Yesterday Olympia area volunteers and agency staff met in Sam Reeds office. It was our annual event to pay homage to our agency volunteers. The State Library (WSL) has about 13 volunteers who work at the Main Library in Tumwater. We have around 400 volunteers who work at the Washington Talking Book & Braille (WTBBL) in Seattle! Their work is celebrated at a spring event separate from yesterday’s event. The work of our volunteers is integral to accomplishing our mission. No longer do volunteers work on “special projects” alone. Their work is not the icing on the cake, it is the cake itself.

With heavy losses of staff during this decade – a nearly 52% loss – we can no longer continue to offer quality service without volunteers. Over the next few years WSL will add more volunteers at the Main Library. Marilyn Lindholm, Administrative Assistant to State Librarian, Rand Simmons, will recruit and coordinate our volunteers in Tumwater. Program staff will orient, train, evaluate, nurture and support them. We will follow the skilled use of volunteers at WTBBL where David Junius is the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator. David has been quoted as saying that the per hour value of a volunteer in Washington is more than $21.00. The 32,000 hours annually contributed to WTBBL by volunteers equates to roughly 15 full-time staff or a contribution of more than $670,000! My gratitude to all our volunteers, in Tumwater and Seattle, for all they do to help us effectively serve the people of Washington. When you see a volunteer, wherever they may be, say, “thanks.” They really do make a difference.

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