This is the first study undertaken into the way in which voluntary workers, untrained in information skills and working in community information services, collect, organise and use the information they provide to assist clients needing it for their day-to-day survival. The study is placed in perspective through a survey of the literature relating to community information services. This is supplemented by a study of documents relating to the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau. Data was collected by means of participant observation at the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau and interviews with voluntary workers in the Bureau. Analysis of the data was carried out according to the grounded theory approach. It was found that untrained volunteers creating information storage and retrieval tools for use by their fellow volunteers, work without a knowledge of information storage and retrieval theory. They tend to make ad hoc decisions and create tools that are not as user-friendly as they could be with some background in the theory of information science. On the other hand, volunteers searching for information make the same kind of demands of the information storage and retrieval system they use as do professional and scientific information users, in that they want direct access to as much relevant information as possible in one place. They want the information repackaged in a manner to suit their purpose. When under pressure, they are reluctant to consult multiple information storage and retrieval tools not within easy reach. The study culminates in a number of recommendations for the improvement of the service of the Pretoria Citizens' Advice Bureau in particular. Recommendations are also put forward for a centralised computerised database providing processed information to community information services in South Africa. Some suggestions are made concerning education and training of volunteers and professional information workers with a view to providing a better understanding of community information services. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil.

Recent years have brought the private and non-profit sectors closer together in terms of cross-sectional collaborations. As businesses have become more involved in communities, initiatives such as employee volunteering (EV)—where employees are encouraged to volunteer by their employers—are becoming more popular and are receiving more scholarly attention. However, the question still remains as to whether the main reasons behind cooperation are related to strategy: does interaction and communication in EV mirror a more ideal- or strategic approach? As EV programmes (EVPs) bring together actors with different world-views and perspectives, much can be learned from studying their interaction. The present study examined the nature of communication in EV and whether this communication reflects a strategic (based on self-interest) or ideal (corresponding to Habermas’s ideal speech situation and stakeholder dialogue) approach. In addition, the study looked at factors that, according to participants, facilitate improved communication and understanding in EV. The findings indicate that communication in EVPs largely reflected the strategic approach. However, the ideal approach is still apparent in some situations and can successfully be used given the right conditions--for example, in situations of long-term collaboration with increased experience when participants invest time, resources and motivation in building relationships. Time and honesty was also important factors. However, a range of barriers made collaboration more difficult. Pursuit of strategic short-term solutions and shortage of resources and time may hinder important dialogue and understanding.

Cooperation between the volunteer, the client and o. s. Lata - Programy pro ohroženou mládež Abstract: The thesis deals with issues of a voluntary work on field of programmes focused on working with threatened children, adolescents and young adults by form one to one. It's focused on a mentors project running by the citizens' association LATA - Programmes for Threatened Adolescents. It pays attention especially to factors, which can influence the relationship between a volunteer, a client and an organization. It follows up mainly involved volunteers, it puts an aim to description of ways, how the volunteers percieve their work with clients and their organization. Research part of the thesis is focused on analysis of volunteers' statements and has an ambition to catch and reveal important factors, which affect their activities in the organization. This thesis conducts a survey, what motivation and aim the volunteers have, how they percieve their relationships with clients, what helps them to maintain a mentoring role and how they percieve at all the organization they work in

Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht das soziale Phänomen Volunteering in der sozialen Institution Public Library mit konkretem Bezug auf die Gegebenheiten in den USA. Die Behandlung des Themas erfolgt auf der Basis von Quellen sowie den Ergebnissen einer qualitativen Untersuchung. Zunächst werden die historischen Hintergründe von Volunteering und Philanthropie in den Vereinigten Staaten sowie die Entwicklungsgeschichte der US Public Libraries beschrieben und diskutiert. Zwischen beiden Phänomenen werden Zusammenhänge aufgezeigt. In diesem Kontext wird auch die Rolle Andrew Carnegies herausgearbeitet. Des Weiteren werden der gegenwärtige Stand der Freiwilligenforschung mit den Schwerpunkten Motivation und Volunteer-Management sowie das Wirken von Volunteers in US Public Libraries unter politischen, soziologischen und administrativen Gesichtspunkten erörtert. In Auswertung der qualitativen Untersuchung, die eine Kombination aus Feldforschung und problemzentrierten Interviews – durchgeführt in insgesamt 31 Public Libraries in elf US-Bundesstaaten – darstellt, werden eine Reihe von Erkenntnissen gewonnen, die unter anderem Rückschlüsse auf die Bibliotheksspezifik von Volunteering – insbesondere in Hinsicht auf die Motivation zur Freiwilligenarbeit sowie dem Volunteer-Management – ermöglichen. / This thesis describes the social phenomenon of volunteering in the public library as a social institution, focused on the situation in the United States of America. The paper is based on a literature review and on findings of a qualitative study. After discussing the history of volunteering, philanthropy, the American public library, and Andrew Carnegie’s role, there will be a review on research on volunteerism. Thereby, the focus is laid upon aspects of volunteer motivation as well as volunteer management in the US in general and particular in libraries. Furthermore, a compilation and interpretation of library volunteer coordinators’ materials, manuals, and reports will be presented. The results of the qualitative study which is based on a combination of field research and problem-centered interviews – held in 31 public libraries in eleven US states – will be discussed in detail. Among others, the results lead to the conclusion that – especially concerning several motivational and management aspects – public library volunteering is quite specific in comparison to volunteer work in other facilities and institutions.

