Taipei Public Library

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I. Mission
This description of voluntary services at the Taipei Public Library has been especially established with the aim to (1) utilize human resources in the society to a fuller extent, (2) to effectively promote our library services, and (3) to provide an opportunity for the citizens of Taipei to contribute the knowledge and expertise of the person by participating in volunteer work at the Library.

II. Terms of Service
The service items of the volunteering personnel (hereafter referred to as volunteer) at the Taipei Public Library are divided into the following categories, according to the properties of work duty:

A. Circulation and Reference Services: Assistance in the circulation of borrowed and returned materials at the Information Counter, and simple reference consultations to our patrons.
B. Processing and arrangement of materials: Assistance in processing, mending, reshelving and rearrangement of book materials; binding of back issues of periodicals, and file management of electronic data.
C. Support to library activities: Assistance in the various activities carried out by our Extension Services, including the following: Decoration, arrangement and supervision of activity venues, production of decorative art and craft, photography, document and materials delivery, and library tour guidance.
D. Maintenance of facilities: Repair of electrical appliances and wooden interiors, replacement of lamp tubes, and transport of various bulk materials.
E. Services for the visually impaired: Assistance in proofreading and reading aloud services, voice recording of texts, and word processing of Chinese characters at the Qiming Branch Library.
F. General administrative services: Assistance in contacting volunteers, data filing and upgrading of volunteer information.
G. Storytelling activities: Volunteering in storytelling and introducing quality reading materials to children during the Library’s storytelling hours.
H. Guidance to Reading Club sessions: Conducting reading club sessions for children through guidance in discussions and sharing of ideas, in order to heighten the children’s interests in reading.

I. Volunteers in Guidance to Reading: Conducting reading guidance sessions through which participants learn together by means of recitation, discussion and composition of afterthoughts upon reading, in order to capture the interests of our readers.

III. Contents of Service by Volunteer Types

A. Regular Volunteers: Circulation and reference services, arrangement of materials, support to library activities, maintenance of library facilities, and general administration.
B. Storytelling Volunteers: Storytelling activities in Chinese.
C. English-speaking Volunteers: Storytelling, guidance to reading, and Reading Club activities in English.
D. Volunteers for the Visually Impaired: The various services provided to patrons who are visually handicapped.
E. Volunteers in the Promotion of Reading: Conducting Reading Club and reading guidance sessions, and guided library tours.
F. Mobile Consultant Volunteers: Providing immediate consultation services to patrons by being mobile in the library, not fixed in one single location.
G. Volunteers for Multicultural Information: Providing information services for resident aliens from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar and Korea, among other countries. Targeting at the respective languages,work content includes data filing of book materials, translation of documents, and assistance in general administration.

IV. Minimum Requirement and Conversion of Service Hours

A. The Library assigns suitable hours and work contents to volunteers according to their will in regard to the nature of the work and the actual requirements of the library.
B. Due to the special demands in certain sectors at our Library, a minimal service hour requirement is established for all volunteer work:

1. Regular Volunteers, Volunteers for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteers and Volunteers for Multicultural Information: 72 hours per year.
2. Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English, and Promotion of Reading: Shifts are assigned in advance, according to actual needs of the Library.

C. Conversion

1. For volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English, and Promotion of Reading, each session of volunteer service is converted to a three-hour period unit.
2. Qiming Branch Volunteers: Every 1,800 Chinese characters is converted into one hour of work for word processing volunteers, and 20 minutes of recorded materials as one hour of work for voice recording volunteers working at home.

V. Locations
Work locations include all sectors at the Main Library, Branch Libraries and Neighborhood Reading Rooms.

VI. Requirements for Admission

A. Our volunteers must be in normal physical and mental health, and willing to actively serve the public. Applicants must be law-abiding citizens without improper behaviors or habits.
B. Due to the special demands in our certain sectors, requirements for admission are otherwise established for the following types of volunteers:

1. Voice recording volunteers at the Qiming Branch must first pass a voice test.
2. Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English, and Children’s Reading Clubs must be above 18 years of age. It is desired for our applicants to have a clear voice, and enjoys reading, storytelling, discussing and interacting with children. Applicants must complete a training course and pass the subsequent screening examination.

C. Improper behavior at the workplace that hampers the normal processing of library affairs or causes dishonor to the Library may result in punishment or expulsion, according to the situation.

