It's a sad fact of life that no museum, library or archive ever has as much money, staff or institutional knowledge as they would like. Preserving documents is an expensive business unto itself. (That's one of the reasons that so many libraries and archives have taken Google up on the offer to digitize their collections.) There are never enough people to go around and catalog the collection and help field research requests, no matter how large the budget is for staffing. And even if you had a large number of staff in your facility, the subjects that railroad history covers are so broad that you would need scores of experts to be able to accurately respond to the many inquiries you receive.
Because of these restrictions, or rather facts of life, archivists and librarians who run these facilities are often very reliant on their volunteers. These volunteers very often get their posts via their own knowledge of railroad history or railroad technology. The benefit for many of these volunteers is that they get a better level of access to the items in the collection because they commit time to improving the institution and have shown that they are able and willing to respect the collection to a greater degree than the average patron. For the railroad researcher this usually means being able to spend a lot of quality time with the documents they are most interested in.
Now, the big hurdle for anyone is getting a volunteer posting. There's always a certain amount of "seasoning" that's doled out by the institution to make sure they are getting a committed volunteer and not just a daisy-picker who is volunteering in order to get enhanced access for their own agenda. Here are some things you need to keep in mind when you're looking to become a volunteer:
1.) Are you able and willing to commit the time to really be able to contribute to the overall improvement of your institution of choice? 30 minutes a week is probably not going to do much to help out. A day is better.
2.) Do you really care about this institution? There's a certain amount of passion required from volunteers. They are supposed to want to come out rain or shine and spend a day working in the institution for FREE. That's not to say you have to make it every day, but you have to be there and you have to care about doing a good job. If you can't motivate yourself to do the work, it's probably a good idea to just pass on the position.
3.) Be ready to have to do some menial jobs when you first get in. The fly by night volunteer is something that has burned volunteer coordinators in the past. (I'm making a special effort not to use the term "foamer", but I'm talking about people who want to play and not work.) One way to weed those people out is by giving out menial tasks to the new folks. The committed stay with it, the uncommitted tend to stop showing up. Think of it as your 30 day new hire period at your full time job.
4.) Spending some time talking with the archivist or librarian before you volunteer is always a good idea. First, this is the person who will be directing your work and will be responsible for your actions in the library. If there's not a good personality mix, it's probably a good idea to look somewhere else. It's also an excellent way to look for things that need to be done, the cataloging of a particular collection, digitization of photographs, a box of images that are unidentified, etc. If you can communicate your areas of expertise and come up with a project to utilize them to benefit the institution right away, that will go a long way towards helping you become a volunteer.
5.) Being a member of the institution or the institution's "friends of" group is also helpful. It shows you're willing to put your money where your mouth is.
6.) Don't be put off by a no. Some facilities just can't have volunteers working in the collection, it's not a judgment on you. If you get a no, accept it and still offer to help in any way you can. Getting indignant won't help your cause.
7.) If you are able to volunteer and can help at your institution, remember to use it for good. Don't abuse the privileges you are awarded by nature of your service. Volunteers have been shut out of institutions as a whole because a handful have abused the collection via their volunteer access. Don't let that happen. Remember that these resources cannot be replaced in many cases. By becoming a volunteer at a library or an archive you are taking on some responsibility for their protection.
Once you get your post, you are not truly in a position to trade your time an knowledge for the privilege of helping out the institution and getting a greater level of access to the collection. It is truly "something for something."
-Nick
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