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Monday, August 16, 2010

Skype

Wow! I really am a geek just not the techy kind. I successfully navigated through Skype and had a wonderful video conversation with Susan Gilmont. All it took was asking my IT department to download it and set up and account. How simple is that? The next step is an SSD video meeting. This is a new adventure for SSD.

Monday, August 9, 2010

SSD Board Elections

It's election time for the Support Staff Division. Visit www.olaweb.org and click on OLA Units / Divisions / Support Staff to get to the ballot. The election closes on 8/14/2010.

Thank you!
Cathy Zgraggen, SSD Past Chair

Friday, August 6, 2010

A Couple of (not necessarily related) SSD Thoughts

Thought 1: Three weeks ago, SSD gathered for its 16th conference. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. Mo Cole's keynote address was full of good advice, interspersed with a lot of fun. Every session I attended was interesting, informative, and definitely worthwhile; I wish I could have gone to all of them. It was fun to be able to peak into the book repair workshop. And, as always, I enjoyed reconnecting with SSD friends I hadn't seen for awhile.

At the same time, I was a little sad. 16 years ago, the SSD conference regularly had over 200 attendees. Attendance began to drop off eventually. After one year, when we seriously considered dropping the conference entirely, we decided to down-size in order to continue the conference while still at least breaking even financially. This has served SSD well. But I hope, some day, the economy, and support for support staff, will once again allow SSD to have a larger conference.

Though 2: Several months ago, I wrote about my concern over the fact that support staff in some Oregon libraries do not receive support from their institutions to participate in OLA and SSD. At the OLA leadership retreat this past Monday, outgoing SSD chair Susan Gilmont and incoming chair Susan Bacina brought up this issue. It led to a lively discussion; I didn't attend the second day of the retreat, but I understand the discussion continued then, leading to some action items. I'll let The Susans fill us in on those.

But I do want to say how encouraging it was to hear OLA leaders strongly supporting support staff who are willing to be involved in OLA. There was no question that all who participate actively in OLA are equally valuable. I can't think of anything else to say, except "Wow!"