Research was undertaken for this thesis to uncover characteristics of resilient volunteers and stewardship groups, both of which are a major element of the social mobilisation strategy used in Australia to manage natural resources. The ability of volunteers and groups to overcome problems, deal with new issues as they arise, and keep going under pressure is termed 'resilience'. A 'resilience management' approach to natural resource management uses the idea of 'adaptive change' or panarchy to understand the development of resilience and thus, sustainability in human communities. According to this theory, sustainable communities are both changeable and stable, adapting to new situations as they arise. The research approach used in the study is called 'phenomenography'. It is an interpretive approach, based on the central assumption that there is variation in the ways in which people experience the same phenomenon. Phenomenography was used to see if lessons about resilience and sustainability could be learnt from catchment volunteers. All participants were 'catchment volunteers' working along the east coast of Queensland. They were drawn from a variety of organisations and programs including Landcare; Coastcare; Bushcare; Greening Australia; Waterwatch; treeplanting groups; and Integrated Catchment Management Committees. A total of 26 personal and group interviews involving 85 participants were conducted. Interviews comprised a series of semi-structured questions that were tape-recorded, then transcribed verbatim. Through a process of comparing and contrasting themes in the transcriptions, six conceptions emerged. These were: catchment volunteering was experienced as seeking and maintaining balance; developing/maintaining an identity; empowerment; learning; networking; and sustainable. Analysis of these themes was used to develop a model of catchment volunteer experiences depicting relationships between conceptions (termed the 'Outcome Space' in phenomenography). In this study the Outcome Space emerged as a set of scales, signifying the importance of keeping a balanced perspective on volunteering - a balance between things such as personal goals and organisational goals; between dedication to an unpaid vocation and family life; and between social benefits and environmental benefits. From the Outcome Space, several conceptual and practical outcomes were developed. These included: a typology of participation based on volunteer experiences; a table describing forms of empowerment in catchment volunteering; a table listing drivers for catchment volunteers; an illustration of Holling and Gunderson's adaptive cycle as it applies to stewardship groups; a table of factors that enhance the resilience and sustainability of stewardship groups; a model of the relationship between external pressures and resilient, sustainable stewardship groups; and guidelines for developing resilient sustainable stewardship groups. These outcomes contribute to an understanding of individual, group and community level responses to environmental issues; and how resilience can be developed in volunteers and stewardship groups and programs.

