Volunteering

I recently volunteered at the library and will be working now until the end of the summer break (which is about two to three weeks). My job will be shelving all sorts of various books, from mysteries to fiction to nonfiction to teens to paperbacks. Not only that but I also am responsible for shelving DVDS, audiobooks, CDs, and foreign language tapes, plus also making sure that all the items are in alphabetical order by author or title depending. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that the volunteer coordinator has not allowed me to do some computer work, despite the fact that I volunteered there last year. However, I guess this is normal since they're in need of volunteers to shelve books. Ever since the local bookstore closed, the library has grown to be a lot busier.

I work three days a week for three hours each, and it's quite a tiring job, especially since I'm the only volunteer working in the afternoon. The librarians who were once in charge of shelving have now pushed all their duties onto me while they themselves have run off to random coffee places to relax. Quite annoying. I'm only one person and they can't expect me to shelve at least a hundred books all by myself. So, as a result, I don't even care if I don't finish all the shelving. First off, I don't get paid and secondly, it's not fair for them to heave all the burden on me.

I personally like shelving DVDs the best since all I have to do is stick all the A's together and all the B's together...You get my meaning. There's no need to figure out alphabetical order by author's last name like I need to with all the other books. The audiobook section is a horror because most of the items are out of place. However, it's not too hard to figure out where to shelve an item but sometimes I do get paranoid because there are often large jumps in order. However, I'm mostly in charge of shelving fiction books. These are always a pain to do because 1) There's a lot (Often times I can fill an entire cart), and 2) Finding where to place the book can take forever because there are so many authors with common last names. Also shelving any author's last name that begins with Mc or Mac can be a pain too. Nonfiction books are ordered by call number, and while these aren't too difficult to shelve (Just find the letter and then number), they are rather tiring to do because you have to literally run all over the place for them.

However, the place I hate most is the Teens section. The entire place is even worse than the DVD or audiobook sections put together. So many teens have not a care about returning a book to its proper place after reading. Instead, they just simply throw the books all over the place and expect someone else to clean up after them. This is the same in the Children's section (Thank goodness I no longer need to shelve those) but at least it's expected of them. They're only toddlers; they don't know how to pick up after themselves yet so it's up to the adult to make sure. However, these are teens and they should know better. Every time I go to the Teens section my workload is at least doubled because I have to re-shelve everything. Most of the time, I just give up. The same thing applies to the manga and graphic novels section. They're so out of order that it's completely hopeless.

Also, it's sometimes really annoying when the teens in the area get mad at me because I'm doing my work. First off, if you want to read, either borrow the book or go find yourself a table. Don't sit right at the entrance of the aisle and block the road for everyone else. Second, don't just throw books on random shelves and knock down half the bookshelf when you leave. I just simply can't believe that they have so much disregard for the library. Just because this place isn't your home doesn't mean that you can trash it however you like. By all means, my job is tiring and difficult enough without you making it harder for me or rolling your eyes at me.

Overall, I like shelving things that require you only to shelve items with the same title together and not worry about alphabetical order (such as DVDs and foreign language tapes). It's the same for the graphic novels, but, as a I mentioned before, they're completely out of order. The work is rather tiring since I have to continuously bend up and down in order to find the right location for a book. Often times I'll need to bend up and down at least five times in order to shelve just one book. I also have to move books over to the previous or next shelf in order to accommodate room for one book. Quite frustrating at times. And since I'm short, I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach the top shelves and the lighting often creates a glare on the spines to make reading even harder. At least the good thing is that there is a break room which I can hang out for awhile if I ever get tired.