VII. Recruitment Process

A. Recruitment

1. Application to become a Regular Volunteer, Volunteer for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteer, Volunteer for Multicultural Information or the Volunteer for Promotion of Reading is open at all times, or otherwise the announcements for further recruitments are made according to actual situational needs.
2. Applications to become volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English, Children’s Reading Clubs and Mobile Consultant Volunteers are announced on a regular basis, and uniformly processed by the Main Library.

B. Selection

1. An in-person interview is carried out by the commissioning sector at our Library in the process of admitting Regular Volunteer, Volunteer for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteer, Volunteer for Multicultural Information or Volunteer for Promotion of Reading applicants.
2. Applications to become volunteers in Storytelling and Spoken English are uniformly processed by the Main Library.

C. Trial Period and Internship

1. All accepted applicants at all sectors of the Main Library and the Branch Libraries must endure a trial period of twelve hours upon passing the interview.
2. The internship courses and course length for volunteers in Storytelling and Spoken English are otherwise announced.

D. Initiation of Service
Upon confirmation by the supervisor of the commissioning sector after the trial period, a Certificate of Volunteer Services is issued and assignment of work duties is initiated. In addition, a Certificate of Enrollment is issued to accepted volunteers in Storytelling and Spoken English.

E. Supervision and Evaluation
The commissioning sector is responsible of supervising and evaluating our volunteers, which includes the assignment of work duties, logging of work content and attendance hours, evaluation of work attitude, knowledge and abilities, continual of enrollment, and rewards.

VIII. Educational Training

A. Basic Training: The Extension Section at our Library holds basic training classes on a regular basis.
B. Specialized Training: Based on the respective needs of the various sectors at the Main Library and all Branch Libraries, the specialized training sessions are carried out individually or entrusted by the Extension Section upon presenting a thorough proposal of schemes.

IX. Rights

A. Volunteers must receive adequate educational training in order to serve at the respective quarters.
B. Volunteers must treat all others equally without prejudice, and respect the freedom, dignity, privacy and beliefs of others.
C. Work duties can only be carried out upon the confirmation of satisfactory sanitary and safety conditions according to the nature and special demands of the task.
D. Complete information in regard to the task at hand is received.
E. Participation in the planning, designing, executing and evaluating of the volunteer task is allowed.
F. All volunteer services are contributed without returning wages. However, a supplementary dining and transportation fee is granted to our volunteers according to the expenditure budgets of the Library:

1. For each consecutive three-hour service period within a workday, one unit of supplementary dining and transportation fee is granted.
2. For volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English and Promotion of Reading, one unit of supplementary dining and transportation fee is granted upon each session of service.

G. Total time spent in trial periods, internship and service hours are logged and cumulatively calculated.
H. Volunteers enjoy the equal amount of rights to borrow books and other materials at the Library as other official personnel do.
I. Volunteers are welcome to join the social events arranged by the Library.
J. Volunteers are to proceed to join the Occupational Casualty Insurance for Volunteer Workers through the Library according to the Volunteer Service Act.

X. Obligations

A. Volunteers must abide to the societal rules set by common morals and ethics.
B. Volunteers must abide to the stipulations constituted by the Library.
C. Volunteers must participate in the educational trainings provided by the Library.
D. The Certificates of Volunteer Service and work duty records must be carefully kept, and any form of unauthorized use, including borrowing, transferring or copying, is strictly prohibited.
E. The rights of the patrons must be thoroughly respected upon providing services to them.
F. The information obtained in the process of service must be strictly kept in secrecy.
G. Requests for any reward from patrons for volunteer service must be refrained.
H. All usable resources provided by the Library must be handled with care.
I. Regulations in regard to volunteer services and daily workplace arrival and departure must be thoroughly obeyed.
J. For any personal reason that the initiation of volunteer service must be postponed to a later date, a statement of deferral is required in order to keep the post of employment. If absence made without prior notification exceeds three times, or if the deferral period exceeds three months, the qualifications for volunteer service are automatically revoked.
K. The Certificate of Volunteer Service must be returned to the Library upon the termination of service employment.

XI. Legal Responsibilities
The volunteer is responsible to compensate to the Library for any detriment caused by unintentional or accidental violation of rights of others during service, in which a resultant compensation is made from the Library to the violated party.

XII. Rewards

A. Upon the completion of volunteer service up to one full year, during which the service hours have accumulated to exceed 150 hours, the volunteer may apply for recognition of service achievements. In addition, a Certificate of Achievements in Volunteer Service is issued to the applicant.

1. Requests for a Record of Volunteer Service and relevant documents can be made for legitimate reasons such as studying, continuing education, further employment or any other reason of adequacy.
2. The aforementioned documents will be issued to the applicant upon a thorough evaluation and inspection of work duties by the respective supervisors, representative agents of duty, or superintendents of sector.

