The Friends of the Library of Los Altos is made up entirely of volunteers. We think you will enjoy helping our community, too.

Join other book lovers in supporting the library with your time and effort. You can:

Process donated books

Fun for book lovers & get a first look at the books donated

Help at quarterly and pop-up book sales (See Home Page or right sidebar for dates)

Try one 3 hour shift and you'll be hooked

Support Internet sales (Amazon)

Pick a day and time that fits your schedule

Assist with in-library sales

Be the first to see the better books offered for sale

Staff the library cafe

Two hours per week would be a great help

Support us on social media

You can do this from home!

These are just some of the opportunities. Contact us to volunteer.

Process donated books

• Sort: Meet with other volunteers to sort and price donated books. Books are sorted into approximately 20 different subject categories.
• Transport:  During the week, box and transfer donated books a short distance from the Main Library to the Friends temporary workshed. 

Help at Book Sales

Many volunteers are needed to staff each quarterly book sale, including:

• Pre-sale set up (on the day preceding the sale): set up tables and arrange boxes of books by subject matter.
• During the sale: greet customers, keep displays restocked, be a cashier. Sale volunteers generally work 3 hour shifts.
• Clean up after the sale ends.

Support Internet sales

• Determine if donated books are suitable for listing on our Amazon store. Price and list suitable books.
• Monitor listed prices to maintain competitiveness.
• Check our Amazon store for incoming orders, then fulfill the orders by packing and mailing the books.

Assist with in-library sales

We offer hundreds of books for sale on the ‘Ongoing Sales’ shelves in the Main library and at Woodland Branch library.  Daily, volunteers refresh the stock on the shelves to be sure that the selection is current and attractively displayed.

Staff the library cafe

Cafe volunteers are currently just supplying and inventorying the food we offer, but we hope to add more staffing during library hours. The volunteers enjoy interacting with customers, meeting friends, and watching children grow up.

Currently:

• Morning volunteers arrive around 9 or 9:30 to make coffee and set out food..
• Mid-day volunteers count self-service proceeds, and/or close the cafe as needed.

We hope, in the future to staff the cafe during after school hours, but are not doing so at the moment.

Support the Friends on social media

We have a Facebook page to help us be engaged with all the members of the Los Altos community. If you are already on the computer and on Facebook, this might suit you. And you can do this from home! We'd also like Next Door members to get the word out about the Ongoing Sales and the online Bookshelf.

Please contact us to volunteer.