Volunteers make invaluable contributions to service delivery. Many museums, libraries and archives rely on volunteers to ensure that they are providing the best possible service to their communities. How can we ensure that volunteers feel valued, are able to develop and use their skills and choose to continue to give their time, energy and expertise in the future?
Why are volunteers so important?
Volunteers are vital to museums, libraries and archives because they:
- Provide added value and enable services to be delivered which might not otherwise be possible;
- Act as a link between the community and the service;
- Bring in new skills and a different perspective; and
- Believe in the service and are great advocates within the community.
What is important in a volunteering scheme?
In planning and delivery a volunteering scheme, it is important that:
- Volunteers are recruited from diverse backgrounds so that they represent the community as much as possible and so that everyone feels that opportunities such as these are open to them;
- Volunteers feel appreciated and valued and that they are given local recognition for their hard work;
- Opportunities for volunteering as made as flexible as possible to ensure that it is possible for a wider range of people to get involved;
- A skills audit is undertaken in order to ascertain what skills your volunteers can offer, what skills need to be developed and what skills are missing which could be provided by new volunteers;
- Work given to volunteers is varied and interesting, so that they will feel inspired to carry on and see that they are making a valuable contribution; and
- Development opportunities are provided for volunteers so that they can progress and take on new and different responsibilities, such as helping to recruit and train newly engaged members of the community.
You may find the following resources helpful:
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