The Oklahoma Museums Association encourages museums to recognize their volunteers the week of April 27-May 3! A majority of Oklahoma museums rely on selfless individuals to keep the doors open and delivering programs. Volunteers serve in many capacities in Oklahoma museums as docents, visitor service representatives, tour guides, education program assistants, collections assistants, receptionists and much more. As best said by anthropologist Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Thank you to the many volunteers for giving of yourself and making a difference for Oklahoma museums.

OMA offers technical bulletin #45 (2007) on Museum Volunteer Programs by Robbin Davis, Oklahoma History Center.  The technical bulletin can be ordered at http://www.okmuseums.org/uploads/documents/TechBullOrderForm.doc.  The technical bulletin is free for OMA members and $2.00 for non-members. 

A few national statistics on volunteering:  About 60.8 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2006 and September 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  The proportion of the population who volunteered was 26.2 percent. Volunteers spent a median of 52 hours on volunteer activities during the same period.

To assist your museum in celebrating National Volunteer Week, a promotional toolkit is available from the Points of Light Foundation. The 2008 National Volunteer Week toolkit has the necessary information and resources to recognize your volunteers with a special event, or just to tell the rest of your community about how wonderful your volunteers are! Use this toolkit to leverage the nation's focus on volunteering during the week and honor your deserving volunteers. The toolkit includes event planning information, media outreach tips, background information on the week and volunteering, and template materials for easy tailoring, including press releases and much more. The toolkit can be found at www.pointsoflight.org/programs/seasons/nvw/tools.cfm