Volunteers

Our Volunteers

Our volunteers are the life-blood of our organization. By Proclamation, the City of Menlo Park has recognized the indelible positive impact of our substantial volunteer hours for Menlo Park residents.
We have no employees and depend entirely on a group of dedicated volunteers to:
  • inspect donated items;
  • sort those that can be re-sold or given away;
  • price those that can be re-sold;
  • list on Amazon those that can be re-sold online;
  • fulfill Amazon orders;
  • re-stock our bookstore;
  • run our on-site book sales;
  • organize our carts of free books;
  • serve as our directors and officers; and
  • perform all required administrative tasks.
Throughout our history we have been able to fulfill our mission thanks to the commitment of our volunteers.
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Volunteer Opportunities

We are always looking for new volunteers! If you are interested in volunteering with us, please read the description of our work below, and fill out the Volunteer Application Form.

Where We Work

 Our volunteers work at the Main Library at 800 Alma Street, Menlo Park. (See Directions).

What We Offer Our Volunteers

We offer our volunteers the opportunity to work with a congenial group of book-loving
people who play an important role in raising money for the Library.

We offer orientation and training to enable new volunteers to function confidently
without supervision. We support them with ongoing assistance, advice and
communication.

We offer a variety of roles, including:
• evaluating, sorting and pricing donated books, CDs and DVDs
• helping with our quarterly sales as a cashier or setting up and taking down the tables
• listing books for sale on Amazon
• packing and shipping on-line orders
• managing one category of books
• stocking the bookstore

What We Ask From Our Volunteers

Our volunteer opportunities are not suited to short-time volunteering.

Some of our volunteers only help with our quarterly sales, but our core volunteers work
on a regular basis. We ask them for a minimum commitment of 2-3 hours a week for a
minimum of 6 months; longer commitments are encouraged.

We expect all our regular volunteers:
• to evaluate, sort and price donated items, or
• to list books on Amazon, or
• to do Amazon fulfillment

Regular volunteers commit to work a specific time each week that fits with their personal
schedule.

Quarterly sales volunteers commit to helping a few hours every three months.

All our volunteers are required to adhere to all relevant policies of the Library, as well as
our own operating guidelines. Volunteers are expected to sign the City of Menlo Park’s
volunteer agreement.

Required Qualifications

Volunteers must be at least 18 and must be willing to work on-site at the Main Library at
800 Alma Street, Menlo Park (see Directions).

Ability to work at a computer is essential to most of our work.

Volunteers must be comfortable working in a basement area of the Main Library that is
well lit but has no windows.

We strive to accommodate individual situations but our work necessarily entails lifting,
moving around and shelving books. Those volunteers who are able to move donated
items down to the basement and up to our bookstore are asked to do so. However, that
ability is not a requirement. Elevator access to our area is available.

At least an intermediate-level fluency in English is necessary. Knowledge of a particular
genre or subject matter, such as science fiction or medicine, is particularly valuable to us.

We expect our volunteers to be friendly; responsible; considerate of fellow volunteers,
Library staff and the public; and to work in a cooperative manner.

How To Apply

If you would like to be considered for a volunteer position with us, you can:
  • fill out our Volunteer Application Form and submit it online, or
  • print out the form, complete it, and send it to us via PDF format at info@friendsmpl.org, mail it to our address marked "Attn. Volunteer Coordinator", or drop it off at the Main Library welcome desk, or
  • call us at 650-330-2521