Academic Librarians and Volunteerism:
Applying Valuable Talents to Community Service

Melinda Matthews, University of Louisiana at Monroe

Abstract

This article illustrates volunteering in the community available to academic librarians to accompany their academic librarian profession.  Real cases in point in community volunteerism academic librarians may choose from abound in the article.  Key issues covered are stirring volunteerism, what should volunteers look for, determine interference when volunteering, improving the academic library's image, sources for volunteerism, contribute actual library skills, places to volunteer, working with children, assisting the elderly, volunteering in a city other than a librarian's place of work, creating harmony, time spent volunteering, and mutual benefits.  Academic librarians volunteering in the community is progress to improving themselves and the lives of others.

Academic Librarians and Volunteerism:
Applying Valuable Talents to Community Service

Introduction

	This article will discuss community volunteering, using concrete volunteering examples, as a multifaceted, worthwhile endeavor for academic librarians to complement their academic library and information science careers.

Stirring Volunteerism 
People, including academic librarians, should volunteer in the community for the advancement and improvement of the world and human character. Furthermore, volunteerism permeates the university, in the form of service-learning. If students are being taught to value volunteerism, then librarians have an obligation to function as role models. Lynn Westney notes “the concept of the engaged university has its roots in service-learning.  Service-learning represents the coming together of many hearts and minds seeking to express compassion for others to enable a learning style to grow out of service.”      
Penn State University wrote a 2002-2005 strategy document with objectives to cultivate the community by providing data to the community, by librarians volunteering in the community, and by praising librarians who surpass their librarian duties with community outreach.   Westney elaborates:
	In PSU’s 2005-2008 strategic planning document, outreach comprises 			Initiative #3, which states that `the development of ongoing ties with 			targeted community organizations is the focus and refers to specific 			partnerships.’ By including outreach formally, PSU’s documents serve as 			models for other libraries seeking to internalize engagement with their 			communities. 
By encouraging such models within the university – and the library – many benefits can emerge. One such benefit is networking with other like-minded people, beyond the university, which in turn can provide one with further opportunities to volunteer, as well as inspiring others to volunteer. In an interview presented in the article “Volunteers in the Spotlight” in the periodical inCite, Liz Baker, interviewed by Niki Kallenberger, encourages librarians to volunteer for the advantage of making contacts: “being a volunteer is also a great way to network and meet people with similar motivation.”  For a real world example: I volunteered for the Monroe Goodwill Store hanging up clothes and putting out new items for sale.  While volunteering, I discovered that the store manager who assigned me to tasks is the sister of an academic librarian at Louisiana Tech University thirty minutes from University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) library where I am the Interlibrary Loan/Reference librarian.  I converse with her brother as a contact when we see each other at out of town library meetings and conferences or when visiting Louisiana Tech for a meeting.   
Furthermore, when I volunteered at the Monroe Ronald McDonald House acting as a receptionist, I met the secretary of the ULM Math Department who was one of the two managers.  Before volunteering, I would talk to her only on the telephone occasionally about material requested by the math department professors from the interlibrary loan department.  I became better acquainted with her while volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.  Additionally, a friend from Monroe First Methodist Church told me about ringing bells for the Monroe December Salvation Army Christmas red kettle drive to collect money for charity which like her I am wholeheartedly for.  I rang bells with her at Monroe Pecanland Mall in front of Dillard’s.  
An employee at the Monroe Paperback Exchange used bookstore where I volunteer straightening books is a former ULM library student.  We converse about the ULM library, the librarians, and library civil service workers we know.  Another working example of connecting with contacts is the daughter of the Monroe American Cancer Society Office and one of the office assistants where I volunteer are students at ULM.  We see each other at the ULM library on occasion and greet one another.  
	What’s more, librarians ought to tell other librarians about their volunteer activities.  A colleague said she participated in the Monroe American Heart Association walk.  The colleague telling me this triggered my telephoning the American Heart Association Monroe office to inquire serving as an office volunteer.  Another colleague invited me to sing in the Monroe First Methodist Church choir which I did.  I shared with a librarian that I judged school children’s skits at Destination Imagination, a contest held in north Louisiana usually Monroe annually.  The next year, she judged at Destination Imagination.    

