Hollister – After spending many hours trolling the library for books, Jillian Wilson decided to volunteer by shelving books so she could use her skills to help others.
An avid consumer of literature, Wilson, 30, began volunteering at the San Benito County Free Library in February. Because of a deep-set belief in the importance of volunteerism – and she already had spent so much of her free time at the library – she agreed to help to fill some of those hours.
“I had two kids at school full time and I was finding my days were very empty,” Wilson said. “I was at the library one day checking out books, and I thought, ‘Hey, I could volunteer here – I spend a lot of time here.'”
Wilson initially agreed to volunteer one day a week for three hours shelving books. But she found herself spending many of her free days at the library as well – answering questions and helping customers.
This week, she started tutoring students twice a week with the Homework Club. She said she’s hoping to pass her knowledge on to children as well.
“I’m hoping that we can help kids learn that the library is a wonderful resource for homework,” Wilson said. “With the Internet and the availability of information on the Web, people don’t realize that the library is still the No.1 place to get information.”
Passing on information and a love for literature and the library was part of the strong appeal of volunteering for Wilson.
“It’s nice. Because I do read so much, it’s nice to share that knowledge with someone,” Wilson said. “I hope that my love of reading is infectious and I can pass that on to other people.”
Wilson hopes to turn this passion into a full-time job. She recently decided she wanted to go back to school to become a librarian.
She started attending San Jose State University for a masters program in library science.
“I spend so much time here reading and getting books, within the past year I realized that that’s really what I want to do for a living,” Wilson said.
With her love of books, it seems a library would be an obvious place for Wilson to volunteer and eventually work. But sometimes it can get her into trouble when she’s shelving books.
She calls this the “hazard of shelving” and explains that while she is putting the books away, she gets sucked into looking at the covers and tempted to read many of them.
“I end up leaving with 10 more books,” Wilson said.
