Library Preservation Department

About the Program

Category: Volunteers (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

Library Preservation Department Hennepin County, MN Population: 1,119,364 The Preservation Department of Hennepin County Libraries protects and restores historic items requiring special treatment as well as general collection items determined for retention by professional staff. With Minneapolis Library housing over 2 million books, periodicals, media items, government documents and other materials, the demand for the Preservation Department is high. Yet, due to budget constraints and a reduction of faculty, this department faced the challenge of increasing demands for their services with such constraints. The Library Preservation Department therefore established a program to incorporate volunteer and intern help into the staff schedule. The library staff identified areas where additional help could be contributed and integrated volunteers and interns into department work patterns, developing training and work assignments. The objectives of the program were to reduce costs and staffing demands, increase work output and extend services through volunteers and unpaid interns and to seek grant funding to purchase necessary supplies for larger projects. The objectives were met with great success. Significant cost savings were recognized with the changes in their work schedule with a commercial bindery service. The bindery process was revised resulting in immediate cost savings in 2009 and more in 2010. By 2011, the Department entered into an agreement with another commercial bindery, increasing savings. In 2010, the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the State of Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment program secured the Department with a $7,000 grant allowing the purchase of more binding supplies and assistance with a rebind-and-restore project of the library’s music score collection. The library experienced a surprisingly large application pool for the internship positions and easily incorporated interns and volunteers into daily tasks. Many of the interns benefitted from this position as many of them were library and arts students. The role and impact of the assistance on the work flow was so profound that the program was able to be renewed while securing a $30,000 grant.