Volunteers

DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library needs the gift of your time to help sup­port and enhance our mis­sion to serve the Coun­ty’s cit­i­zens with a supe­ri­or library sys­tem. There are many dif­fer­ent ways in which vol­un­teers serve the library — from week­ly com­mit­ments to one-time spe­cial events. There are posi­tions to match dif­fer­ent sched­ules, skills and interests.

What kinds of vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties are available?

The needs of indi­vid­ual branch­es vary and not all jobs are avail­able at all branch­es. New oppor­tu­ni­ties may arise at any giv­en time. Here are a few of the cur­rent opportunities:

• Gen­er­al branch vol­un­teer: Help keep your library look­ing good and run­ning effi­cient­ly by doing the lit­tle things (that are very impor­tant) – clean books, water plants, shelve books, recy­cle paper, straight­en magazines.
• Spe­cial events host: Help with prepa­ra­tion for library pro­grams (both adult and chil­dren’s) – greet­ing peo­ple, mov­ing fur­ni­ture, hand­ing out materials.
• Friends group vol­un­teer: The Friends sup­port the library in many ways, includ­ing rais­ing funds through book sales. Con­tact your branch’s Friends orga­ni­za­tion about how you can get involved. If your branch does­n’t have a Friends group and you’d like to help start one, talk to your branch librarian.
• We do not accept court man­dat­ed com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice volunteers.

What sort of qual­i­fi­ca­tions do I need?

Vol­un­teer posi­tions are filled based on edu­ca­tion, skill, inter­ests and expe­ri­ence appro­pri­ate for the spe­cif­ic job. Min­i­mum age for a library vol­un­teer is 14. (This does­n’t apply, how­ev­er, to spe­cial, super­vised and approved group projects.) Min­i­mum age for Tech­nol­o­gy Team vol­un­teers is 16. DeKalb Coun­ty and the DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library are equal oppor­tu­ni­ty employers.

How do I ben­e­fit from being a volunteer?

Apart from the sat­is­fac­tion you’ll get from help­ing your com­mu­ni­ty, you will learn new skills, meet new peo­ple, devel­op job ref­er­ences, receive invi­ta­tion to vol­un­teer par­ty, receive spe­cial mail­ings and learn more about library events.

How do I become a volunteer?

You can stop by your local branch and ask for the Vol­un­teer Appli­ca­tion. Fill it out and return it to a branch or drop it in the mail. Some­one will call you to set up an inter­view. We then dis­cuss time com­mit­ments and see if your skills and inter­ests match the library’s needs.

Do you accept court ordered or manda­to­ry com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice volunteers?

We do not accept court ordered or manda­to­ry com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice vol­un­teers. We rec­om­mend con­tact­ing Hands on Atlanta or Life­Line Ani­mal Project to com­plete court man­dat­ed com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice hours.