North Smithfield Public Library

Court Ordered Volunteer Policy

The North Smithfield Public Library accepts, on a limited basis, court ordered short-term community service volunteers referred by the court system or the North Smithfield Juvenile Hearing Board. The volunteer’s offense must be of a nonviolent and non-threatening nature. The youth must have a clear library card.

A variety of tasks may be assigned to respond to immediate needs that the library might have. Library activities may limit the number of volunteers that are accepted at one time. Volunteers may work with and may be supervised by any library staff member. Tasks may include work within the library such as shelving materials, preparing mailings, going to the post office, covering books, vacuuming, assisting the Friends of the Library with book sales and/or programs, changing light bulbs, processing materials, shifting collections, recycling activities, shelf-reading, inventory, packing and unpacking deliveries, preparing seasonal displays, table set-up. Exterior work may include building maintenance, window washing, painting, raking, pruning, trimming shrubbery, weeding, clearing and shoveling paths, removing nuisance vegetation on library grounds, parking lot and the library’s Centennial Park property. Inclement weather may alter tasks and schedules. Volunteers under eighteen may not use power equipment. Volunteers working out-of-doors may bring a walkman or other personal listening device to help pass the time. Proper attire for outdoor work includes sturdy footwear, gloves, long pants, and a long-sleeved shirt to protect the skin from sun, wind and poison ivy. All volunteers are expected to observe proper decorum while on library property and not entertain their peers during service hours. Limited cell phone use is permitted, but calls should not exceed two minutes in duration.

Be aware that staff time is involved in planning, scheduling, gathering work related equipment, verifying, supervising, demonstrating how jobs are to be performed, resetting security codes, and purchasing needed tools and equipment. The time spent on your court ordered community service is not only your time. Volunteers are expected to devote a minimum of two hours per week, arriving on time and ready to work. Notifying the library of changes in the fulfillment of time schedules is your obligation and demonstrates courtesy. Failure to make changes ahead of time either by phone or in person will not be tolerated. Two weeks of unauthorized absence will sever the library’s obligation to provide you an opportunity to fulfill your court ordered sentence.

Hours are to be recorded accurately and honestly on the calendar in the staff room. If you start work at 3:15 and work until 5:00 p.m., you have worked 1.75 hours, not 2 hours. Do not compound a court imposed sentence by cheating when recording your time. Time spent on coffee or lunch breaks are not to be counted as community service hours.

I understand the provisions presented and agree to abide by these provisions for my community service, which is to be completed by

 _____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________                     __________________________

Signature                                                                                                                                                  Date