Volunteer

Each year over 200 volunteers dedicate thousands of hours of their time in service to people with print disabilities at LAMP locations in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  These volunteers help people, in a myriad of ways, to access the printed word.    Here are some of the unique volunteer opportunities available at LAMP:

Narrate, Monitor or Edit Newly Recorded Books

Did you know that less than 10% of published works are ever made accessible?  At LAMP’s Pittsburgh location, we seek to change that by making books accessible in our recording studios.

Volunteer to Narrate: Audition to create audio books that primarily have some relation to Pennsylvania.   These books, recorded on site, are then edited by volunteers.

Volunteer to Monitor:  Read along with and coach while a book is being narrated.   Monitors ensure that books are recorded accurately,  as they are written.

Volunteer to Edit:  Once a book is narrated, utilize software to cleanup the recording by editing out imperfections.

Volunteer Quality Assurance Editors

The last step on the long road to making an audio book for our patrons is the process of the newly recorded and accessible title passing a quality assurance review.  If you have a perfectionist’s ear for finding mistakes and listening for the correct pronunciation of words (excepting Pittsburghese), then this may be the role for you.  Our QA editors listen to the entire book in real time and provide feedback to the recording studio staff so that we can ensure no book goes to the catalog without this final stamp of approval.  This work is done inside the LAMP’s Pittsburgh facility, but is also easily done remotely.  Please consider this role if you really love listening to audio books and providing constructive criticism to make sure all of our books are A plus.

Volunteer Cartridge and Container Second-Life Project

Perhaps you enjoy the zen-like satisfaction of doing a routine over and over again?  Perhaps you’d like to do this type of work individually, or as part of a small group?  For the past three years the LAMP has been involved in a massive effort to repurpose our digital collection of cartridges and containers to give them a new life and to save the library the cost of having to purchase new materials.  It’s simple work that brings a great return.  If you don’t mind the hands-on nature of stripping and relabeling literally millions of inventory items, then this is the perfect opportunity for you to help.  To date, at least half of our volunteer pool is involved in this role, with many years of work to do ahead of us.