Volunteer Opportunities

The Friends of the Library relies entirely on volunteer help. We hope you will join other book lovers in supporting the library with some of your time and effort.

Some volunteer opportunities, described further below, are to: Process donated books Help at major book sales Support internet sales Assist with in-library sales Staff the library cafe We think you will enjoy helping as much as we do, and that you will be able to take pride in what you do for the library, one of our community's most valuable resources. To volunteer for any of these opportunities, please contact us.

Volunteers sorting donated books See more volunteers in action

Process donated books

• Sort books.
  Every Thursday morning, volunteers meet in the Sorting Room of the Hillview Community Center to sort and price the books donated to the Friends during the preceding week. Books are sorted into approximately 20 different subject categories.
• Transport books.
  During the week, volunteers box donated books and transfer them by hand truck from the Donation Room in the main library to the Sorting room at Hillview Community Center (a distance of approximately 250 yards).

Help at major book sales

Many volunteers are needed to staff each book sale. The tasks include:

• Pre-sale set up:
  Setting up tables for the sale and arranging the boxes of books by subject matter (generally on the Wednesday and Friday preceding the sale).
• During the sale:
  Manning the doors and greeting customers, "working the floor" (keeping the displays restocked and attractive), serving as cashiers. Sale volunteers generally work one or more 2 1/2 - 3 hour shifts.
• Post-sale cleanup and party.

Support internet sales

For the Friend's internet sales, volunteer tasks include checking online prices of donated books to determine whether they should be listed on our Amazon site, listing the books if so, monitoring listed prices to maintain competitiveness, checking for incoming orders, and packing and mailing the books when sold. Computer comfort (but not expertise) is necessary for most of these activities.

Assist with in-library sales

Volunteers maintain the selection of books offered on the "ongoing" sales shelves of the main library (opposite the check out desk) and the Woodland Branch library (under the window to the far left of the check out desk), and on the paperback cart in the lobby of the main library. The ongoing shelves in the main library are refreshed daily - books that have remained on the shelves for too long are removed and new books are added to replace purchased or removed books. The shelves at the Woodland Branch are also refreshed regularly, but less frequently.

Staff the library cafe

The Friends are always looking for volunteers to help operate the cafe by staffing one or more 2 hour shifts (morning, mid-day, and closing) per week. Cafe operators serve customers, and refill supplies as needed. Additionally, morning volunteers (9:30 am to 11:30 am) make coffee and set out the food, and close-of-day volunteers (3:00 pm to 5:00 pm) count self-service proceeds and close the cafe.

Cafe volunteers really enjoy interacting with customers, meeting friends, and watching children grow up. If you would like to help out, but can't make a regular commitment, volunteering as a substitute is another option. After a brief training and working a few shifts you will be able to comfortably step in as needed.