National Volunteer Week 2024 is from April 21st to the 27th. The Bellevue Public Library volunteer program began in the summer of 1975. The library’s head librarian realized there would be a huge backlog of processing activities due to the move to the library’s then-new facility. He did research on existing library volunteer programs and put together a plan for adoption to present to the library board. Once the board gave its approval, he appointed a volunteer coordinator to work 20 hours per week. In the first year, 35 volunteers ranging in age from 14-82 assisted with shelving, processing book donations, mending, reorganizing, repairing machines, and preparing brochures. The Homebound Delivery service began a year later in June of 1976.
The Bellevue Public Library’s volunteer program today is much like the program that began in 1975. Volunteers worked approximately 3,063 hours last year and ranged in age from 12 to 91. The Children’s Department uses a variety of volunteers for their Pre-K through 6th grade programs. Coloring with Cops has the support of the Bellevue Police Department with officers coloring with children for an hour. Pet owners and their pets are part of the Pawsitive Reading program in which the children read to the animals. Seniors participate in Senior Reading by reading books to children. The library also has children and teen volunteers who help make kits and assist with program activities. Volunteers in the book sale room sort, shelve, and sell books, while makerspace volunteers provide information and conduct classes on the use of equipment such as the 3-D printer, laser cutter, sublimation press, and embroidery machine. Homebound drivers deliver books, and a book mender repairs books on a weekly basis.
Interested in becoming a volunteer? The library has applications for children, teens, and adults at the circulation desk. Stop by the library and ask for an application or fill out an application online at https://bellevuelibrary.org/about/support-the-library/volunteer.
