Dear Volunteer,

It has been lovely to see so many library volunteers and customers returning to libraries over the past few weeks, including all the families taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge 2021. We hope that you have caught up with all our news in the latest customer newsletter.

We are thrilled that nearly 150 (approx 60%) of Library volunteers have now resumed their volunteer roles. We hope to welcome back the remaining volunteer team over the next few months. We aim to gradually reintroduce Computer Buddy sessions and some of our regular activities such as Baby Rhyme Time, Board Games etc. in a COVID-safe way.

We would like to say a big thank you for helping us to maintain our existing measures to ensure the safety of everybody visiting the library buildings.

Volunteer Update

During September I will be handing the role of Principal Librarian - Volunteering to my colleague Jo Moeller for one year while I move to a new role within the Library Service.

Jo is currently the Library Manager at Horsham Library and has previously worked as part of the team that supports volunteering across the Library Service. Jo will continue to work on specific volunteer projects such as Remote Digital Support, Reading Friends and the new Promotional Support volunteer activity. She will also oversee the general volunteering programme across the Library Service as we continue to recover our service and the remaining volunteers resume their roles.

Thank you for your continued patience and support over the past year. Jo will continue to keep you up to date with all the latest news in the monthly volunteer newsletter and I look forward to reading the next edition!

Christine Broggi – Principal Librarian Volunteering

Can you help us promote the library service?

Over the past year, many of you have already helped us to promote our services in your local communities. This includes telling family and friends that libraries are now open again for browsing.

This concept has been taken to the next level by a small team of library volunteers who have been piloting our new Promotional Support activity since May. Each month we provide a pack of promotional materials and the volunteers use them in different ways to highlight a specific library topic in their local communities. Examples include:

• circulating the information to their local U3A group newsletter
• recording the information for a talking newspaper
• sharing our social media posts within local Facebook groups

Following the successful pilot, we would now like to expand this activity to include distributing printed publicity and would like more volunteers to join the team. The volunteer activity is completely flexible and even one poster displayed on a local community board or one share on social media helps us spread the word!

If you would like to join the team from the Autumn onwards, please send us an email!

Are you a Home Library Direct Volunteer?

If so, we would like your help to promote our Remote Digital Support (RDS) service to the customers you visit.

RDS has proved invaluable in supporting customers at home to gain the basic digital skills needed to keep in touch with the online world during the pandemic.

We would like to tell all our Home Library Direct customers about the Remote Digital Support Service and you can help us spread the word by delivering a copy of the leaflet on your next visit.  

Library staff will put some leaflets with your customer's reserved books or, alternatively, you can ask a member of staff for a small number of leaflets when you next visit your local library. The leaflet contains information about the digital support available including how to contact the RDS helpline. 

Thank you so much for your support. 

To make sure that we all continue to stay as safe as possible, here is some additional information about reporting accidents.

Why report an accident or incident?

Reporting and recording incidents and accidents is really important so that we can identify how they (or the near miss) occurred and identify solutions to prevent them happening again. It is also a legal requirement under the 2013 Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 

What do you need to do?

As a Library Volunteer, you should:

• inform a member of library staff as soon as possible about any accidents or incidents or anything that gives you cause for concern when carrying our your volunteer role. This may include a near miss and relates to all library volunteer roles (even if your volunteering takes place away from a library building e.g. Home Library Direct Volunteers delivering books to a customer at home.) 
• make sure you know who to contact at your local library and also the names of any designated first aiders
• report any health and safety concerns (that could lead to an accident) to a member of library staff as soon as possible
• provide the necessary information without delay to help prevent an accident happening again and co-operate with any investigation so further lessons can be learnt.

Once you have told us about an event (accident, incident or near miss) we will ask you to provide some basic information such as:

• details of those involved
• the type of incident, accident or near miss
• the name/s of witness/es
• a brief explanation of what happened
• a brief explanation of any injuries

Your local library manager is then required to submit an accident/incident form and will review the details to identify ways to prevent it happening again in the future and any systems/procedures that could be improved.