HIT>Useful activities for adult volunteers in 9-12 media centers

[Doug Hyde <HYDE@UWSTOUT.EDU>]

I'm sorry to all about posting this HIT and I've committed
a massive faux paux.  I thought in the interest of security and
brevity I would NOT post the respondents e-mail addresses or
anything but their responses.

THANKS to all who responded.  I will Post a HIT2 if more great
responses come in during the week.

Question:  What jobs do you find valuable to assign to adult volunteers
           in 9-12 media center?

====

Once you've automated, you want records with all those delicious
contents notes - the ones with the short stories and authors,
all the names from collective biographies, etc. - but the effort
to generate them is pretty high.  A volunteer can, however, use a
simple word processor to create the notes, one he/she has been
taught the form.  Then, when time presents itself, the librarian
or clerk can "paste" them into the catalog records.

Gets an impoprtant job done, and doesn't allow untrained persons
to romp in the marc records!  It is also interesting enough to
hold someone's attention over time, unlike (shudder) shelving.

Shelley

====

Our parent volunteers are very good sports about putting our
magazines away, in chronological order.  We allow our students to
'help' themselves and put the magazines they find/use on a cart
rather than to replace them, which they always seem to be in such
a hurry that they used to get put any old place.

Madelynne

====

I have volunteers who come during the lunch periods to sign
students in and out of the library.  They also do jobs while
sitting there like filing, stamping books, counting Kroger
receipts (we get money for Kroger receipts).  I also use adult
volunteers to help with the book fair, and we have one adult who
comes every Tues. morning, and she files catalogs, processes
books, counts Kroger receipts, and any other odd job we may have.

Dana

====

I let my adult volunteer date and sort catalogs alphabetically.
She also does some typing, stamping discarded materials, checking
out books to students, shelving older magazines, stamping new
magazines to put them out for circulation, straightens
bookshelves.  Can't think of anything else offhand.

Betty

====

     I don't have adult volunteers, as I have student aides most
periods.  However, if I did have them, I think they would do a
great job of some of those detail oriented tasks that students
find boring and "unnecessary"--things like shelf reading,
inventory, etc.

Eileen

====

Some adult volunteers like doing display cases.  Some like
checking in and organizing periodicals.  Some like estimating the
total cost of items in the consideration file. Some prefer to work
with patrons.  It just depends on their talents and abilities.

Linda

End of post====

Doug Hyde                     hyde@uwstout.edu
Library Media Specialist      menomodh@llwisc.ll.pbs.org
Menomonie School District     FAX: 715-232-2629
1715 15th Street West         Phone: 715-232-2606  ext. 31
Menomonie, WI 54751