Bloomsbury Academic From Library Volunteer to Library Advocate: Tapping into the Power of Community Engagement

Make the most of your volunteers so your community can make the most of the library. This guide will show you how to reinvigorate your library's volunteer program using your community as a resource. Volunteers are essential to a library's well-being, but running a volunteer program is a complicated task that could often be done so as to bring more benefit to your library. This book draws on the author's decades of experience in public libraries and the nonprofit arena, and on cutting-edge professional trends in volunteer management, to show you how to tap into each of your volunteer's talents and match them to your library's needs. Providing multiple tactics for improving your library's volunteer program, the book covers redoubling your recruitment efforts to attract more volunteers, more logically assigning roles, and growing your relationships with volunteers. In addition, it addresses common problems with volunteers and potential barriers to success and explains how to overcome them. No matter what size your library, its volunteer staff, or its budget, this practical book will help you to streamline your volunteer program and more effectively engage the community to transform your library into a flourishing community center. Helps readers to better understand the motivations of today's volunteers and design meaningful volunteer opportunities. Explains how to more successfully select potential volunteers and match them to your library's needs. Shows to deal with the two most common barriers to the success of a library volunteer program: union issues and staff resistance. Introduces exciting new trends in volunteer engagement. Provides lists of resources to draw upon in running your volunteer program.