On any given day, library patrons will see volunteers working side-by-side with library staff.
More than two dozen individuals regularly donate their time and talents at the library to help make the facility and the community a better place.
Volunteers who work through Friends of the Library have devoted many hours to sorting and displaying the used books the organization sells to raise fund for various library programs. Friends of the Library president Bonnie Viele and a team of regular workers keep the ongoing book sale in the library lobby stocked with children's books, paperbacks, hardback books and videos.
The dollars they earn are donated to the library to pay the annual costs of the Bookflix online reading program for young readers and for adult, children's and young adult programming.
Due to severe budget cuts this year, Friends' earnings also have been used for carpet cleaning, landscaping and other library necessities. This past week, more than a dozen members of Friends flocked to the library to decorate for the holidays. Regular Friends' volunteers include Bonnie Viele, Jerry Viele, Pat Klinich, Peg Sowers, Carol Petro, Loretta Pettola, Jim Burger, Dayne Fitzsimmons, Dee and Bill Fitzsimons, Jan Hogue, Charlotte Lanz, Lucille Nicora, Carol Petrinjak, Sue Phillips, Fran Pirlo, Alice Weidner and Jan Schaller.
Although the library cuts this year brought about the need for volunteers, there are some people who have given their time even longer. For the past few years, Kim (Lois) Mozley, Mary Ann Solomon, Julie Filipovich, and Marian Muder have donated countless hours on a regular basis to the library.
Leslie Kimble, who is working on a degree in information science, spends time each week in the library's technical services department, and Linda Pappa, a former library employee, shares her expertise at processing new materials. The contributions of these especially dedicated volunteers have been critical to the library's survival this year.
Volunteers Nell Higgins, Roberta Grantz, Connie Butcher, Carol Zinger, Deborah Maughan, Joan Bushey, Jan Schaller and Mary Jane O'Hara select materials so that homebound members of the community can enjoy the variety of resources available at the library. Marian Muder helps deliver the materials twice each month.
Library volunteers come from all ages and backgrounds. Nathan Moffitt, Ralph Streb, Aisaiah Thomas, and Jonathan Wlodarski are three young people who have made themselves available for odd jobs at the library. Reda Wilson lends her typing skills to the circulation department while her husband, Bill Wilson, makes weekly visits to the library to water plants. Lily Pencis, Michele Murphy, Leslie Hinkle, Jim Burger, Pat Klinich, Charlotte Lanz, Jan Schaller, Lisa Herttua, Lisa Torok and Lynn Cassidy contribute their time shelving library materials, and Jan Hogue and Sue Phillips have been put to use assembling thematic displays of library materials.
Library volunteers are making a real difference in the community. To become a library volunteer, call 330-534-3512, Ext. 6.