What Should Volunteers Look For
	Any city or town will have similar volunteer opportunities for academic librarians as Monroe, Louisiana, where I reside. There are even more in large cities.  Look at some different areas of the country and the potential for volunteering.  Use your professional/personal interests when looking for volunteer opportunities.  
I enjoy ordering and shelving books, so I telephoned Monroe and West Monroe 
used bookstores and church libraries until I located two that make use of volunteers, the Monroe Paperback Exchange and West Monroe First Methodist Church library.  I like clothes and retail, so I volunteered at the Monroe Goodwill Store, where I organized sale items, mainly clothes, conveniently after five o’clock p.m. on a week day when many businesses and organizations that utilize volunteers are closed. 
Christopher Raab suggests that when academic librarians are searching for volunteer opportunities, they will “discover that potential leadership opportunities abound.  It’s a matter of asking: where do campus leadership opportunities lie outside of the library?  What are my professional and personal interests?  How can I apply my time, energy, and expertise within the local community?”   
  Examining my time, I looked at my work week and chose Friday afternoons to volunteer.  Currently, the ULM library Friday work day ends at one o’clock p.m. due to Louisiana budget cuts after Hurricane Katrina.  Being off on Friday afternoons from one o’clock p.m. to five o’clock p.m. while organizations and businesses are still open provides an excellent variety of volunteerism opportunities.  
Right now, I am volunteering at the Paperback Exchange used bookstore and the American Cancer Society on Friday afternoons after the library closes at one o’clock p.m.  Before the hurricane, I volunteered every other Thursday afternoon at the Monroe American Heart Association office from one o’clock p.m. to three o’clock p.m. when I was off on an afternoon until returning to work for an evening reference desk shift. 
Volunteer options are available on weeknights and weekends, too.   I chose one night a week to assist at the Monroe Goodwill Store from five-thirty p.m. to six-thirty p.m.  I opted for Friday night to ring bells for the December Salvation Army Christmas red kettle drive outside a local Brookshire’s grocery store near my residence.  A volunteer who signs up ahead to ring bells has more sites to pick from.  I also volunteered as a receptionist at the Ronald McDonald House on Sunday afternoons.  

Sources for Volunteerism
	Local newspapers and “free press” type newspapers advertise volunteer opportunities.  People who like to surf the web more than consult newspapers or telephone books in print will find an abundance of volunteer resources on the Internet.  Searching the Internet for the kind of work you like and the word volunteer plus the area you live in will disclose numerous volunteer resources.  	
Another key volunteerism source is the telephone book.  Telephone books will often refer the reader from volunteer services to social service organizations.  A number of social service organizations are listed that would fulfill the community volunteerism portion of the academic requirement for academic librarians.  
For instance, social service organizations may utilize librarians for stuffing envelopes.  The Monroe Convention and Visitors Bureau said I may assist with their stuffing of envelopes along with the West Monroe Senior Center.  The American Heart Association appointed me to filling envelopes, too.  Social service organizations additionally are known for sponsoring marathons and health fairs.  Some of my volunteer experiences have included manning a booth at the Winward Hospital Health Fair for the American Heart Association, acting as a volunteer in the American Heart Association Monroe office, and brushing hair wigs for cancer patients and replenishing brochure supplies for the Monroe American Cancer Society office.  
These experiences are enriching.  I benefited from them as an individual and as a professional because they are easy activities yet tremendously helpful to the traumatized patients in need and the busy organizations assisting them.  Professionally, an honorable identification both as a university faculty member and as an academic librarian develops while volunteering. 

