HAMPTON — Erma Seavey sat at a small square card table in the Wheaton J. Lane Room at the Hampton library, sipping coffee.

“I reshelve books mostly. And I love it. It gets me out of the house, keeps me busy, and I like the people I work with,” said Seavey, who has been volunteering at the library for 13 years.

Seavey was only one of more than a dozen volunteers who visited the library Wednesday afternoon at the invitation of the library staff, for a coffee reception for all volunteers.

“They do so much for the library. They reshelve books, help in the children’s room downstairs, help with our Web site, and help with our ongoing project to index all the local newspaper stories by subject,” said Library Director Catherine Redden.

This week’s annual Volunteer Appreciation Reception attracted most of the 24 regular part-time volunteers who spend part of each week helping the paid staff keep the library functioning. The bulk of the volunteer work is reshelving, Redden said, which frees up the staff such as Children’s Librarian Cindy Stosse, Adult Services Jeanne Gamage, and Reference Librarian Stan Olson for other, more exacting work.

Redden, who is celebrating her 10th year at Lane Library, said the paid staff includes six full-time employees and seven part-time employees, and the volunteers contribute greatly to the smooth running of the library, which houses some 70,000 books, tapes, and other educational items.

The annual appreciation coffee, Redden said, gives the volunteers the opportunity to sit and chat with other volunteers they might not see while working because of schedule differences. Coffee, tea, cheese and crackers, and light hors d’oeuvres were served. Each volunteer was presented a small gift in appreciation of their efforts.

Five card tables were set up in the room, courtesy of the seniors who play cards and visit daily in the Senior Drop-In Center in the Dorothy M. Little Room.

And sign-up sheets were available able so any volunteer who chose could sign up for next week’s 3rd annual book sale. “Oh, so that’s why you got us down here today,” one volunteer joked to Redden.

Jeanne Gamage said while greeting the library’s visitors that in May alone, volunteers put in 226 hours at the library, which, according to the National Volunteer Center, translates into $3,616 worth of work. Cindy Stosse noted that she couldn’t do her job nearly as good if she didn’t have volunteers in the Children’s Room.

“They are just a tremendous help,” Stosse said. “There is never enough time to do what I want to do. Our volunteers pick up a lot of the slack.”