PVLD Director's Blog

Boomer Volunteers

A few days ago I came across this post on How To Treat Boomer Volunteers on Donor Power ( a great blog about fundraising). It makes the point that

... baby boomers boast a large number of well-educated, highly skilled executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders, many of whom will feel that their talents are not being put to use in low-level volunteer positions. Research indicates that these boomers should be placed at programming levels to utilize their abilities fully and to keep them engaged.

That got me thinking about our volunteer positions and whether they are going to satisfy the soon-to-be retired wave of baby boomers. While we certainly have some "programming level" volunteer positions such as the Friends of the Library Board, management of the Library Shop, or oversight of the book sales, many of our volunteer positions are important to the smooth operation of the library, but fairly low level. Things like tidying the library, sorting books, and putting out the new periodicals.

Tonight Branch Operations Manager Jennifer Addington and I were at a community event and met a very nice couple who are both soon to retire from executive positions at a very large aerospace corporation. They are looking for volunteer opportunities, and would love to get involved with the library. The more I talked to them about their talents and interests the more it became obvious that:

1. They are way over-qualified for, and not really interested in, many of the kinds of volunteer positions we have.
2. They would be able to contribute a great deal to the library district – but in areas that are currently viewed by staff as "their" domain. For example, the wife is responsible for the corporation's information systems and has successfully managed very large scale and complex software projects. She could be a real asset in our current efforts to replace our systems if we could find a way to make use of those talents in conjunction with those of our staff.
3. Our volunteer program, and to a large extent our culture, is not ready to provide the kinds of opportunities that these highly qualified volunteers are seeking.

I see this a big challenge and a big opportunity for us. The challenge is to develop volunteer programs in which volunteer talents are fully utilized, including using them in areas that currently are the exclusive domain of staff. This doesn't mean replacing staff with volunteers, but it does mean working with staff to integrate volunteers into their work as equals (or maybe even as mentors or coaches where the volunteers are more knowledgeable and experienced than staff) and continuing to change the culture from one in which volunteers are seen as a bit of a hassle to one that values them as a means of really stretching our capabilities.

The opportunity is that I don't think many other organizations have gotten it right yet either…so if we can change quickly enough we will have our pick of the talented people who will soon be available.

Value Without Involvement

I am at a conference for volunteer leaders in Chambers of Commerce today thanks to my position on the PV Chamber of Commerce board.

Some of the information is specific to Chambers but there have been some nuggets that are more widely applicable.

One of the issues the Peninsula Friends of the Library has been dealing with is the issue of whether they are fundamentally a fundraising organization or a volunteer organization. The question came up when the Friends were developing their new membership brochure. The old brochure had lots of information about volunteering. The question was raised as to whether this was discouraging people from joining as it implied you not only have to give money, you have to give time. In the end the Friends decided to remove the volunteer information from the brochure.

That's why I was interested to hear that Chambers of Commerce, which also rely heavily on volunteers to get the work done, wrestle with the same issue. The advice from one of today's presenters -

"members want value WITHOUT involvement"

In a world where time has more value than money we need to be making sure we deliver great value without expecting people to contribute their time. The old saying "you get out what you put in" needs to be re-thought in the context that people are putting in money and expect value for that investment and are likely unwilling and/or unable to put in time.

As our Friends of the Library continue to transform themselves into major fundraising organization one of the questions will be what value are we giving people for their membership and donation funds. The more value we give, the more we will get!

Volunteering will always be the engine that drives the Friends but we need to recognize that members/donors are not the same as volunteers and we need to find ways to reward the contributions of both.

Thank you Volunteers!

On Tuesday the Peninsula Friends of the Library hosted the annual PVLD Volunteer Appreciation lunch.  It was a wonderful opportunity to express our appreciation for work that our volunteers do to support the library.  We have over 200 active volunteers who give generously of their time.  This fiscal year we will likely surpass over 26,000 hours of volunteer support! 

Our volunteers

• Operate our monthly book sales at the Malaga Cove and Peninsula Center Libraries and our new Internet book sales
• Operate the wonderful Library Shop at Peninsula Center Library
• Serve as "Information Greeters" - the first line of assistance for customers entering the Peninsula Center Library
• Shelve books, magazines, and newspapers
• Tidy the Peninsula Center library each morning before it opens
• Provide story times at the Malaga Cove Library
• Participate in our oral story telling program at Silver Spur School
• Host monthly craft programs for kids (this is done by our teen volunteers!)
• Serve on Boards and Committees including the Friends of the Library Board, the Library Advisory Committees at each library, and the Peninsula Teen Activities Council
• Support our fundraising and community outreach efforts
• Are Docents in the Local History Room
• Collect oral histories of local residents
• Translate foreign language materials so they can be accurately cataloged
• Repair books and audiovisual materials
• Carry out special projects such as our 40Families local history project

And much more!

Many of our volunteers have given several thousand hours of their time, and volunteer extraordinaire Gene Roder has set a record with over 8,300 hours to date.

We couldn't offer the level and range of services we do without our volunteers - THANK YOU!

Thank you also to Peninsula Friends of the Library for sponsoring our volunteer program, including the Volunteer Appreciation Lunch. 

Photos of the volunteer luncheon (taken by James Davis of our Facilities Department) can be found in the photo album to the left of this posting, or by clicking on http://www.typepad.com/t/app/gallery/manage?set_id=1076294