Volunteering in libraries,museums and archives

Volunteering is very much in vogue as far as government is concerned; volunteering strengthens society through participation, whilst helping to extend and deliver services and enhance the lives of volunteers in numerous ways. This chapter of Cultural Trends offers an overview of volunteering before looking at the involvement of volunteers in museums, libraries and archives. Many volunteer‐involving organisations are examining carefully the way in which they recruit and support volunteers, as the environment in which volunteers are recruited becomes more competitive. At the same time, organisations can sometimes lose sight of why they involve volunteers.

This chapter reports on a survey of museums and libraries conducted for Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, identifying the added value of involving volunteers and the institutional structures in place to support them. A survey was conducted in which 1,500 questionnaires were sent out ‐ with 500 each going to libraries, museums and archives. It finds that volunteers are a key element in extending the services that museums and libraries can offer. It also finds that practices in involving volunteers vary widely. Volunteers are more likely to be found in libraries than museums or archives and women are more likely to be involved than men. Very few of the organisations returning the questionnaires have somebody whose job is to manage or coordinate volunteers; perhaps unsurprisingly most are to be found in museums. Where organisations do not involve volunteers, issues of time management were most often cited, although a minority argued against involving volunteers per se.

The chapter concludes that although many organisations value highly the involvement of volunteers, there is more that can be done to support volunteering in libraries, museums and archives.