Library Volunteers Serve Out of Love for People and Books

Judy Feickert arrived early for her Thursday evening volunteer shift at the so that she could drop off her own armful of books.

Feickert is a Lake Ridge library veteran, after having volunteered for 25 years. She is just one of 20 volunteers that work two-hour shifts throughout the week at the library.

“Working at the library has been my first love,” she said.

She was a special education teacher at Rippon Middle School and before she retired 12 years ago.

Working at the library gives her the opportunity to connect with the community.

“The thing about a little library is that all the same people tend to come in,” she said. “Meeting the people, getting to talk with the people I work with - it’s a lot more personable.”

Library supervisor Lynn Casey is one of only three employees that work at the Lake Ridge branch.

“We have a very limited staff, and we depend on our volunteers,” she said. “In a neighborhood library, [volunteers] do just about everything: check books out, check books in, check for missing books, shelf reading.”

The library needs two people to open the library each day. Permanent volunteers must be over 16 and be willing to commit to at least six months of work. Training includes learning how to use the library computer and learning the shelving system, which is organized according to the Dewey Decimal system. An average of four volunteers work each day.

Most people pick up the basics in a month, Casey said, but even after several years, a volunteer could still come across something new.

Nancy has volunteered at the library for about five years, after working as a page at the  Potomac Community Library.

“I needed a quieter environment,” she said. “And you get to do more things here as a volunteer.”

Nancy loves working at the library because she loves to take interesting books home to read.

“After 9/11, while I was still paging, I came across something in the international section that talked about Islamic fundamentalism,” she said. “There were things I learned that I never would have learned otherwise. And there were other books about religion, and history, and international affairs, and I’d take them home and learn.”

To learn how you can volunteer for the Lake Ridge Neighborhood Library or a branch near you, visit their website.