2 weeks Ago
A call has been made for more volunteers to join the West Sussex Library Service. The service currently has 334 active volunteers across 13 different roles in 36 libraries and in the community. Last year, these volunteers collectively donated around 16,500 hours of their time.
The library service is celebrating 100 years of being at the heart of West Sussex communities and has the largest number of volunteers at the county council. The council is now looking for more volunteers to help people in the community fulfil their potential. One of the roles needing more volunteers is Home Library Direct, where volunteers visit housebound people in their homes or care homes to choose, deliver, and return library items for them.
This is the service’s oldest voluntary role, dating back to the 1930s. There is a particular need for Home Library Direct volunteers in the Durrington and Broadwater areas of Worthing, as well as Crawley and East Grinstead. Another role is Read On, a learn-to-read scheme for adults with little or no literacy skills.
Volunteers are matched with adult learners and provide one-to-one sessions in libraries to help them develop their reading skills. Read On volunteers are needed in Crawley, Rustington, and Bognor Regis libraries. There are currently 20 Read On volunteers supporting adult learners in nine libraries.
Since April last year, they have completed over 100 sessions and given almost 400 hours of their time. The Summer Reading Challenge, a national reading scheme delivered in libraries each year, also requires volunteers. The scheme runs from July to September and is free for children to take part.
Volunteers aged 14 and over are needed to support the scheme in all 36 libraries. The role involves helping families and young children sign up to the scheme, talking to children about the books they are reading, and handing out stickers and free activities. Councillor Duncan Crow, cabinet member for community support, fire and rescue, said: "Our 36 libraries really are at the heart of the community and the volunteers are an integral part of it, helping people with a wide range of needs, from children who take part in the Summer Reading scheme, people who need help with their digital skills, adults who want to improve their literacy and bringing people with dementia and their carers together for therapeutic singing.
" Other volunteer roles include digital volunteers, who help people learn the basics of using computers and the internet, either on a one-to-one basis or by assisting group classes. Melody for the Mind volunteers help run regular sessions, singing songs and rhymes, to bring people with dementia and their carers together. Reading group volunteers run library-based reading groups or set up new reading groups in the area.
Volunteers benefit from their roles as well as the people they are helping. As a Home Library Direct volunteer said: "The pleasure it gives others, that’s why I do it." Other benefits include having a more active lifestyle and improved sense of wellbeing, developing new skills and retaining existing skills, meeting new people and making friends, learning and experiencing new activities and challenges, gaining confidence, improved self-esteem and a sense of satisfaction.
If you are not already a member of the library, it is quick and easy to join if you live or work in West Sussex. More information about the library service’s centenary celebration events can be found on the West Sussex Libraries website..
