Libraries in general, and some
school libraries in particular are not known for having a surplus in staff.
Many therefore consider turning to parent volunteers to help out with a variety
of tasks.
Some libraries manage this
better than others, and here in Singapore, the
Singapore American School is
known in our network for having a very well run, well functioning library
parent volunteer program. They have
35-40 regular weekly parent volunteers and more than 50 parents who are
involved in one-way or another in the library as well as a group of committed
high school student volunteers.
So this morning, I went over to interview Kate
Brundage, the Elementary School Librarian who has been running a successful
program for the last five years.
In answering all my questions and showing me the library she explained the process of
recruiting and training volunteers, the type of tasks that volunteers do, potential
problems and pitfalls and how to handle them and how to show your appreciation. We
ended with a tour of the library.
The process of recruiting and
training volunteers
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| Parent volunteer form |
Recruitment generally takes place
at the beginning of the school year when sign-up forms are distributed during
open-house sessions, back to school night, the first parent coffee mornings and
are also shared with classroom teachers.
The library hosts a parent coffee morning and talks to the parents about
library service and the benefits of being a volunteer. During the school year, the librarians have
an active partnership with classroom teachers, whereby parents who tend to
“hover” or want to be overly involved in the classroom have their energies
directed to the library where they can make a meaningful contribution to the
school as a whole.
The initial in-service training
takes 90 minutes and parents are introduced to the library organization,
explanations on shelving are given and parents are given guidelines on what to
do with damaged books and other commonly encountered problems. The desk and mobile circulation systems are
explained and other projects and service opportunities are introduced. New parents are then buddied with existing
volunteers who provide further training “on the job”.
Parents are also encouraged to
team up with close friends or with people who speak the same language as
themselves, if they are not comfortable or fluent in English. Depending on
their volunteer role and interest, some volunteers also receive training in
FollettDestiny (the library system) and are given restricted rights based on
what they need to accomplish.
The library makes it clear on the
form, and in their talks that the main priority for volunteers is shelving, as
this frees up the librarians to spend more time teaching and interacting with
the children and transferring their librarian knowledge and expertise.
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The creation of a "writing wall"
was a parent volunteer idea |
Besides the parents, the High
School pupils can also sign up to be library volunteers as part of their
service program. A similar training
program is given to them, and they are also encouraged to be ‘book buddies’ with
the younger students.
It is emphasized that although
this is a volunteer position, the library is counting on the commitment of the
volunteers, and should they not be able to come for whatever reason, it is
their responsibility to find a replacement, from the list of trained
volunteers, to take their place.
Volunteers are also required to commit to a minimum of 3 hours per week
on a consistent basis. The volunteer
roster is changed every 3 or 4 months giving new volunteers a chance to join up
and also to change around times should situations change or if people are found
not to work well with each other (e.g. friends spending too much time chatting
rather than volunteering!). Volunteers
are encouraged to be active readers so as to better understand children’s
literature, the needs of young readers and the availability of books of
different genres and difficulty in the collection.
The types of tasks volunteers do:
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Parents assisted with the genrefication
of the picture book collection |
Although the primary task is
shelving, and with the huge collection the school has this is a very important
task, it is acknowledged that it is not the most exciting task and needs to be
interspersed with other tasks that may be more stimulating. For example parents help with include
circulation – checking in and out of books either at the check-out desk or
using the mobile apps the school have. Parents are also involved in longer term
projects such as the current genrefication of the library, pushing books out of
the library to classroom libraries, documenting and photographing the puppet
and soft-toy collection into a visual album.
Depending on their skills and interest, parents also create displays, help
with signage and other graphic design, and help children in the shelves with
choosing books, or with occasional story telling and reading. Annual special events such as the Battle of
the Books, the Red Dot Awards, author and illustrator visits and the Readers’
Cup Challenge also provide the opportunity for parents to take ownership of a
project and help the library in this way. For example during an author or
illustrator visit, the volunteers will manage the ordering process. Parents also do “shelf-reading” to ensure
that books are properly shelved and to check missing or damaged inventory. A
new project coming up is the creation and maintenance of a makerspace area, and
volunteers will definitely be involved in that.
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| Sorting and organising special materials |
Parents are asked on signup if
they have specific skills or preferences, including foreign language skills
where they can help with cataloguing, shelving and ordering of LOTE (languages
other than English) materials. Even
stay-at-home-parents are catered for!
Parents who want to volunteer but cannot come into the library due to
younger children or other difficulties have tasks sent home to them like
creating resource lists or checking inventory and creating order spreadsheets
from mark-ups in the SLJ or other book reviews.
Potential problems and pitfalls
Occasionally parents may be
motivated by less altruistic ideals, and exhibit behaviors such as just
assisting their own children in the library, or may have a hidden agenda, such
as censoring books in the collection. Kate emphasized that this was extremely
rare, but had to be dealt with firmly. At all times the fact that it is a partnership
for the benefit of all children. Most problems can be pre-empted by being clear
about expectations during the initial in-service training. Common etiquette
things such as not using mobile phones, deferring to the librarians and
teachers, not interfering with the class experience, not disciplining or
shaming children, maintaining respect and supporting all children are clearly
outlined. The three month volunteer
cycle also allows for a review of which volunteers are in which roles and at
what times and this can be changed if necessary.
Showing appreciation
The library hosts two parties
during the year, one before Christmas and one at year end. Catering part of the library budget and
parents are given small thank-you gifts such as flowers or vouchers for Starbucks
or movies, candles and holiday bookmarks.
They are also given first choice in books that are being weeded from the
collections.
During the year, the librarians
take regular snapshots of the volunteers that are then made into an
appreciation video that is shown at year-end, and some photos are put in the
annual yearbook.
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| ALA Book on managing Volunteers |
After a tour of the library and
seeing some volunteers at work, Kate then very kindly lent me the new ALA book “Managing
Library Volunteers” so that I could look through it while I was in the process
of setting up our volunteer program at school.
