National Library Home > News & Events
Gateways

Volunteers Treasured by the Library

Imaging Services volunteers, Eric Pryke and Bob Pillifeant, digitising a work from the Library’s collection

Marie Sexton, with identifying task in hand

Asian Collection volunteers, Moko Eade, Su Shen and Minson Lee, at the media launch and preview of the Facing Percy Grainger exhibition

Co-curator of Facing Percy Grainger, Dr David Pear, addresses a meeting of volunteers

While the Library is increasingly well known for the breadth and depth of its resources, among its most valued assets is a growing band of dedicated volunteers.

Running for eight years, the volunteer program includes participants from all walks of life with a diverse range of skills, knowledge and wealth of experience. Testimony to this is the range of areas within the Library where volunteers are making significant contributions. Last year, 80 registered volunteers donated almost 8000 hours of time across a variety of roles within the Library.

The functions of volunteers fall into three categories. Guides interact with the public in the Exhibition Gallery, and behind-the-scenes volunteers provide support in the Pictures, Asian, Manuscript and Ephemera Collections, and Imaging Services and Technical Services. They also provide valuable assistance with mail-outs to Friends of the National Library. Volunteers are kept up-to-date with happenings in the Library via mail-outs, telephone calls and meetings. Featuring a diverse range of guest speakers and topics, meetings for volunteer guides are informative and allow participants to catch up with others in the program.

Many volunteers, like Allan Rice, enjoy guiding as well as working on special behind-the-scenes projects. With a career background in immigration and current interests in music and Spanish, Rice brings a diverse skill set to the Library. Brimming with enthusiasm and energy, Rice has recently assisted in a project to preserve Australia’s newspaper heritage. His role has involved researching newspapers from 100 years ago and unearthing stories of social and historical interest. ‘I’ve been struck by the enormously different editorial styles between papers and found many stories quirky and funny,’ he said. ‘Some days I felt like I had entered 1906. I found the experience both stimulating and rewarding.’

Volunteers from varied cultural backgrounds are drawn to the Library’s rich Asian Collections and bring a wide range of language skills in working with the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian collections. The Asian Collections’ Director, Amelia McKenzie, said: ‘Our volunteers love working with collections in their own language. Some of our volunteers go on to join the permanent staff, so both sides benefit from the experience.’

Imaging Services is also an area where volunteers like Bob Pillifeant not only bring a wealth of experience to the Library but feel they are upgrading and learning new skills in return. ‘I have been on a steep learning curve since I started five years ago but I love the challenge of getting it right,’ he said of his work in digitising items in the collection. ‘I find it so rewarding when the finished image looks like the real thing.’

The Pictures Collection benefits from the assistance of people such as former employee and now volunteer, Marie Sexton, and the longest serving volunteer, Bob Parker, who recently curated a fascinating exhibition, Trainspotting. This display drew from the Library’s Buckland Collection and featured images from the Victorian, South Australian and the former Commonwealth Railways systems.

Many volunteers such as Maree Bently are drawn to the diversity of work provided by the Library’s volunteer program. Bently has assisted on many projects and areas within the Library including in the Publications Branch and the Petherick Reading Room. Describing her projects as ‘a varied palette’, Bently said: ‘I find the Library a happy place where staff are genuinely supportive and appreciative of volunteers’ input.’

Coordinator of the Volunteer Program, Helen Tsogas, says the main gift that participants bring to the Library is passion. ‘They are often at a point in life when they don’t have to work but they want to share their knowledge and skills. They know their contribution is meaningful and highly valued at the Library.’

Judith Dahl Taylor