Volunteers

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Volunteers LibrariesGroup W Jackie, Sarah,
Shelley Teresa
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Presentation Plan

• Community
• Management
• Planning, Recruiting Hiring
• Legal Issues
• Training Supervising
• Pros and Cons Discussion

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Community

• Volunteers help to define the librarys role
  within a community.
• A way of encouraging active community
  participation?

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Friends of the Libraryaddress real community
needs

• A non-profit organisation that supports the work
  of the library through fundraising, advocacy, and
  volunteerism
• Support of major library programs, such as the
  summer reading program for children.
• Help to promote the mission and services of the
  library.
• Part of the network of library supporters

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Friends of the Libraryaddress real community
needs

• Serve as a means of communication between the
  library and the community
• Arrange fundraising activities
• Organise community cultural activities in the
  library
• Give practical help to the library staff

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Dual Benefits

• How libraries benefit from the volunteer program
• Volunteers create a positive image of the
  library in the community.
• Volunteers demonstrate community support for the
  library.
• Volunteers bring information about local ideas,
  issues and concerns to the library so that the
  staff and administration can better meet
  community needs.

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Dual Benefits

• How volunteers benefit
• May receive training, which gives them new
  technical, administrative, or customer service
  skills.
• Volunteers learn about the behind-the-scenes
  operation of the library.
• They become allies in promoting library services
  and programs to the community.

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Dual Benefits

• How volunteers benefit
• For young adults, volunteering can afford
  opportunities to meet requirements for community
  service hours for school or service
  organisations.
• On occasion, the volunteer programme can provide
  an opportunity to make legal restitution to the
  community through library service.

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Management

• Management includes
• Planning
• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Considering liability
• Training
• Supervising
• Recognising

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Planning

• Decide the rationale for having volunteers,
• i.e. answer the question why are we doing
  this?
• Clarify specific needs that volunteers might
  meet.

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Planning

• Involve Staff
• Consult with unions
• Consider librarys mission statement
• Create formally approved document of project
• Create job descriptions
• Consider potential costs
• Find out librarys legal responsibilities to
  volunteers
• Identify a volunteer co-ordinator

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The Budget

• Potential costs will include
• advertising
• administration
• training
• supervising
• formal recognition
• travel expenses

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Essential Characteristics

• Essential characteristics of all volunteer jobs
• ownership
• authority to think
• responsibility for results/outcomes
• measurements

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Job Descriptions

• Title and purpose of job
• Responsibilities and activities of job
• Scheduling and duration of job
• Reporting mechanisms
• Special benefits

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Recruiting

• Just Ask!
• According to the American Library Association, in
  a recent Gallup survey, the top reason that
  people who were willing to volunteer gave for not
  volunteering was that no one asked them!

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Types of Recruitment

• warm body recruitment
• targeting recruitment

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Advertising

• Weak Advertising Versus Strong Advertising
• ALA example of poor volunteer advertisement
• Needed Volunteers to cover the reference desk.

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Advertising

• ALA example of better advertisement for the same
  job
• Seventeen-year-old Jack did not score high
  enough on his SATs to get into college. It's too
  bad he didn't know that the public library has
  SAT preparation guides. They would've made a
  difference. Volunteer to help Jack (and others
  like him) find what they need at the public
  library.

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Advertising

• Send positive, clear message
• State need or problem to be solved
• Demonstrate how volunteer can help solve the
  problem or meet the need, i.e. paint a picture of
  the job to be done and put the volunteer in it
• Address potential fears, e.g. assure volunteer
  that extensive training will be provided
• Communicate benefits

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Hiring

• Hiring should proceed in a manner almost
  identical to the hiring of paid employees
• ask for CV/resume
• ask for and contact references
• conduct an in-person interview
• do security check, as needed
• sign contract (but be careful about language)

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Hiring

• In the interview
• describe volunteer program and its aims
• look for knowledge of and interest in library and
  its mission
• seek information about potential volunteers
  interests, skills, strengths, weaknesses,
  preferences, special needs

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Legal Issues Volunteers
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Health Safety

• Health Safety at Work Act 1974
• Risk Assessments
• -identifies a hazard, assesses the risk and puts
  measures in place to control unacceptable risks
• Health Safety Policy
• -Including volunteers in a policy promotes equal
  opportunities and shows that you value them
• -A policy will clarify procedures, practice and
  areas of responsibility

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Insurance

• Employers Liability Insurance
• -covers employees in the event of an accident,
  disease or injury, it can be extended to cover
  volunteers
• Public Liability Insurance
• -covers the organisation in the event of injury,
  death, and loss or damage to the property of
  non-employees

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Police Checks

• RISK AREA Children and Vulnerable People
• The need to screen depends on what the volunteer
  is doing and who they are working with
• Confidentiality and Data Protection Legislation

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Contracts

• Volunteers are Volunteers NOT employees
• A contract doesnt have to be written
• It is created if you do something in return for
  something that has economic value i.e. money,
  gifts or training unrelated to the role

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Expenses

• Flat rate expense payment can put an organisation
  at risk although it may be seen as
  volunteer-friendly
• Receipted reimbursements are necessary and also
  protect the volunteer if they are receiving
  benefits

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Volunteering State Benefits

• A lot of confusion!
• Only expenses can be reimbursed
• A volunteer may have trouble convincing their
  benefits officer that they are volunteering NOT
  working so be prepared to talk to them and supply
  information about what the volunteer is doing

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Training and supervision of volunteers
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Poor training and bad supervision

• Volunteers becoming disillusioned
• Volunteers feeling isolated and unappreciated
• Volunteers facing resentment from paid staff
• Volunteers providing a bad/second rate service

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Integration

• Integrate the volunteer into the organisation
• Give the volunteer a clear idea of the
  organisations end purpose
• Explain the role the volunteer will play in
  achieving that purpose
• Avoid barriers developing between paid staff and
  volunteers

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Initial orientation

• Provide literature about the organisations aims
• Prepare various introductory lecturers
• Provide tours of relevant sections of the
  organisation to meet staff and gain an
  understanding of what they do

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Fears of paid staff

• Trade unions
• Paid staff must not feel threatened by volunteers
• Involve paid staff in the process of obtaining
  volunteers
• Encourage paid staff to think of and treat
  volunteers as colleagues

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Training needs

• The volunteer must be provided with appropriate
  training to ensure that they have the necessary
  skills to carry out their jobs.
• This training must be mandatory.
• Well-prepared
• Volunteers must have a clear idea of what is
  expected of them
• Flexible attitude

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Flexibility

• Tailor the training to meet volunteer needs
• Volunteers will often be working a limited number
  of hours per week
• Volunteers may also have commitments outside of
  work
• Holding training sessions at weekends or in the
  evenings

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Supervision

• Motivation
• Volunteers needs to
• Maintain an interest in their work
• See that they are being appreciated
• Pre-established goals
• Standards
• Recognition/ Evaluation
• Provide regular feedback
• Keep up-to-date with the volunteer
• Discuss any problems as they emerge

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Isolation

• Number of volunteers in an organisation
• Amount of time volunteers spend in the
  organisation

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Ongoing Integration

• Volunteer co-ordinator
• Feel that they can approach their supervisors if
  they have problems
• Be able to attend staff meetings
• Be provided with the same level of information as
  other paid staff
• Have the same opportunities to contribute ideas
  and be involved in decision-making
• Be involved in all official work social events
  e.g. office Christmas party

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Appreciation

• Small gifts (but possible legal issues)
• Certificates
• Regular informal/formal thank yous
• Public acknowledgement
• Official acknowledgement (e.g. work presentations)

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Discussion

• Is it worth it?