B. Volunteers whose service time exceeds 3,000 hours and holds a Certificate of Achievement in Volunteer Service may apply for a Certificate of Reward of Merit, along with presenting relevant documents before the end of July every year. The awarding of the commemorative medal and a certificate of the same rank is limited to only one recipient at a time. The ranks of merit are as follows:

1. Volunteer exceeding 3,000 hours of service receives a Bronze Medal and a Certificate,
2. Volunteer exceeding 5,000 hours of service receives a Silver Medal and a Certificate, and
3. Volunteer exceeding 8,000 hours of service receives a Gold Medal and a Certificate.

C. Volunteers exceeding 300 hours of service and having completed a full three-year period of work experience may apply for a Certificate of Honor in Voluntary Service upon presenting two 1.5-inch portrait photos, a photocopy of the Record of Volunteer Service and other relevant materials to the Department of Social Welfare, Taipei City Government. The Certificate of Honor is valid for three years, and renewal is allowed upon presenting relevant documents after expiration. However, the numbers of service years and service hours cannot be repeatedly calculated upon renewal.
D. Volunteers whose performance is of excellent standing are nominated to external institutions to receive honorable mentions, or for participation in seminars or practicum.

XIII. Honorable Mentions

A. The Awards of Seniority in Services are divided into three categories:

1. The First Class Award of Seniority in Services
Along with a Certificate of Testimonial, the award is presented to volunteers having completed the basic trainings and served for a consecutive ten-year period, in addition to having accumulated service hours up to the awarding standards of the Library, upon evaluation and nomination by the respective sector.

a. Regular Volunteers, Volunteers for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteers and Volunteers for Multicultural Information whose cumulative service time has exceeded 500 hours are eligible for receiving the award.
b. Also eligible are Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English and Promotion of Reading whose cumulative service time has exceeded 300 hours.

2. The Second Class Award of Seniority in Services
This award is presented along with a Certificate of Testimonial to volunteers having completed the basic trainings and served for a consecutive six-year period, in addition to having accumulated service hours up to the awarding standards of the Library, upon evaluation and nomination by the respective sector.

a. Regular Volunteers, Volunteers for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteers and Volunteers for Multicultural Information whose cumulative service time has exceeded 300 hours are eligible for receiving the award.
b. Also eligible are Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English and Promotion of Reading whose cumulative service time has exceeded 180 hours.

3. The Third Class Award of Seniority in Services
Along with a Certificate of Testimonial, the award is presented to volunteers having completed the basic trainings and served for a consecutive three-year period, in addition to having accumulated service hours up to the awarding standards of the Library, upon evaluation and nomination by the respective sector.

a. Regular Volunteers and Mobile Consultant Volunteers whose cumulative service time has exceeded 150 hours are eligible for receiving the award.
b. Also eligible are Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English and Reading Club whose cumulative service time has exceeded 90 hours.

B. Award for Exceptional Contribution
This award is presented along with a Certificate of Testimonial to volunteers who have completed the basic trainings and whose cumulative service hours have reached the yearly awarding standards as stipulated by the Library, in addition to having demonstrated an active, vigorous attitude towards work duties and with real contributions and achievements. Volunteers are awarded upon the evaluation and nomination by the respective sector, and are subject to honorable mentions.

1. Regular Volunteers, Volunteers for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteers and Volunteers for Multicultural Information whose cumulative service time has exceeded 144 hours are eligible for receiving the award.
2. Also eligible are Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English and Promotion of Reading whose cumulative service time has exceeded 54 hours.

C. Award for Arduous Services
This award is presented along with a Certificate of Testimonial to volunteers who have completed the basic trainings, worked for one full year and whose cumulative service hours have reached the awarding standards as stipulated by the Library, in addition to showing no records of improper behavior. Volunteers are awarded upon the evaluation and nomination by the respective sector, and are subject to honorable mentions.

1. Regular Volunteers, Volunteers for the Visually Impaired, Mobile Consultant Volunteers and Volunteers for Multicultural Information whose cumulative service time has exceeded 144 hours are eligible for receiving the award.
2. Also eligible are Volunteers in Storytelling, Spoken English and Promotion of Reading whose cumulative service time has exceeded 54 hours.

XIII. The provisions as stipulated by the aforementioned Description of Volunteer Services and Rewards are promulgated, implemented and revised upon legislation at the Executive Meeting of the Taipei Public Library.