Today is the start of National Volunteers’ Week (extended this year from 1st to 12th June). For those of you who follow us on this blog, on Facebook and Twitter, you will have seen photos of some of our volunteers hard at work in lots of different ways. If you have been able to visit us, you will have met some of them and seen at first hand the incredible work that they do for the people who use our facilities and sources of information. Here are 5 reasons why we are grateful for our volunteers.
1. Our volunteers carry out core activities so that we can offer images, books and documents and make them freely available to the public. There are many steps involved in making an image available online – under Archivist Nathanael’s supervision our cataloguing volunteers help to sort and understand a collection that we have received, ensuring that it is correctly recorded and safely packaged. The item is then scanned and uploaded onto our AtoM online catalogue. We have only in the past week reached more than 50,000 catalogued images and documents on AtoM – imagine how much time and effort this represents! Volunteers also help our Librarian Elizabeth with rearranging and cataloguing our library of some 4,000 mill-related books and journals.
This photo shows Andrew scanning some postcards so that the images can then be uploaded onto online catalogue and viewed around the world
2. The fact that we have a number of dedicated and talented volunteers means that we can offer a range of high quality services. For example, we offer research services and our volunteers are key in conducting research for extended enquiries. We are also blessed with some of the country’s leading mill experts who can use their technical knowledge to provide a high-quality research service for the public.
Volunteer Michael provided a German research establishment with a detailed review on medieval grain and milling
3. Our volunteers offer new ideas and can look at challenges with fresh eyes, helping us to identify opportunities otherwise unseen. This extends into different areas of the Archive – for example, one volunteer is currently assessing our website and how user friendly it is compared with other websites so that we can further improve the site for our online visitors.
4. All the volunteers enhance the Archive with their own skill sets that we would otherwise be lacking in. We have volunteers who are experienced in genealogy research, social media, web development and publicity. Our 10 trustees also offer a range of talents that include business skills.
5. When volunteers decide to get involved and give the gift of their time, this helps us to keep costs down and to spend our supporters’ donations on the things that matter most to them, such as the direct preservation of our images and documents.
For anyone coming to our garden party this summer, you will not only get a chance to meet some of these volunteers but you will also be able to find out more about the current projects they are working on. The simple fact is we couldn’t exist without them.