Time Spent Volunteering
	The more time a librarian spends on the volunteer work, the greater the organization in need will benefit from an unpaid worker.  However, even just a one-time session of volunteer work is more advantageous than not having performed any volunteer work.  In fact, one might volunteer a small portion of one’s time, and find that they have such a good experience, they volunteer more. Julie Todaro is of the same mind, adding librarian volunteers at the Texas Book Festival “had a ball and most scheduled for shorter shifts of three hours on two days, expanded their work beyond their two shifts and stayed beyond their times on each shift.”   
In her article “Volunteers Why Volunteer?” Julie Reichstein reminds volunteers that they “are not locked into a rigid and pressure-filled schedule.  There is flexibility in how you donate your time.”  Volunteering can be worked into your schedule, and there are many organizations that will work with you to find a time that is convenient for you.

Places and Ways to Volunteer
Christopher Raab presents a summary of leadership opportunities within the college and community arena:
•	Run a workshop series at the local historical society
•	Direct a youth theatre or summer camp program for local children
•	Design an architectural walking tour for your town or neighborhood
•	Coordinate volunteers for a local book sale
•	Organize a local food drive
•	Design and maintain a website for a local book sale
•	Train docents at a local museum 
	Suggestions of additional places librarians could volunteer include hospitals, charity food distributors, discount stores, museums, theatres, and zoos.  My personal experiences have included some of these, and some of Raab’s suggestions. The Monroe Goodwill Industries Store used me to hang up clothes or put out new items for sale.  Check local hospitals for any support needed.  Many hospitals encourage unpaid helpers in their gift shops.  I stocked canned goods in boxes at the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana factory and at the Monroe Salvation Army store.  Museums might want volunteers.  I aided the Louisiana Aviation Museum by recording an inventory of their books.  The Monroe Ronald McDonald House allowed me to assist with guests.  
Walking dogs at Humane Society Adoption Centers is a good idea of community outreach too.  River Cities Humane Society for Cats asks volunteers to play with their cats.  Both of these humane organizations value bags of cat food or dog food.  
	Many of these volunteer opportunities originated from driving in an automobile to a location, seeing an organization’s building or advertising sign, and then telephoning to ask if I could volunteer. On a route to the Monroe Pecanland Mall, road signs advertise the Humane Society Adoption Center, River Cities Humane Society for Cats, the Louisiana Aviation Museum, and Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana.  I noticed the actual buildings of the Monroe Goodwill Industries store and Monroe Ronald McDonald House.  I recognized that these organizations are for the public, for helping the social order, and would more than likely use volunteers.  
Local theatres need help sometimes, too.  The Monroe Strauss Theatre Center signs up volunteers to work at the box office, usher, distribute programs, and lend a hand with props, costumes, and sets.  Zoos, such as the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in Monroe, are potential places to volunteer.  Zoo volunteer activities usually comprise cutting up fruit for the animals, putting food in the animals’ cages, and cleaning the cages.  Animal shelters are another place animal lovers can help. My sister worked for Lake Charles, Louisiana Hobo Hotel shelter for homeless cats.  She feeds and neuters stray cats on her own.  Therefore, I had some knowledge of volunteering with animals before I volunteered.
The Ouachita Parish Public Library Friends of the Library organization in Monroe uses assistants at their book sales.  The public library sponsors university faculty and librarians presenting book reviews or papers in a formal reading at the public library for the education and interest of the public.  University librarians helping with literacy programs at public libraries are also a good option. These are wonderful openings for academic librarians to enlighten the world about making the most out of libraries and stirring the populace to acquiring a university degree.  Reichstein agrees with such exuberance:  “You have chosen to be a volunteer for a cause you care about, as have your colleagues.  As such the enthusiasm is infectious.” 
If donating your time is not easy, then contributing materials is helpful, too. Donating items and clothing to the Salvation Army and the Goodwill Industries stores contributes are also ways to serve the community.   

