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Community volunteers are building a library without tax dollars or government support in an unincorporated area with nearly 10,000 children/43,000 residents living in a 5-mile circle.  This is in Cleveland Township, Johnston County - 1 mile from the Wake County line, Garner.  Here are the tasks where volunteers serve in the life of a new book arriving. (*) marks the tasks with highest skill level and are the hardest to fill. Shifts are scheduled in 4 and 8 hours lengths.

1. Pull fiction books from random stock, use the computer to verify their proper shelf location, type the spine labels, add appropriate genre labels, tape over, and shelve. Do constant purge of duplicates to allow more titles on the shelves.
2. Use the computer to verify their proper shelf location of the children's books, type the spine labels, add appropriate genre labels, tape over, and shelve. Do not purge duplicates to allow more copies for story time and class projects.
3. Use volunteers to identify non-fiction books, which have Dewey Decimal numbers, and can be directly labeled and shelved.

The following categories have designated locations and partially or totally organized materials. CDs; DVDs; audio books; paperback fiction, science fiction/fantasy, mystery, and westerns; adult non-fiction Dewey Decimal; adult fiction; all young adult; adult reference; juvenile non-fiction; juvenile mystery; juvenile fiction; and easy read.

Whenever books are packed for moving or storage, volunteers must follow safety and good book care policies.

1. Volunteers working to increase the collection or in receiving should note these basic guidelines. The following are Not Recommended:
   • Children's pop-up books, odd shaped books, or sound chip books
   • Standard size print Reader's Digest Condensed Books
   • No magazines, including National Geographic
   • No health, medical, or diet books over 20 years after publication
   • Select textbooks only - if subject to material change not over 10 years
   • Computer books not over 10 years, unless software/hardware still in general use
   • No encyclopedias or almanacs older than what we already stock, always updating
   Recommended
   1. American Dream Starts @ Your Library - literacy services for adult English language learners
   2. Sort new donations into three categories. Category one is for rejects: magazines; books with broken spines, torn, ripped, moldy, water damaged, or with pages scribbled over. Put these in trash. NOTE: We made an agreement to accept books with marked book covers in order to eliminate the purchase costs of the books. We have the ability to clean most of the marked book covers and will shelve them. Category two is for materials the library is not currently shelving: coloring books; workbooks, puzzle books, books with sound chips, weird shapes, or animals sticking out of the cover. These should be priced for sale and put in the sales bins. Category three is for the keepers.
   3. Start preparing the keepers for shelving. Put a library identification label on the bottom of the back cover without covering any manufactuer's bar codes or ISBNs. Put a barcode on the inside of the back cover at the bottom and centered. If there is a book jacket, put the bar code on the left page instead. Tape the label to the book - tape must be slightly longer than the label and stuck down on both left and right sides. Use only one strip and exactly cover the label. VHS, DVD, and CDs get the address label on the back, at the bottom, and centered from left ot right, without covering any manufactuers bar code or ISBN. The bar code goes immediately above the address label and must be taped down. Go to Step 4.
   4. Sort the initially labeled materials: VHS video tapes and other media go into D96 for shelving. VHS are filed by height, then title. Tall VHS boxes go on the top tall shelves and are filed alphabetically by title. Normal boxes go on the lower shelves and are filed alphabetically by title. DVDs also go on the lower shelves and are filed alphabetically by title. CDs go on the lower shelves and are filed by artist's last name or group name. Mass market paperbacks may be placed on shelves in the center of D96. All hard cover and paperback trades may be placed in boxes and stacked in the lower bay without blocking any aisles, until they have their correct shelf labels. Only books with accurate and readable shelf labels, should be filed in their correct locations. Adult fiction and mystery go in the bookmobile, until the space is filled.
   5. When necessary, look books up in the electronic catalogs of other libraries as directed and get the filing information - mystery, romance, or Dewey Decimal number for the non-fiction, or children's age like Easy Read, Juvenile, or Young Adult.
   6. Once found, the appropriate information is printed inside the book, along with the last name of the author inside the front cover on the upper right corner. Sample book shelf labels
   7. Type the information from inside the front cover into a template for the spine labels.
   8. Add the spine label to the book. Labels go from left to right at the bottom of the spine on all adult books, but are turned sideways at the bottom of the spine for children's books - all ages and types, except on really thin books, the label may be placed on the bottom left of the front cover sideways. Genre labels, when appropriate go just above the labels and the special acid free book tape is then used to cover and protect them.
   9. When done, books should be shelved in the correct location. Sorting and shelving guide. Library organization. Fic and Non-Fic Test Volunteers qualified to shelve books
   10. Later, a specialist will build the collection catalog.