Interviewing a volunteer in a leadership position in LibriVox

[MichaelIsland]

Hello, everyone! So, I'm a college student, and I'm intending to volunteer at LibriVox for one of my Business classes. Back in October 2021, my assignment in this class was to interview someone in a volunteer leadership position at LibriVox. This was and is the assignment description. "For this assignment, you’ll learn more about the nonprofit at which you’re completing your service by
conducting an interview with someone in a leadership position at your organization.
You’ll need to meet with the individual (in-person, on the phone, or online) (online would work) and have a conversation that helps you
answer the below questions (I have them) about the organization. Feel free to expand your discussion beyond these questions, and
ask things you’re curious about. Do not send the list of questions to someone and ask them to do the work for you!
Who did you talk to?
Name:
Title:
Email address: (if you're not able or don't want to give out some or all of these 3 pieces of info, I'll talk to my class leaders about it and see if an arrangement can be made)" Back in October 2021, I made a topic in this 'Need Help? Got Advice?' category asking any volunteer in a leadership role in LibriVox whether they'd be able and willing to be interviewed by me in either of these ways and about these things or not. However, oddly enough, I never got a clear answer (or no answer at all) from anyone whether anybody was able and willing to be interviewed by me. As a result, I'm retaking the class this semester. That's just the way things go sometimes. I'm posting again here to see if I'll have better luck at a response this time around. I need to submit the answers of the interview by April 6th. Sorry for the short notice on this. I've been pretty busy. The interview shouldn't take very long, though (maybe an hour, at most?). So, would someone in a leadership position here (whether it be moderator, administrator, meta coordinator, book coordinator, etc.) be willing and or interested to be interviewed online (It's possible that it could be conducted on this Forum or through email or something like that? I'll have to clarify that with my class leaders. However, I'm guessing an interview over Zoom or something like that would at least be preferrable) by me about LibriVox and your position within it? And, if so, what are some future times that would be most convenient for you to do the interview? I'd let you know if a certain date and time you suggest conflicts with my schedule. Thanks!

[annise]

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=89199&p=1950079#p1950079

Nothing has changed.

Anne

[MichaelIsland]

I've looked at all those previous replies and links before. None of it says anything about whether or not I am able to interview a volunteer from LibriVox who's in a leadership role (whether the interview would be conducted via private messages right here on the website, somewhere on the forum, via zoom, via phone, via email, etc.). So, I'm confused. What am I missing here?
- Michael.

[DACSoft]

Hi Michael,

Speaking simply as a volunteer member of Librivox (certainly not in leadership), I think what you may be missing (and probably why you haven't received interview responses) is this ...

If you are looking for individuals in LibriVox leadership roles (e.g. Board of Directors, General Manager, etc.), you won't find any here. I think of the LV crowdsourcing site as a "consensus anarchy" or "anarchy by consensus." The site runs itself; no one is "in charge" (not even those on the "Admin Team" AFAIK). All are volunteers. My understanding is that many years ago a light structure was put into place for recording, editing, proof-listening, cataloguing, etc., which still works well today. Within this structure volunteers pretty much do what they want. Experienced volunteers and documentation in the forums help newbies get up to speed, and all work is done through communications in the forums.

So I don't speak on behalf of LV, but this has been my impression of LibriVox over the my 8+ years here.

FWIW,

Don

[philchenevert]

Yeah Michael, it must seem frustrating; like trying to herd cats. We are all busy doing our own thing and nobody is in charge. Amazing but true. And we are definitely not a nonprofit. if you need a nonprofit, we are not one, so that may rule out this wonderful organization right there. So best of wishes in your educational pursuit. If you just want to chat with some people involved for the fun of it, as members, not in charge people, great; we can do that. But it probably will not meet the requirements of your professor.

[InTheDesert]

I've looked at all those previous replies and links before. None of it says anything about whether or not I am able to interview a volunteer from LibriVox who's in a leadership role (whether the interview would be conducted via private messages right here on the website, somewhere on the forum, via zoom, via phone, via email, etc.). So, I'm confused. What am I missing here?
- Michael.

I think maybe what makes it difficult is not knowing what kind of questions you might ask and therefore who can answer them. Are the questions like "How do you find volunteers for the group projects that you run?" - to which you'll probably get the unexciting answer "We launch a project and it goes into the 'Readers Wanted' forum and whoever is looking to read something picks something they like." Or are the questions more along the lines of "What is LV's mission?" to which you'd get some links to some very old forum posts about recording all the public domain books in the world. But it's not like someone is actively setting the direction and leading people there (which I imagine is the kind of answer you would want for a business class). It's more like someone said 15 years ago "Hey, let's dig a huge hole over there, who's with me?". And since then, a varying group of people have been digging in the same spot, at faster and slower rates and giving away the dirt for free.

