The Coronado Public Library is a core part of the Coronado community. Their shelves are full of popular books and DVDs for check out. They host activities for many demographics and multiple traditional town events. Planning, preparing and executing these events takes creativity and multiple sets of hands. This is where the junior volunteers come in. The Coronado Library offers junior volunteering for teenagers, in grades 6-12, so they can volunteer after school.
The leader of this team of junior volunteers is Ms. Tara Davies. Tara is known around Coronado as the teen librarian and also an Emerald Keeper. She connects the library with the CHS Emerald Keepers group and volunteers with them during their bi-monthly Saturday meetings. Along with Ms. Tara is Ms. Jennifer, who also works with the junior volunteers during their events and weekly meetings. CHS student Hannah Cohen says, “My favorite part of volunteering at the library is the people! The junior volunteer staff is truly amazing!” Cohen has volunteered at the library since her sophomore year.
Junior volunteering is a great way for teenagers to get involved in their community and local library; and it’s also a very fun way to get service hours. Altogether there are multiple opportunities to choose from when applying to be a library volunteer.
Drop-in Volunteer Opportunities:
The “drop-in” volunteer opportunities are where you don’t need an assigned date to come in and you don’t need to notify the library when you cannot attend.
When you become a volunteer, you can go to junior volunteer meetings. Volunteers get one service hour for attendance. These meetings occur every Thursday at 3:30 in the Ruby Room. While at these meetings, volunteers brainstorm new community service ideas, decorate the library for holidays, and help organize any projects left over from program prep. “My favorite activity we do as volunteers is decorating the teen section, especially for Valentine’s Day,” says Cohen. Secondly, program assistance occurs some Tuesdays out of the month at 3:30 pm. Teens would help out at children’s programs, like Tinker Tuesday. Furthermore, teens would assist children with crafts, provide proper supervision, and are on set up/clean up duty. Finally, program prep is on Mondays at 3:30 pm. Locations alternate for this choice. During program prep volunteers help sort and prepare supplies for that week’s activities.
Solo Volunteer Opportunities:
Next are the solo volunteer opportunities. The first being book cleaning. The newly returned books and DVDs need to get cleaned somehow! Teens will thoroughly clean all returned items so they are ready to be placed back on their shelf. To be eligible for book cleaning, you must have completed training and selected a shift. In addition to book cleaning is book review bookmarks. These bookmarks are a take-home volunteer opportunity where you write a book review and format it as a visually-appealing bookmark. Completed bookmarks will be shared with library patrons. All reviews must be about a teen section book, although bookmarks are not limited to just fiction. The library accepts nonfiction and graphic novel book reviews as well. If this interests you, then you can pick up a template in the teen section of the library or email Ms. Tara Davies for a digital version.
Upcoming Junior Volunteer Events:
The junior volunteers will be hosting “Medieval Day” on April 8th. This event will be a fun medieval themed event for the whole family with games and treats. It’s an excuse to dress up like your favorite princess, knight, or court jester. Junior volunteers will be running the entertainment for the event.
The spring tea party is on May 6th. This year’s tea party takes inspiration from the children’s book, “Madeline” by Ludwig Bemelmans. Junior volunteers will be helping the library staff with setting up, hosting the event, and serving the themed treats.
Both of these events are very enjoyable for all ages. The staff and volunteers have worked hard in preparing for both, so anyone from the community should absolutely come to the library to check them out!
Visit coronado.librarycalendar.com for more details.
