Volunteer
We are always looking for volunteers, whatever your goals. Whether it's for school, to build new skills for a job transition, find community, or just because, we welcome all levels of experience and time availability and we will provide training and support. Please consider joining us for any of the following:
Drop-in Volunteering Just want to help out here and there? Come in any of our open hours (Fri, Sat, Sun 1-5pm) or during our Monthly Orientation and Open House and ask a staffer where to find the bulletin board with open needs.
Staffing This is an urgent one! We're open to the public three days a week and we need volunteers to help us keep the doors open. Staffing is a great way to get to know both the collection and the community, plus you can bring your own projects to work on while you're here. Sign Up for Staffing Shifts
Cataloging You don't need a library degree to catalog with us, only an interest in getting to know your city better, one book at a time. With new arrivals every week, we constantly need help to get these items into the catalog so they can be found. If you do have an MLIS, we'd love your assistance with authority records, shelving strategies, and all kinds of other professional input, but one is not required for general cataloging.
Programming Would you like to plan and organize workshops, field trips, readings, and lectures at the library? Help us organize creative and educational events both at the library in Humboldt Park and with our partners all over the city and suburbs.
Community Outreach and Collection Development We don't claim to give anyone a voice — communities already have their own. We want to amplify these voices so that everyone's stories have a chance to shape our city. In order to do that, we need to build relationships and partnerships with other educational, cultural, arts, and community-based organizations. People who are multilingual are especially encouraged to get in touch.
Website Development, Design & Content Work on website content and library catalog development. Even if you don't have a lot of technology experience you can help out. We are in need of volunteers with some Drupal experience as well.
If you have a vehicle and would be willing to help with pick ups, please let us know.
Not sure if any of these interest you or have a special project in mind? Get in touch anyway, we love to help volunteers carve their own path.
Ready to Get Started? Tell Us a Bit About Yourself
Now What? Attend Our Monthly Volunteer Orientation and Open House
We meet on the 1st Wednesday of every month to catch up on all the goings on at the Read/Write Library and to acquaint new volunteers with the project. This is the perfect way to get up to speed on what we're working on in our programming, collection development, community outreach and cataloging. All are welcome!
Date: 1st Wednesday every month
6:30pm: New volunteer orientation
6-8pm: Volunteer project hours and community open house — all are welcome, whether you're interested in volunteering or not! This is a great opportunity to learn more about Read/Write Library, our upcoming programs, ways to get involved, and meet volunteers and other community members.
Questions? Email info@readwritelibrary.org or join a discussion list below!
Volunteer Google & Facebook Groups
Join the volunteer discussion Google Group or our Facebook Volunteer Group for discussion, staffing and meetings updates, and to get the inside scoop on what library volunteers are working on.
