an incredible GUT feeling sometimes and that’s the best thing to go off of. What’s in your gut, in your heart and in your head can all be different. I took a risk and went out on a limb with these misfits, and I’m so glad I did.