Liz Cisko loves books. And though she's retired, she loves staying busy. So the St. Charles resident combined the two and became a volunteer for the St. Charles Public Library.

Cisko, a library volunteer since 2004, straightens and finds books that have been placed on the wrong shelves. She spends at least two hours a week on the duties, and estimates she gets through all the books for which she is responsible—nonfiction with call numbers 620 to 650—during one month's time.

"I enjoy being active and I wanted something to do but I didn't want to work again," said Cisko, who also reads regularly and donates books to the library at the senior apartment complex where she lives.

Her apartment also stores her "stashes" of books, which include biographies of Jay Leno, Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor.

She is currently reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and often reads books by Nicholas Sparks and has a collection of works by Tony Hillerman. She has one rule for her personal library: "No romance novels."

The books Cisko monitors at the St. Charles Public Library are auto repair manuals, gardening books and cookbooks, among others.

"When I first started volunteering, they gave me one shelf and it wasn't enough for me," Cisko said. "I like volunteering there because I can go in whenever I want. When I'm there, it's peaceful and I don't have the pressure of a 'job.' I feel like I'm accomplishing something when I volunteer there."

Jean Langlais, outreach services manager for the St. Charles Public Library, said Cisko is among 21 adult volunteers, most of which contribute time at least once a week.

"Most of our volunteers perform unglamorous, even 'dirty' work," Langlais said. "Many work with our staff materials selectors to maintain our collections. Some, like Liz, straighten shelves. Liz is a valuable volunteer because she is reliable, thorough, and accurate. She's also good-humored and a lot of fun to have around."

Langlais said in general, library officials seek volunteers with solid references who can make at least a six-month commitment to a schedule that complements the library's needs.

"It's not very difficult to find good volunteers, but it is very difficult to find people who are available when we need them," Langlais said. "Our volunteers do work that we have difficulty getting to but is essential to the health of our collection. For instance, volunteers 'pull' unused items off the shelf for selectors to evaluate for withdrawal—we call that weeding. Without weeding, we would have no place to shelf the new books that patrons want ... Our volunteers do so many things it's hard to imagine our library without them."

For more information on volunteer opportunities at the St. Charles Public Library, visit www.stcharleslibrary.org.