Disertacijoje yra analizuojami šiuolaikiniai visuomenės įtikinėjimo procesai ir teigiama, kad šiuolaikinės informacinės kampanijos, orientuotos į pozityvių pokyčių skatinimą visuomenėse, neturi siekti konstruoti tvirtų identitetų ir nekintančių socialinių nuostatų, nes tokio pobūdžio įtikinėjimas yra susijęs su masių visuomenei būdingais informacijos vartojimo būdais ir nebeatitinka šiandieninio mobilaus, atviro pokyčiams individo poreikių. Disertacijoje siekiama įrodyti, kad šiuolaikinės pozityviojo visuomenės įtikinėjimo kampanijos turi būti paremtos silpnuoju tinkliniu įtikinėjimu; darbe toks įtikinėjimo būdas yra konceptualizuojamas, pasiūlomas tinklinio silpnojo visuomenės įtikinėjimo modelis ir aprašomas jo veikimas. Šis modelis pristatomas kaip praktinis ir analitinis instrumentas, galintis padėti organizuoti komunikacines pozityvių socialinių pokyčių programas bei jas tirti. Teorinės ir metodologinės disertacijos idėjos yra patikrinamos atliekant 2011 m. Lietuvoje vykusio savanoriškos veiklos populiarinimo, susieto su tuo metu visoje Europos Sąjungoje vykusiais Europos savanoriškos veiklos metais, analizę, savanorystės idėjų sklaidą šalyje vertinant kaip pozityvių visuomenės pokyčių skatinimo programą. Remiantis kritinės diskurso analizės ir socialinio tinklo analizės tyrimo technikomis, yra įvertinama savanoriškos veiklos populiarinimo akcijų turinys bei organizacinės jų kūrimo formos tinklinio silpnojo visuomenės įtikinėjimo modelio požiūriu. Darbas gali būti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Contemporary society persuasion processes are analysed in the Dissertation and it is stated that the contemporary informational campaigns, oriented towards the encouragement of positive processes within societies, should not seek for the construction of solid identities and not changing social provisions, because the persuasion of such type is linked with ways of the information consumption, characteristic to society of masses and does not correspond to contemporary needs of the mobile individual, open for changes. It is strived to prove in the Dissertation that contemporary campaigns of the positive society persuasion should be based on the soft networked persuasion; such way of persuasion in the Work is conceptualised; the model of the soft networked society persuasion is presented and its operation is described. This model is introduced as the practical and analytical instrument able to help organising the communicative programmes of positive social changes as well as to analyse them. Theoretical and methodological ideas of Dissertation are verified by implementing analysis of the voluntary activity promotion that took place in Lithuania in 2011, linked with the Year of European Voluntary Activities Promoting of the European Union, assessing the spread of ideas of volunteering in the country as the programme for promoting positive changes within the society. Under research techniques of the critical discourse analysis and social network analysis, the content of voluntary... [to full text]

In Deutschland ist jeder Dritte in irgendeiner Form ehrenamtlich tätig – sei es im Betriebsrat, als Mitglied der freiwilligen Feuerwehr, in einem gemeinnützigen Verein oder als engagierter Einzelbürger. Ohne diese auch Freiwilligenarbeit genannte Tätigkeit würden große Teile des öffentlichen Lebens gar nicht mehr oder nur noch rudimentär existieren. In diesem Kontext soll die Situation in kleineren sächsischen Bibliotheken beleuchtet werden.

Wie eine aktuelle Umfrage des Deutschen Bibliotheksverbands erst jüngst wieder gezeigt hat, ist das Thema „Ehrenamt“ bis heute weitgehend eines der Öffentlichen Bibliotheken geblieben. Nahezu 70 % der über 80.000 ehrenamtlich tätigen Personen unterstützen kirchliche, 30 % kommunale Bibliotheken. Aus dem Bereich der Wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken konnten bundesweit nur 12 Einrichtungen zu der Umfrage beitragen (Rainer Sprengel, Bibliothek und Ehrenamt, Berlin 2011). Der typische ehrenamtlich Aktive arbeitet in kleinen und mittleren Einrichtungen im ländlichen Raum. Daneben ist ein West-Ost-Gefälle bemerkbar. Während in den alten Bundesländern ehrenamtliche Unterstützung inzwischen fast die Regel zu sein scheint, sind die neuen Bundesländer mit ihrer besonderen historischen Tradition eines dichten öffentlich finanzierten Bibliotheksnetzes noch unterproportional beteiligt.

Seit Ende 2009 beschäftigt die SLUB Dresden 17 ehrenamtliche Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter. Die Ehrenamtlichen unterstützen das Haus in verschieden Bereichen, wie zum Beispiel bei Bibliotheksführungen, der Erschließung von Sonderbeständen und Strukturdatenerfassung für digitalisierte Bestände. Um wichtige Handlungsfelder der Bibliothek zu vermitteln sowie persönliche Erfahrungen und Anliegen der Ehrenamtlichen auszutauschen, trafen sich die Generaldirektion und die Ehrenamtlichen im April 2010 zu einem ersten Jahresgespräch.

New Zealand’s First World War studies have traditionally focused on the soldier and battlefield experiences. ‘The Rural Home Front’ breaks with that tradition and focuses on the lives of people and the local communities that the soldiers left behind in the predominantly rural region of Taranaki in New Zealand. ‘The Rural Home Front’ is essentially a study of the impact and effects of the First World War on rural society. By focusing on topics and themes such as ‘war enthusiasm’, the voluntary spirit of fund raising and recruiting, conscription, attempting to maintain normality during wartime, responses to war deaths, the influenza epidemic, the Armistice and the need to remember, this thesis argues that civilians experienced the Great War, too, albeit differently from that of the soldiers serving overseas.