Working with Children
	Nurseries and child care centers may appreciate an activist librarian dropping in to spend an hour or two entertaining the children, as I did when I assisted at the Monroe First Methodist Church nursery.  Volunteering in the nursery on Sunday morning at the Monroe First Methodist Church was pricelessly rewarding opportunity to entertain precious little people with hugs, toys, smiles, conversations, and reading books.  Young C. Jackson and Helen Bell reinforce academic librarian community volunteer work with children when discussing the Jenna Welch and Laura Bush Community Library, which they describe as “’one lively community building place where people are learning side by side.’  Babies learning and teens participating in fun activities in the middle of an academic library are all part of the way librarians at this joint-use facility are redefining what a library can be.”   
Clearly, in the same vein as the Jenna Welch and Laura Bush Community Library, academic librarians, while volunteering with children, can inform kids of the education available to them at the university and its library, too.  Any children’s homes or homeless shelters where children are such as the Louisiana Methodist’s Children’s Home, the Louisiana Baptist’s Children’s Home, and Fairhaven Shelter in Monroe use volunteers and would provide such opportunities.  Children’s homes volunteer deeds incorporate anything wholesome including tutoring, teaching a skill like painting, singing, telling a testimony in the chapel, making gingerbread houses, and playing board games. Working in soup kitchens at shelters where runaways, homeless children and adults visit, like Monroe Fairhaven Shelter, is a good idea, too.  

Assisting the Elderly        
	The Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Ouachita Council on Aging in Monroe Telephone Reassurance Volunteer Program used me to call the elderly in their homes just to ask how they are feeling on the weekends.  Visiting nursing homes and retirement communities, like I did at the Oaks Nursing Home and McKeen Plaza Retirement Community in Monroe, is another example of outreach. Giving their residents flowers, romance and mystery novels, and conversation shows concern for the elderly, who are sometimes ignored and neglected by their relatives and friends.  
	Tim Gritten also demonstrates approval of academic librarians volunteering with senior citizens by further elaborating on his library’s project.  Gritten and the Indiana State University Library librarians gave a Nintendo Wii to a retirement community as an exercise alternative and to acquaint the retired populace with the university library.   In her article “Words on Wheels Storytellers,” Jenny Mustey discusses librarians visiting incapacitated older people in elder communities in the Shire of Campaspe, Victoria, to delight them and the librarian volunteers themselves with reading and conversation.   An elderly female at the Monroe Oaks Nursing Home shared with me she prefers romance novels.  On the next visit, I pleased her with a Harlequin romance novel.  
Contribute Actual Library Skills
	A librarian might offer her library cataloging and shelving expertise to catalog a new church library or shelve and straighten books at an already established church library or at used bookstores.  She might also employ her skills for other library-related organizations as well. Margaret Henty, interviewed by Robyn Ellard, shares how she used her library skills in outreach efforts: “I’ve been able to use my library training as the basis for jumping off into related fields.  I’m now working with Australian Partnerships for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) which is now being absorbed into the Australian National Data Service (ANDS).  Both of these are about managing data in its broadest sense but have strong links to library work.”   
Margaret Henty is utilizing her librarianship knowledge of data management 
volunteering at Australian National Data Service.  Likewise, I utilize my skills as an Interlibrary Loan librarian reshelving and organizing books at ULM library at the Paperback Exchange used bookstore and at West Monroe First Methodist Church library.  My volunteering to arrange and to shelve books keeps in good condition one of the many worldwide collections of self-help, educational, and leisure reading material communities like Monroe and West Monroe supply.
	Librarians’ contributing their proficiency is additionally demonstrated in Debbie Olson’s article.  Her contributions include “freelance indexing, archival, and library services in Syracuse, New York.  She is the former secretary and current newsletter editor for the Western New York Chapter of ASI (American Society of Indexers).”   Olson remarks that “a volunteering indexing project provides real-world experience as it develops indexing, organizational, and professional communication skills and results in a work sample.  Sharing a unique skill with a community organization that does not have the staffing, know-how, or funds to undertake such a project is also very rewarding.” 
 Debbie Olson stated she treats volunteering as an indexer like a real job.  She 
maintains goals and a record of what she is doing.  She is presently making an index for a community peace and social justice organization newsletter.  She explained that librarian volunteering librarianship skills akin to indexing enables academic librarians to have connections with businesses and organizations with knowledge of what is going on with area businesses and organizations that university librarians may make available and known to university library patrons.   
Similarly to Olson’s volunteer experience, I acquired an inside knowledge of the Louisiana Aviation Museum in Monroe as a volunteer recorder of their books.  While working as a reference librarian at University of Louisiana at Monroe library, in addition to being the Interlibrary Loan librarian, I am able to tell patrons about Monroe attractions such as the Louisiana Aviation Museum from having volunteered there.  For extra library cataloging assistance, I referred the Louisiana Aviation Museum to the ULM library cataloger.  His librarianship capability in cataloging was also used in recording the Louisiana Aviation Museum collected works.  

