Volunteer Opportunities

 

Friends Are Active Volunteers

There are opportunities at every turn to make a difference for patrons of the North Carolina
Accessible Books and Library Services. You can give as little as an hour a month or as much as an hour a day. The Library relies on its cadre of friendly volunteers, most of whom are avid Friends members.

You can work directly at the Capital Boulevard facility or at any number of the events supported by the Friends. As a volunteer, you’ll be invited to join us annually for the Volunteer Recognition event and be recognized by state and federal officials for your service.



 

Find Out More & Volunteer

Visit our Projects page and check the list of Upcoming Events on the left for information about upcoming and ongoing volunteer opportunities. Sponsors are welcome to volunteer, too. It can increase your visibility in the blind community and in state government circles. Volunteer to sit on the board or to help with specific Friends’ projects.

The Friends need you! Contact us at info@fncabls.org to find out how you can help.

Consistent Needs

A few consistent needs at the Library include:

• Inspecting: Inspect returned audio books before they are checked in, to make sure the correct book is with the correct case. Volunteers for this duty are mainly needed in the morning to early afternoon hours, after 10:00 am.
• Recording: Record the readings of local magazines and books with the most up to date software.  This is one of the most important roles in the Studio Recording Program.  Volunteers will act as directors while making sure they are getting quality recordings.  Computer experience is wonderful but not required.  Just volunteers who are willing to learn new things and can devote themselves for two hours at the same time every week.
• Reviewing: Listen to NCABLS Studio recorded materials and compare it to the written text and document errors in the recording. This is an extremely important part of the studio process to make the recording of the book, magazine or newsletter as close to perfect as possible for NLS standards, as well as for the patrons. This can be done anytime during working hours. Volunteers are asked to devote two hours at a time to this project.
• Mailings: Fold and prepare material for mass mailings. Mail recipient numbers range from a few hundred to thousands at a time. Mailings consist of Friends’ materials and membership renewals, patron processing, and other mailings as needed. Volunteers are asked to be on-call for these projects.
• Rating Un-Rated Commercial Audiobooks: Read one audio book per month (anywhere from 6 hours to over 20 hours long) and provide ratings on whether the content of the book contains violence, strong language and/or sexually explicit content. Volunteers will be the authoritative source on whether the book that they have read for the month needs to be marked with these ratings in our catalog system.  Our goal in rating these unrated books is to keep from sending books to patrons that have expressed one or more reservations about receiving books with such content. Volunteers are required to attend one meeting on site at the beginning and must have reliable access to email and a Microsoft Word or other similar word processing software.  All audiobooks and players will be assigned and provided to the volunteers by the NCABLS. This is an ongoing project.

 

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

It is important for volunteers to call and schedule times. On your first visit, you will receive an initial tour, fill out paperwork and meet the Library staff and other volunteers.

When you are ready to begin your volunteer efforts, contact:

Adrian Sanders, Volunteer Coordinator
adrian.sanders@dncr.nc.gov
North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services
 1841 Capital Boulevard
Raleigh, North Carolina 27635
Phone: 984-236-1100
Fax: 984-236-1199
Toll Free: 1-888-388-2460