Survey of hospital library managers' attitudes toward volunteers in Ontario hospital libraries

The purpose of the research was to learn more about the contribution of volunteers in hospital libraries and increase our understanding of the issues and challenges related to volunteers. An anonymous, self-report 38-item questionnaire was mailed to 89 Ontario hospital library managers. Findings revealed that volunteers were used in the majority of Ontario hospital libraries. Hospital library managers hold diverse attitudes toward volunteer use. Managers viewed volunteers positively regarding helping with the workload and providing assistance with routine clerical tasks. Volunteers were viewed negatively regarding staff time needed for supervision and training of volunteers. Volunteers were more likely to be used in libraries where managers believed the library staffing was inadequate and were less likely to be used in unionized libraries. A key difference between activities performed exclusively by hospital library volunteers and those performed exclusively by public library volunteers is the complexity of tasks undertaken by hospital library volunteers.