SRRT Volunteer Opportunities

The Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) has several volunteer opportunities open to SRRT members!

The committees are open to all, regardless of SRRT experience. Committee appointments are for two years and can be renewed. For more information, please see the descriptions below. To volunteer for a committee, please email April Sheppard at banhatenotbooks@gmail.com.

Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award Committee | Conference Travel Grants Committee | Programming Committee | Social Media & Web Committee | Other

Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice & Equality Committee

The Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice & Equality was established by SRRT to recognize an individual for outstanding leadership in promoting social justice and/or equality within the library profession. Leadership can be demonstrated by accomplishments through the Social Responsibilities Round Table or other ALA bodies, socially responsible groups within state, provincial, regional, or city library organizations, and/or international library organizations. One award of $2,000 is given out per year.

Committee members will review the award website, draft a call for nominations, review applications, and select a winner.

Time commitment is 1-2 hours in November, 1-2 hours in December, and up to 6 hours in January depending on the number of applicants.

SRRT Conference Travel Grants Committee

The Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) recognizes that SRRT members and leaders play a critical role in the efficacy of the round table, including the ability to successfully carry out the mission of the task forces, to engage new members, and to run the meetings at ALA Annual. To help members participate, the SRRT Conference Travel Grant was launched to help SRRT members attend either in-person or virtual attendance at the ALA Annual Conference. The $1000 award covers limited fees related to airfare, lodging, and conference registration. Up to two awards will be funded per year.

Committee members will review the award website, draft a call for applicants, review applications, and select a winner(s).

Time commitment is 1-2 hours in November, 1-2 hours in December, and up to 6 hours in January depending on the number of applicants.

Programming Committee

This new committee has been created to develop, promote, and implement SRRT's programming activities, including our annual Afternoon of Social Justice virtual event. Other possible events may include virtual summits or conferences such as our 2022 Homelessness Summit or one-shot or monthly webinars. Committee members may also help plan in-person events at future conferences.

Committee members will work with SRRT Action Council to develop a process for creating and approving SRRT programming. In addition, committee members will help put together the 2023 Afternoon of Social Justice event including finding speakers, scheduling presentations, and promotion.

Time commitment will be ongoing and dependent upon number of programs planned, length/size of programs, and how soon programs will occur. It is likely that committee work will cluster around events and vary throughout the year.

Social Media & Web Committee

This new committee formalizes the ad-hoc work that has been done by volunteer SRRT members working on SRRT's website and Facebook account. Committee members can work on both social media and the website or just one area. HTML experience is not necessary to help maintain the SRRT website and training will be provided. If we receive a large number of volunteers, this committee could be split with the approval of committee members.

Committee members working on the web aspect will maintain SRRT's website, create new web content as needed, and evaluate the usability and navigation of the site as needed or permitted. Committee members working on social media will evaluate our current social media channels, develop a social media plan, schedule new posts, and interact with site visitors and other library organizations on behalf of SRRT.

Time commitment will be ongoing and may vary.

To volunteer for a committee, please email SRRT Coordinator April Sheppard at banhatenotbooks@gmail.com.

Other ways to volunteer:

Feminist Task Force – Provides feminist perspectives on issues related to libraries and librarianship. This group maintains the Feminist discussion group and the Rise: Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 book list.
Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday Task Force – Supports and advances the observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday as an American celebration. One of the big activities of this task force is the MLK Sunrise Celebration at LLX. Conservations for the January 2024 have just begun.
International Responsibilities Task Force – Advocates socially responsible positions on issues of international library concern. One of their recent activities has been tracking anti-boycott legislation.
Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force – Fosters greater awareness of the dimensions, causes, and ways to end hunger, homelessness, and poverty. They maintain the HHPTF blog and I believe they are interested in starting a podcast.
Membership Committee - This committee welcomes new members, keeps tracks of our membership statistics, and looks for ways to increase membership.
Emerging Leaders Selection Committee - Selects the SRRT Emerging Leader. Work normally takes place in early Fall/late Summer.
SRRT Newsletter Editorial Board – Puts together the newsletter four times a year.

In addition to the above activities, SRRT members are also welcomed and encouraged to help develop new activities and task forces. It only takes 10 members to start a task force and there's quite a bit of flexibility on the theme of the task force since social responsibilities cover so much area. For example, we currently have a member working on developing a new task force on aging.

If any of these things are of interest, please feel free to reach out to April Sheppard at banhatenotbooks@gmail.com.