If you think students spend all their spare time avoiding studying, going out with their mates and having a good time then you'd be right. Well our student bloggers do anyway. While they assure us they don't slack on the study, they've got a lot to answer for when it comes to enjoying themselves while volunteering.

All | Emma | Olivia | Fiona | Sammy | Ashley | Rochelle | Tom | TomG | Harry

Saturday Mar 06, 2010

Actual work detail... Important?

Well, it's been a slow week at the shop, so I thought I should maybe take this opportunity to explain what I actually get up to in the bookshop on a regular shift - perhaps an important detail?

During each shift, there will be between 1 and 3 volunteers around, taking turns to tidy the bookshelves and displays; operate the till; and help customers search for specific books. This is the basic jist of what we do, though of course there's sometimes random other things (ie giving out free fairtrade fruit, advertising Charities Campaign events). Unfortunately we're often also left completely to our own devices with nothing to do in a spotless, organised, and completely deserted shop!

At the moment I also spend a fair bit of my time in the shop searching through our paper-based system of records and then contacting the people who we owe money to. As the seller gets their two thirds of the book selling price only once their book/books have sold, it can often be months before they receive any money back and so it is important for us to contact them as quickly as we can.

However, this is a bit difficult at the moment because, as I said before, everything's on bits of paper! Having been promised a shiny new database which should have been installed back in September for us to keep our records all tidy and up-to-date, we have been relying on a stop-gap paper system the whole year so far! By this system, we need to write down the code of every book we sell in a folder (and no, it is NOT helpful if we forget...) so that we can later look for these codes on the list of books we have from each seller and mark them as sold, at which point we can send out an email to inform the seller and offer them a cheque or cash payout.

As you can imagine, this leads to a bit of a backlog which we are really only just beginning to tackle properly, having resigned ourselves to the idea that the shiny new database may well not be operational until Septemer... (damned techies). 

Yes - I just wanted a jab at the dude who messed us around with this database.

Thankfully I've rounded up 6 other volunteers who are interested in helping me properly with Torchers, so I've named them as my lovely Torchers Team 2010! Next week should bring the first of our theme ideas following a pub meeting - you know that alcohol-fueled ideas are the best sort. Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 11:30 AM )
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Tuesday Feb 23, 2010

Happy Fairtrading!

Well it's Fairtrade Fortnight, and I thought I'd leave a quick note (barely a blog but hey it's nice to be up to date) to mention how Bookends have decided to celebrate. Simple idea really, over the course of the fortnight we decided to give away a piece of fairtrade fruit with every purchase made in the shop! This gives us a chance to promote fairtrade on campus, as well as boosting student health and our own position as a friendly little shop great idea I reckon!

I'll check back soon with more news on Torcher's, the big relocation, and general goings-ons... Fi.

 

Posted by Fiona ( 9:20 PM )
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Saturday Feb 20, 2010

Chugging along

So, we've been working away with the shop re-opened for a few weeks now and really things are going along as normal for the moment. Future plans are just beginning to take shape as we've been having more socials recently, and next year is beginning to loom over us.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'm currently working towards my MV awards for volunteering in the book shop. The part that surprised me is that I'm already well over half way to my 50 hour award! Most of the new volunteers in the shop are now signed up for the awards and I've found it really is encouraging lots of us to put in extra shifts at the book shop, which is itself has let us all work together more often, and to enjoy shifts more! I knew the scheme would help to encourage many people to work more hours when I first joined, but I had not even thought about the positive consequences it could also have on each of us as part of a team!

Also, I have not achieved much so far in organising our float for the upcoming Torcher's Parade on May 1st. On Thursday I put up a quickly sketched poster asking for help from my fellow volunteers, so hopefully by Monday I'll know of at least a couple of people who feel willing to help out with it all!

The Torcher's Float will require a lot of organisation, as we firstly need to decide on a theme, at which point we can choose what sort of float we want to go for (how big, covered or open air), before we get to work on the acual design, and put it all together! Of course, it may not exactly go to plan as we then have to put our designs into practice ourselves, with a combination of random bits of wood, cardboard, paint, glue and no doubt some glitter...it will be very much like a primary school end of year art project! I hope that plenty of people will offer to help, especially those who will be staying on in the book shop for next year, as it'll provide some brilliant team-bonding banter, and hopefully help us to raise a fair few pennies for charity!

Anyway, I don't have much to update on today, so I'll be quiet for now. Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 12:00 PM )
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Thursday Feb 04, 2010

First week back in action

Hi again!

