I have been thinking a lot about volunteering lately - perhaps it is the talk of the big society that has brought it to mind. There are lots of ideas about the rights and wrongs of having professional librarians and experienced paid library staff in public libraries replaced by volunteers, and really this just makes me very sad and worried for the future of library provision in Britain, as it seems to me an indicator not just of the lack of value placed on librarianship skills, but also ambivalence towards the existence of libraries at all, as I cannot see that the models suggested are sustainable in the long-term. But I have considered volunteering for private organizations/charities that may otherwise not be able to have a library service, as this would be a good way of gaining valuable experience of a different type of environment/work to that which I am paid to do. It might also be a way for me to keep up some practical cataloguing skills, which is a thing I love doing, but get less time to do in my day job now. Or alternatively, voluntary work outside the profession, to just help broaden my horizons and gain new skills.
I recently missed out on investigating a voluntary work position, as it asked for a CV to be sent, and I was so far off being able to put anything together that I couldn't apply in time. But as thing 21 has made me think afresh about this, I hope to have something in place soon that I can use, and am also thinking of approaching local organizations to see what opportunities they might have. A short post, for this penultimate thing, but lots to think about and plan!
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