Improving the Academic Library’s Image
	At University of Louisiana at Monroe, occasionally email messages are sent alerting ULM employees of chances to assist in the community.  Gritten notes that “people can visit the library to increase their level of information literacy or libraries can visit underserved populations with the mission of improving the situation.”   Academic librarians demonstrating assisting people regularly in the community are paramount. Humans are dedicated to other beings.  
Academic librarians are often seen in the community by university students, 
faculty, and staff.  Observing academic librarians volunteering in the community is a life role model for all in the community, not just the university.  Gritten agrees: “If we want our students to engage in community and public service, we must set a strong example ourselves.  We must connect with the surrounding neighborhoods as a condition of being a good citizen.”  
An approving picture of the university will form by the community as academic 
librarians volunteer in the area.  By volunteering and frequently answering questions about university degrees and opportunities while volunteering within the community, university librarians are stamping out the opinion that it is impossible to pursue a college degree, join university opportunities available, or utilize the academic library.  In turn, people academic librarians encounter during volunteerism will relay to others information about the university learned from the librarians.   
Many times as a volunteer, I am asked about the programs and degrees like the ULM College of Pharmacy degree, dental hygiene degree, as well as university concerts and theatre performances.   Academic librarians are striving for excellence for all by advancing community consciousness of greater jobs for holders of advanced degrees with enhanced human living conditions and more virtuous workers.  Westney sees things the same way:  
To paraphrase Gaertner, `a great university is not an ivory-covered tower perched on a distant hill but an involved and engaged partner in the work of life itself which makes us better teachers, better scholars, and better human beings.’ The `engaged university’ links the differing perspectives of the dynamic partnerships that universities are forging with external constituencies to advance knowledge while building community through collaboration.  
 For an example of university and community links in Monroe, the general public and the world of academia both partake in walks and runs sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and March of Dimes.  The mingling of the populace and university personnel and students while moving towards a goal of curing diseases is excellent collaboration between that the university (including its library) and the public. My contributions to the walks included assisting at the Monroe American Heart Association office with putting items in gift bags for walkers at the Monroe American Heart Association walk and sorting t-shirts designed for the Monroe American Cancer Society Relay for Life contestants at the Monroe American Cancer Society office.

Volunteering in Cities other than a Librarian’s Place of Work
	While a librarian visits relatives or friends in another city for a significant amount of time, such as a Christmas two week vacation, organizations in the city may have a need for volunteers.  During a Christmas holiday vacation, I stuffed envelopes and counted money at the Lake Charles American Heart Association where my sister worked.  Visiting Volunteers of Volunteering Western Australia enchants tourists with volunteerism options including conducting a Shark Bay tour, tutoring pupils in Gascoyne, or rebuilding Goldfields’ miners’ bungalows.  
	Any natural disasters like hurricanes dictate help.  An email message was sent to ULM employees asking for volunteers at a clothing distribution center for Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans in 2005.  I volunteered at the distribution center on a Saturday morning.  
When a catastrophic event or natural disaster has occurred in a nearby city or a 
relative’s city, like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an academic librarian may travel to the affected area to assist in the recovery.  Librarians assisted in developing the IBM/ProQuest Internet & Homework Library for Hurricane Katrina evacuees residing in Renaissance Village in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The library is an outstanding illustration of librarian’s relief for disaster victims.   Approximately one thousand librarians reconstructed over twenty libraries in New Orleans over two days.  Their goal was to have libraries available for Hurricane Katrina victims residing in New Orleans who needed access to the Internet and an outlet while recovering and rebuilding their lives and homes. 

