Guidelines

Library volunteers support, enrich, and enhance the Library's services and programs by performing tasks that paid staff members are not available to do. Volunteers are asked to work a regular schedule of two hours a week for a minimum of three months. For the sake of maturity, commitment, and consistency, only students of high school age (and above) will be accepted for available junior volunteer positions.

Application

New volunteers will be asked to fill out application forms and volunteer worksheets, which are available in the Administrative Office. The Library will make every effort to match volunteers to the available jobs.

Volunteer Jobs

Volunteers are matched to available jobs which may include filing, bookmending, adopting a shelf, preparing for children's craft programs, processing materials, delivering books to shut-in patrons, leading book discussions at senior facilities, and reading to children as a summer teen R.O.A.R. reader.

In 2008, more than forty volunteers gave a total of 2,618 hours to their community library, performing a variety of needed services that would otherwise require staff time.

R.O.A.R. (Rush Out And Read) Programs

To celebrate its one hundred years of service to the community in 1993, the Winchester Co-operative Bank chose to fund a library program to provide library outreach to the residents of Winchester. Thus, R.O.A.R. was born, and the program seeks each year to reach out to potential readers of all ages.

The summer teen R.O.A.R. Corps welcomes middle and high school students who are chosen to read aloud to children who do not come into the library during the summer months. The Corps reads to children at the playgrounds, swim clubs, Recreation Department camps, and beaches in Winchester. For information about R.O.A.R., check to see R.O.A.R. Coordinator Dennis Kronenberg's web page on schoolnotes.com

The senior R.O.A.R. Corps goes to the senior facilities in town to lead book discussions or to share personal favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volunteer to Read to Seniors

As part of its year-round ROAR program, the Library coordinates two groups of volunteers who read to seniors, and we are looking for a few more volunteers for each group. The group at the Gables meets on Friday mornings; the group at the Winchester Nursing Center meets on Tuesday afternoons. Each volunteer signs up for two to four convenient dates over a three-month period.

Volunteers generally read one or two short selections of their choosing; residents may share memories engendered by the selections or their own current reading interests. Each group of volunteers gets together for a brown bag lunch several times a year to share ideas and experiences. For more information, contact Janet Nelson email: jnelson@minlib.net or 781-721-7171 x 20