Volunteers : Helping hands : Library Volunteers Make the Difference
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Volunteers have contributed nearly 100,000 hours of service to Orange County’s 27 branch libraries in the past year, officials said.
The volunteers have performed a variety of functions, including stacking books, returning materials to shelves, processing new periodicals and helping patrons. In the previous year, volunteers worked a total of 60,000 hours.
County Librarian John M. Adams said the helpers are giving a major boost to the financially troubled library system.
“If we didn’t have volunteers, we would have to close down several branches,” he said. “We don’t have the money to pay all the staff we need.”
The system has seen its annual budget slashed from $27 million to $22 million in the past three years because of state cuts in tax money provided to library districts. Officials cut operating hours and services.
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