It was interesting to read Jo's post about volunteering. My previous post about my library routes mentioned the Library Catch-22 and how difficult it can be to stand out amongst other candidates at interview.
I have volunteered in the past: my village library was closed due to budget cuts in 2003 and was reopened as a Library Access Point by a group of community volunteers. I was one of the volunteers who helped to launch the new service, train other volunteers and add donated items to the library catalogue.
Now, I work full time, am currently spending a lot of my time outside of work on a community pantomime, and have few hours to spare for myself, so volunteering isn't something I had really considered at my current stage in life.
However, I have recently been scouting around for new employment, and I feel that volunteering in some capacity would be useful, if only I can find the time to do it in. Working in a library where so much of the "professional" work is outsourced (cataloguing in particular) means I am unable to gain the all-important work-based experience that so many interviewers look for.
I have lots of skills that I can't use in my current post. Being able to use them, even in a voluntary position, would, I think, really enhance my career prospects.
There is, as Jo points out, a danger that library volunteers are a free way of staffing a library, but as long as the volunteers only work for a few hours each week, and are actively helping with a project which would not have been feasible without them, I don't think we devalue ourselves or our profession. And we can gain valuable experience of other aspects of library work while we do it.
I have volunteered in the past: my village library was closed due to budget cuts in 2003 and was reopened as a Library Access Point by a group of community volunteers. I was one of the volunteers who helped to launch the new service, train other volunteers and add donated items to the library catalogue.
Now, I work full time, am currently spending a lot of my time outside of work on a community pantomime, and have few hours to spare for myself, so volunteering isn't something I had really considered at my current stage in life.
However, I have recently been scouting around for new employment, and I feel that volunteering in some capacity would be useful, if only I can find the time to do it in. Working in a library where so much of the "professional" work is outsourced (cataloguing in particular) means I am unable to gain the all-important work-based experience that so many interviewers look for.
I have lots of skills that I can't use in my current post. Being able to use them, even in a voluntary position, would, I think, really enhance my career prospects.
There is, as Jo points out, a danger that library volunteers are a free way of staffing a library, but as long as the volunteers only work for a few hours each week, and are actively helping with a project which would not have been feasible without them, I don't think we devalue ourselves or our profession. And we can gain valuable experience of other aspects of library work while we do it.
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