Well, Aberdeen uni is finally onto the second semester of the academic year, after a nice long christmas break followed by a not so nice exam period. Now that we're properly back into classes and all of our volunteers have the free time again - Bookends has reopened for business!

Our first meeting of the semester was on Monday evening, where we discussed important issues such as the fact that our new database system has STILL not been installed (it was promised in September...) and of course, our upcoming socials! Unfortunately I'm missing the first of them which is tomorrow night, as I'm down in Edinburgh to see my long distance boyfriend instead...however, we're also having a pub quiz followed by who know what nonsense on Sunday which I will definitely be attending! The socials are a key part of the Bookends club, as it helps us to get to know each other and feel part of the team, even those members who only commit one hour a week - as we're all essential. I have to admit, regular socials was in fact one of the deciding factors making me join, as I wanted to do something which would also help me to meet like-minded people, and where I'd really feel involved.

Anyhoo, I thought I should let you in on my plans for what I'll be up to at Bookends this semester so here we go...

Firstly, I've signed up for the Millenium Volunteers Awards Scheme, which allows Scottish volunteers on certain projects to log the hours they've worked, and then earn awards for them in blocks of 50, 100, and 200 hours. A great addition to any CV, the awards encourage recognition of the hard work that volunteers do, and also help to encourage you to join new projects through advertising them on their site, and offering volunteers the chance to rack up more hours towards their awards (www.mvvolunteeringpassport.org.uk). 

Secondly, I've committed myself to a minimum of 4 hours per week now working at the shop, which I will try my best to stick to, and will probably often stay a little more!

Finally, and maybe most importantly, I've signed myself up as a member of the marketing team for Bookends. In this role I hope to become more involved in the Bookends family, and to improve our fundraising potential! This week I decided to decorate the shop with lovehearts and a raunchy display of books related to love and sexual themes in order to celebrate St. Valentine's Day coming up next Sunday, as something a little different for the customers - although I'm not too sure my History lecturer was too impressed when she came in!

Also I've thrown myself right into the deep end as I'm planning to head up our voluntary team for a Bookends float in the annual Torcher's Parade we have here in Aberdeen - the largest student torchlit parade in Europe! This is a massive event in the Aberdeen diary, especially for the Charities Campaign as it is our second highest fundraising event next to the Student Show. The Parade marks the end of Charities Fortnight, as you may have guessed this is the busiest fortnight of the year for our fundraising antics and is guaranteed to be a fun time! I've never taken part in the event before... So I'm not even sure where to start - but I promise to keep you updated!

Bye for now Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 8:00 PM )
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Monday Jan 25, 2010

More do-gooder activities...UK-stylee

Hello Hello!

Newcomer to the student blog, I'm Fiona, a friendly third year Cultural History and Sociology student from Fife, currently studying up North in Aberdeen.

For those of you who may have skimmed through the overseas blog, you may have come across my name before as I excitedly rambled on about my voluntary experience and travels in the beautiful country of Mexico. Well, as my travels came to an end, I vowed to myself that I would carry on and become more involved with voluntary work once I was back at Uni - and I did!

Unfortunately, due to money troubles, my first semester's efforts were not epic, as I struggled to get through coursework whilst holding down a heavy-going waitressing job. However, money troubles are now sorted (for the moment, fingers crossed and all that jazz!) so I can now shift my focus back on to spreading the love through voluntary work again. Awww.

So far, I have enrolled myself into the Aberdeen Charities Campaign, and have committed a few hours each week to our on-campus second-hand bookshop, Bookends. Run by around 20 enthusiastic student volunteers, the shop provides Aberdeen University with a great opportunity to raise money for the Charities Campaign through a simple process:

1. Students bring in old books (course-related especially, though we take all books), CDs and DVDs.

2. They then decide how much they are prepared to sell each item for.

3. Once sold, we inform the seller and they receive two thirds of the price, while we collect the other third as a donation to the Charities Campaign - simples!

Enough of my marketing, so far, I have maintained a loose contribution to the bookshop, which I hope to expand upon this semester, by working more hours, and working harder to improve publicity and the status of the bookshop, to maximise our charitable contribution. I also hope to get more involved in events organised in the name of charity in Aberdeen, which I hope you'll enjoy reading about as much as I'll enjoy doing them!

Anyway, I think that's enough of an introduction from me for now, I'll be back in touch once the actions on as for now, I have an exam to study for... Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 3:35 PM )
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