Volunteer libraries go from strength to strength in Sheffield

As well as being places from which to borrow books, many have branched out ino other areas of activity - Harry Potter days, farmers’ markets, open gardens, a story festival, friendship groups/ writers groups and book clubs, warm spaces.

Many of the shelves in the volunteer libraries are now filled with libraries’ own book stocks, reducing their reliance on council stocks and on the council’s libraries management systems, and ensuring that stock acquisition policies are managed from a place much closer to actual library users.

“Volunteer libraries have brought a new dimension to public libraries in Sheffield,” said Jenny van Tinteren, chair of trustees at STAND, the group that manages Stannington Library. “Now they are managed by people who would otherwise be library members. It takes the management of libraries much closer to the people who actually use them.”

Of course, many if not most of the people who stepped up to become volunteers ten years ago were already retired, or at least about to retire, from professional careers. Many are now in their mid- to late-seventies or even their eighties. Many of the original cohort have already stepped down from their roles, and many more will do so in the coming years. A new generation of library volunteers is therefore needed. Anyone who is interested in becoming a library volunteer should contact their local library either by telephone or by calling in.