Thing 22

Thing 22 is about volunteering to gain experience. I've never volunteered in the field of librarianship. I did look into it once when I wanted to volunteer for a society I'm a member of. The meetings and work were all during office hours on week days and as I was working full-time at the time, I couldn't help sadly. Perhaps this is something we need to bear in mind where possible when offering volunteering opportunities. I have worked with volunteers in my various library roles and found them to be inspiring people. One volunteer was a paediatric nurse who was considering changing career and volunteered in our library on her day off. One volunteer's family had been helped by the charity I work for and wanted to give something back. Both very different reasons for volunteering and both volunteers offered different skills and experience. In both cases the library manager tried to ensure that the work was interesting and a true reflection of the work of a professional librarian, e.g. not just admin and shelving. I am wary of too many voluntary roles and of the potential problems, e.g. I am uneasy about local communities running public libraries without any professional involvement and support. I recognise the value of volunteering both for the volunteer and the host (the examples above were mutually beneficial opportunities) but I believe that volunteering shouldn't be at the expense of paid professional posts.