Welcome back to the Wednesday Word. Here is what’s new at the Indiana State Library.
VOLUNTEERS—CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT ‘EM!
Shrinking budgets and expectations of “doing more with less” make it increasingly difficult for library staff to continue offering all the services of the past. Many libraries are relying on volunteers to fill this gap. The Indiana State Library currently has three remarkable volunteers on its staff.
Julie Reid assists Elizabeth Wilkinson in the Indiana Division’s Manuscripts Section. Julie participated in an internship program in the Manuscripts Section earlier this year, and decided to volunteer in her spare time to hone her skills and learn more about archival collections. Julie performs multiple tasks, including cataloging photographs, processing small collections and writing corresponding finding aids, encapsulating maps, and making book boxes.
Peggy Jentkins has volunteered at the Library since August, 2004. She accurately types names, ages, and death dates for the Indianapolis Commercial Database. Genealogical researchers will find this database extremely useful because it provides more current information than the Marion County Death Index.
Connie Cornish aids the Indiana Talking Books and Braille Division. She has helped with mass mailings, stamping Braille alphabet cards, and putting informational inserts in new patron mailings. Connie also volunteers at the Charles E. Bosma Rehabilitation Center, which offers training in independent living skills.
The Library would like to publicly thank these three individuals for the outstanding services they provide to the people of the State of Indiana.
THE INDIANA STATE LIBRARY WANTS YOU!
There are many reasons for volunteering at a library. It’s a wonderful way to update skills, provide a public service, gain a reference for future employment, and an opportunity to work with some spectacular people. If you are interested in volunteering at the Library, please see http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/isl/whoweare/volunteer.html for more information.
START YOUR OWN LIBRARY VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
If you think it would be advantageous to have volunteers but find the task of starting a volunteer program daunting, check out Preston F. Driggers’ book, Managing Library Volunteers: A Practical Toolkit (American Library Association, 2002). Driggers offers useful advice on various aspects of running a volunteer program, such as legal issues, recruitment, interviewing and selection, training and program evaluation.
With the approaching holidays, it might be difficult to find the time to read a book. Volunteers: We Couldn’t Do It Without Them (distributed by ALA Video/Library Video Network, 1997) is a 25-minute video-recording that provides guidelines for implementing a successful volunteer program in any library.
Both of these items are available from the Library through interlibrary loan.
For more information about the Library, please visit us in downtown Indianapolis or online at www.statelib.lib.in.us.
Janet Buckley
jbuckley@statelib.lib.in.us