The Library’s Volunteer Coordinator Brenda Fernsler was teaching a volunteer to clean the public computers and keyboards when a member approached and said he would wait for a computer because he wanted a clean one.

“Now that people realize this volunteer cleans the computers, they go to the ones he’s cleaned,” says Fernsler. “Even the community sees the impact that the volunteers have at The Library.”

Dauphin County Library System’s corps of volunteers, currently about 41 strong, plays a vital role in keeping libraries organized, clean, and member-facing. Fernsler says she is blessed by a dedicated group who feel “like family.”

Volunteers shelve, check-in, and clean books. Completing those tasks frees staff to spend more time on their crucial roles as community connectors, helping Library members use the computers, find information, or choose a good read.

“The volunteers are there to support our frontline staff and be there for them and help them any way they can,” says Fernsler.

Library volunteers are hired like employees – background-checked and interviewed for their capabilities and interests. Many are retirees. Currently, two are first-time minor offenders performing court-ordered service who can have their records expunged upon completing their required hours.

Both take great pride in their work. One of them, the volunteer who cleans the computers so meticulously, has been anxiously awaiting a warm spring day.

“He can’t wait to get outside and clean up our parking lots, because he wants them to look nice,” Fernsler says. “This gives us another means to reach the community, and it also helps individuals. Quite a few will say, ‘I love reading, and I love libraries. I just didn’t know this existed.’” 

Library voluntarism also helps special-needs residents learn job skills. They include Angela Piscitelli, whose volunteer work helped equip her for paid work at a local crafts store.

“I like working,” Piscitelli says. “It’s fun.”

Piscitelli is a whiz at shelving books and ensuring they’re in the correct order. She once discovered a Dale Brown novel hidden among the Dan Brown thrillers and, in the process, solved a mystery that had been puzzling staff for weeks. She learned that the Dale Brown book was on hold by a Library member, but it had gone missing.

“Angela brings an enthusiasm to the library like I have never seen,” Fernsler says. “She is so happy to be here.”

Among the retirees who devote their time to The Library, Rosemary Adusei is a former Peace Corps participant and retired teacher of languages who wanted to continue contributing, learning, and stretching her capabilities.

As a volunteer for toddler Storytimes, she discovered new teaching practices – offering patient reminders, breaking up activities to sustain attention – that she uses as a substitute teacher. She even had the joy of reuniting with a Storytime teacher she had taught as a middle school student.

“It was so exciting for me to go full circle,” she says. “My former student became my teacher.”

With her knowledge of Spanish (although French is her favorite language), Adusei helped staff Marco, The Library’s mobile exploration station, at Harrisburg’s Hispanic Heritage Festival. As she gave away books and goodies, she also raised awareness among parents about The Library’s purpose and services.

“The traditional idea of a library is to go and get books,” she says. “However, you might have parents from other countries who aren’t aware of the variety of services that The Library has to offer.”

The Library complements traditional education and fills a vital need, adds Adusei, the veteran educator.

“With libraries, learning can be in a fun, nonthreatening setting,” she says. “There’s less pressure than you might typically have in traditional school.”

Volunteers also step up for special projects, such as stuffing 3,000 ready-for-kindergarten bags with learning activities or helping distribute curbside summer lunches, a popular offering during pandemic restrictions. Whatever they are doing, Fernsler makes sure the task is meaningful.

Ralph Vignati first volunteered around 2012 to give back for the educational opportunities he received. The Library was a natural fit because all libraries have been “a refuge for me to find books” in a career moving all around the East Coast as a manager of Kmart stores.

“You stick to what you know and what brings you pleasure,” he says.

“I’m a firm believer that if you can read, a whole bunch of things open up to you, and you can learn,’’ Vignati says. “If you learn, you can follow a better life. When you see the little kids come in The Library with their moms, or grandparent, or father, and they leave with a ton of books, you know that kid is on the right path.”

Through his volunteer work, Vignati performs the mundane tasks that free staff to maintain excellence in customer service, he says.

“The staff members all care, and they all watch out for each other,” he says. “It is an environment that’s giving. It’s an environment that’s comfortable. It’s an environment that does not put up any barriers or make judgments. Straight across the board, it’s equality.” 

Interested in volunteering? Visit the Volunteer Information page at dcls.org to learn about requirements and find an application.