In an effort to get more people to volunteer by showing them how productive it can be (as opposed to other things such as letter writing campaigns and protesting), here is a place to comment on how you volunteer, the difference you've seen it make, whether or not you would recommend it to other people, and anything else you may want to add.

As for me:

In the past, I've worked at Public Libraries for three summers. It involved a lot of shelving, but near the end I was the person who pulled and sent the holds. It could be a lot of work, especially when unattended children sat down in front of the CD section, smiled at you, and promptly pulled all the CDs off the shelves, but overall I know the staff enjoyed having me there as libraries are notoriously understaffed and underfunded for the services they offer and any help they have is appreciated. If you are looking for a weekly volunteer job, libraries are a good place to start.

Right now, due to my library experience, I am organizing and semi-running a new library that's just getting off the ground at a local center. It's a lot of work, a lot of organizing, lifting, thinking, etc, but it's worth it. With the economy in a slump, anything to help people get access to books for free is appreciated by so many people (even if it's not necessarily by the kids themselves-- yet.)