[Availle]

It's more like someone said 15 years ago "Hey, let's dig a huge hole over there, who's with me?". And since then, a varying group of people have been digging in the same spot, at faster and slower rates and giving away the dirt for free.

If we ever need a super-simple explanation for what we're doing (and why), this would be on top of my list.

[MichaelIsland]

Yeah Michael, it must seem frustrating; like trying to herd cats. We are all busy doing our own thing and nobody is in charge. Amazing but true. And we are definitely not a nonprofit. if you need a nonprofit, we are not one, so that may rule out this wonderful organization right there. So best of wishes in your educational pursuit. If you just want to chat with some people involved for the fun of it, as members, not in charge people, great; we can do that. But it probably will not meet the requirements of your professor.

Hi, philchenevert! Thanks for your response. This is what I found on making donations to LibriVox: "Note that all donations to LibriVox must be made through
our official home, the Internet Archive, which is a US 501
(c) (3) nonprofit organization (Tax-ID number: 94-
3242767).” So, my next question is: if the Internet Archive is LibriVox's official home, and the Internet Archive is a US 501
(c) (3) nonprofit organization, how is LibriVox not the same nonprofit organization by extension? Like isn't LibriVox a specific project or branch or something like that of the Internet Archive? And if so, should I see about interviewing an Internet Archive volunteer who oversees LibriVox in some way? Thanks!
- Michael.

[annise]

I think you are just wasting our time and now want to waste someone at Archive's time. Librivox continues to operate by people being nice and accepting that what people are able to do as much or as little as they wish.
We are all volunteers. You were told 6 months ago that we would not be able to help you pass your course and you were told why.

Anne

[kristakz]

I think it's been made clear that no one oversees Librivox (archive.org makes sure our works have a home, they don't direct how that is done). I would think only you can answer whether that would meet your course requirements. However, archive.org has a very nice website that you should probably have a look at.

[MichaelMaggs]

Hi, philchenevert! Thanks for your response. This is what I found on making donations to LibriVox: "Note that all donations to LibriVox must be made through
our official home, the Internet Archive, which is a US 501
(c) (3) nonprofit organization (Tax-ID number: 94-
3242767).” So, my next question is: if the Internet Archive is LibriVox's official home, and the Internet Archive is a US 501
(c) (3) nonprofit organization, how is LibriVox not the same nonprofit organization by extension? Like isn't LibriVox a specific project or branch or something like that of the Internet Archive? And if so, should I see about interviewing an Internet Archive volunteer who oversees LibriVox in some way? Thanks!
- Michael.

Hi Michael

My reading of this is that you're asking questions in good faith and that you're not in the least intending to waste anyone's time. I'm afraid that your course deadline has probably already passed, but I can perhaps add some further comments that might help for the future.

First, Librivox is an informal group that has no legal status in the US and is not a legally recognised as a 'non profit' entity. The Internet Archive is, as you say, but they don't control, lead, or supervise us. All they do – entirely as a goodwill gesture – is to host our recordings for free and to act as a central point for anyone who wants to donate to Librivox, for example to keep the servers running. If your tutors require a formal US non profit, we definitely can't help. But maybe they would include an open, non-commercial community? Could you check?

Next, although we don't have any formal leadership, in the sense of people with the power to control things, we do have various roles including administrator, meta coordinator, book coordinator and others that your tutors might accept as representing suitable leadership-without-responsibility type roles. Again, you'd need to check.

Finally, where course-related volunteering often comes unstuck is the tutors' need for formal confirmation from the organization that the required work has been done. That we can't offer for the reasons already stated - but if your tutors would allow it, there's no reason that an individual administrator, meta coordinator or book coordinator couldn't work with you on an entirely voluntary basis, in the same way as we do with other volunteers here. It's just that they won't be able to speak officially for Libribox.

So, I truly don't know whether it would be possible to volunteer here as part of your course, as that will depend on the flexibility of your course requirements. If your tutors would allow such a non-official arrangement, and it's not already too late, I'd be more than happy to talk to you in more detail and to answer any questions you may have (I sometimes act as a BC here, but I'm not an admin). If that's of interest, rather than continuing in this public thread I'd suggest you PM me and we could arrange to set up a Zoom chat.

Best of luck with your studies, and thanks for deciding to volunteer with an open group like ours.

Michael