Creating Harmony
	Attending church and especially being an active member in a church demonstrates a desire for harmony.  Churches have brought me into play in their choirs, nurseries, and libraries.  I have found church to be a place for fellowship, good clean fun, and finding one’s destiny.  
 	Academic librarians and the university, like church, are devoted to improving peoples’ lots in life with education and opportunities.  Academic librarians appearing at church and church functions are a stimulant for others to do the same.  Playing the church organ, attending Sunday school and church field trips, and singing in the choir are good ways of participating and setting an example. 
By involving themselves in church, academic librarians can demonstrate fervor for cultivating the world and culture.  Westney asserts “service-learning fosters the development of awareness, empathy, personal values and beliefs, self-confidence, self-esteem, and social responsibility while helping to foster a sense of caring for others.”   Academic librarians are obligated to launch a pattern of continuous academic librarian community volunteering that advocates upholding civilization and schooling people about libraries and the university. Church can afford them opportunities for these activities.

Determine Interference When Volunteering
	When asking to volunteer, be sure your services do not interfere with the duties of paid employees.  A volunteer determines interference when the supervisor says he or she will let staff perform the work.  For example, I questioned new bookstores about volunteerism as well.   Books-a-Million, The Book Rack, and Lifeway Christian Stores replied their employees are sufficient.  The used bookstore A&K Book Nook told me they were not in need of volunteers at the time.  Monroe and West Monroe consignment shops indicated no need of volunteers, unlike the Monroe Goodwill Store and the Salvation Army store.  
Other examples are the American Heart Association assistant director delegated me to organizing American Heart Association memorial packets.  Then, she actually talked to the donors about the memorial donations.  The Monroe Goodwill Store manager assigns volunteers to work with clothes, not work the cash register as employees do.  The Louisiana Aviation Museum in Monroe allotted me to making copies but not entering data in the computer as the paid workers do.  Another case in point, a majority of the time, the Paperback Exchange has me to tidy shelves and paid personnel to shelve.  
Whenever as a volunteer you are told salaried workforce are entrusted to specific tasks, make a mental note so you may keep track of volunteerism available and not retrace your steps.  Also, be gracious if your offered service is rejected because it conflicts with compensated employee functions.  In her article “Volunteering from Both Sides,” Margaret Callinan is in agreement: 
	In a world of budget cuts I know volunteers are increasingly asked to take 
	on what should be the role of a paid member of staff.  There is a line that 			needs to be drawn in fairness to both volunteers and to those seeking paid 			employment.  Neither should a volunteer be given only the tasks that no 			one else wants to do. 

Mutual Benefits
	Community volunteering can be mutually valuable for librarians and the organizations they serve. In her article, Julie Todaro discusses how “some volunteers proudly boast of their annual event, their 10 years of volunteering, the relationships they have formed with others, their ability to take materials and activities back to their library communities, and – overall – the enormous fun they have and how they make it an annual event.”   Reichstein observes that “volunteering contributes infinitely to both the organization you are serving as well as your own professional development.”   The businesses profit from having non-paid workers with a vast amount of knowledge to share as librarians are known to do.  Todaro, in her article “465 Thank You’s,” expresses immense gratitude for volunteers. 
Pleasantly surprising and fulfilling in addition to the heartening emotions from volunteering, the Monroe Goodwill store gave me a thirty dollar Monroe Goodwill store gift certificate to thank me for volunteering.
Conclusion
 	In conclusion, academic librarians are volunteering and enriching communities with their savoir faire.  The article’s goal is to stir academic librarians into community volunteering with tangible instances of volunteerism. To complement their academic library and information science careers, academic librarians are obligated to society to apply their valuable talents to community service and to elevate themselves with the significant undertaking of community volunteering.