The Friends of the Library of Los Altos is made up entirely of volunteers. We think you will enjoy helping our community, too.

Join other book lovers in supporting the library with your time and effort. You can:

Join the book moving donation team

Accept and move donations

Process donated books

Fun for book lovers & get a first look at the books donated

Help at quarterly book sales (See Home Page or right sidebar for dates)

Try one 3 hour shift and you'll be hooked

Support Internet sales (Amazon)

Pick a day and time that fits your schedule

Assist with in-library sales

Be the first to see the better books offered for sale

Staff the library cafe

Two hours per week would be a great help

Support us on social media

You can do this from home!

For information about how you can volunteer to support our activities contact us at: volunteers@losaltoslibraryfriends.org 

Join the book moving donation team  

• Accept donations: Wednesdays from 2.00-4.00 and Saturdays from 10.00-12.00.
• Move donations: From donation site to the Corner (Friends work space in the library.)
• Move priced donations: Mondays to Fridays, move boxes from the Corner to the storage sheds.

Process donated books

• Meet with other volunteers to scan, sort, and price donated books. Books are sorted into approximately 20 different subject categories. .

Help at Book Sales

Many volunteers are needed to staff each quarterly book sale, including:

• Pre-sale set up (on the preceding day, as well as during the day before the evening sale): transport books from the sheds to the sale location
•  During the sale: greet customers, keep displays restocked, be an adder or a cashier. Sale volunteers generally work 3 hour shifts.
•  Clean up after the sale ends.

Support Internet sales

• Determine if donated books are suitable for listing on our Amazon store. Price and list suitable books.
• Monitor listed prices to maintain competitiveness.
• Check our Amazon store for incoming orders, then fulfill the orders by packing and mailing the books.

• Consolidate the shelves weekly.

Assist with In-Library Ongoing Sales

We offer hundreds of books for sale on the ‘Ongoing Sales’ shelves in the Main library and at Woodland Branch library.  Daily, volunteers refresh the stock on the shelves to be sure that the selection is current and attractively displayed.

Staff the library cafe

Cafe volunteers are currently just supplying and inventorying the food we offer, but we hope to add more staffing during library hours.  The volunteers enjoy interacting with customers, meeting friends, and watching children grow up.

Currently: 

• Morning volunteers arrive around 9 or 9:30 to make coffee and set out food.
• Mid-day volunteers count self-service proceeds, and/or close the cafe as needed.

We hope, in the future to staff the cafe during after school hours, but are not doing so at the moment.

Support the Friends on social media

We have a Facebook page to help us be engaged with all the members of the Los Altos and Los Altos Hills community. If you are already on the computer and on Facebook, this might suit you. And you can do this from home! We could also use help posting to NextDoor to get the word out about Quarterly and Ongoing sales.

For information about how you can volunteer to support our activities contact us at: volunteers@losaltoslibraryfriends.org