Paige Rowse is the Teacher Librarian at Needham High School
and a recipient of a 2018 Web Seal of Excellence.
and a recipient of a 2018 Web Seal of Excellence.
Are you thinking about adding student volunteers to your library program? Are you concerned about how you will find these students or how much work it will take to train them? Are you worried about trusting them with real responsibility? These are honest concerns and with thorough preparation, these challenges can be minimized and overcome. Ironically, while understaffed libraries may have a greater need for student volunteers, it is more difficult to manage them without the staff to do so. The number of volunteers you feel comfortable managing may depend on the size of the library staff. I am a full time teacher librarian serving over 1700 high school students with two full time assistants who are completely integral to the success of the library program. Training and managing our twelve volunteers falls largely to the library assistants since students volunteer before and after school.
