LSSC Free Webinar Today and Tomorrow

The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association’s Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program will be offering two free webinars in December. Anyone interested in the programs are welcome to sign up by clicking the links below.

December 10th, 2pm Central Time – An Introduction to the LSSC Program

On Monday, December 10th at 2:00 pm (Central), LSSC will offer an hour-long webinar on the program and how it works.  The presentation will explain the value of this certification to Library Support Staff, employers, and library users. You will also have the opportunity to have all of your questions answered by program staff members. This webinar is open to all interested candidates. Register to attend at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/812038737

December 11th, 3pm Central Time – Preparing a Portfolio

Many LSSC candidates want to prepare portfolios to meet LSSC requirements.  On Tuesday, December 11 at 2:00 pm (Central), LSSC will offer an hour-long webinar explaining what the LSSC Program requires in a portfolio. The presentation will also give you the chance to see examples of successful submissions and learn how your portfolio will be evaluated. This webinar is open to all interested candidates. Register to attend at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/469129584

 

Ian Lashbrook - ilashbrook@ala.org

Research Associate

American Library Association-Allied Professional Association

50 E Huron St

Chicago IL 60611-2795

http://ala-apa.org

For your reading pleasure

The latest issue of ASSOCIATES is out today.  What is ASSOCIATES? It's a worldwide Library Support Staff Journal in electronic form. Subscription is free and it always has interesting articles by support staff.  Check it out!

Photo: American Libraries

American Libraries’ annual review of the best in new and renovated library facilities is out in their Library Design Showcase 2012. Oregon State University Libraries, Valley Library in Corvallis is featured for their renovation of space on the main floor of the library in the "Collaborative Learning" section.

What if everybody read the same article?

Today's guest post is from Susan Gilmont, who is a Library Technician with Guin Library at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. She writes about how she and her team are working together to re-imagine space use in the library -- and this could really apply to any type of change any group is working towards or facing. Be sure to check out her helpful list of resources at the end of her article!


Current Awareness Reading for Library Teams

Is your department facing changes in the year ahead? Would you like to give everyone in your unit a shared vocabulary as you move forward? Current awareness reading is a valuable technique that can help groups adapt to change and form a united perspective.

The Setting:
I work at the Guin Library, a small branch of the Oregon State University Libraries, located over 50 miles away from our main campus and main library. We have 2.75 FTE, including a librarian and two library technicians. Although we travel to our main campus several times a year, and we are able to attend library meetings by polycom, we are to some extent cut off from the rich learning environment of our main library.

The Issues:
The OSU Libraries are in the process of building a culture of assessment, in which we examine and attempt to quantify our efforts. Our staff needs to learn current thinking about assessment. We also need to develop assessment projects of our own to contribute to the Libraries’ efforts.

In addition, we are in the process of redesigning our library. The marine science center where we are based is short on space, and we have an abundance of space in the library. We want to re-envision space to the best advantage for library users. As part of this effort, we are studying how patrons use the library.

Our Process:
The Guin Library Team meets once a week. Each month, we agree on an article to read. Any team member can suggest reading material. We read one article each month. We use many sources to find articles, such as LITA recommended reading resources, discussion lists, or American Libraries Online. To help us think about the articles, our librarian gave us this template to use:

1. Citation for article read
2. Intended audience
3. Methodology used
4. Premise of article
5. Findings
6. Applications for this material / What can be shared?
7. Other staff comments

Results:
Our current awareness reading program has worked well for us. We’ve learned much more about assessment, and one of the articles (Hoivik) gave us the method we used for a recent study of space use. We’ve enhanced our understanding of how technology is changing library use. Better still, we have an incentive to be on the lookout for good articles for the group to read, an incentive to be active learners. Whether you are trying to help someone stubbornly resisting change, or to inspire and re-invigorate your staff, a current awareness reading program might be just the thing for your group.

For those who might be interested, here are some of the articles we have read:

Talking up LSSC...

Today, Sylvia Bowers continues talking about balancing work, life, and classwork while completing LSSC - Library Support Staff Certification.

What help do you wish you had while taking these courses (like group support)?

It may be that I wish I had more group support, but it seems that this is something I am more willing to provide for others than seek for myself. The number of people enrolled in the LSSC program is fairly small right now, so I’m not sure it’s easy to find other participants outside of classes. Classes typically have a discussion board so that the students can interact with each other and share ideas and questions. But, since I’ve started doing the support staff certification, I have been able to share information about the program with my co-workers, I have given two presentations about it at conventions to encourage others and I’ve written about it. I do this sharing willingly and humbly, because it is meeting such a need in my life. I project I have twenty or so more working years ahead of me and I have decided this is a worthwhile investment for me.

Are any of you in the LSSC program? Let us know how it's going!

Why it's good to create a triangle in your workplace

Today's guest blogger talking about our recent 2011 Conference at The Oregon Garden is Rinny Lakin, a Library Clerk with Multnomah County Library (MCL).

Did you ignore the announcements for this amazing conference because you assumed it was another exclusive club for librarians? Read on! Oregon Library Association’s Support Staff Division is here for support staff (us page, clerk and LA types) from all over Oregon! Now that you know this conference was meant for us and our statewide equivalents, did you know you have missed the last 17 of them?

SSD is here to serve us paraprofessionals all year long. In addition to the yearly conference, SSD provides viable options to stretch your wings outside your role at your library, if you so desire. You can become involved and really shine. I was dazzled to see so many MCL staff involved in organizing and presenting at the conference and beyond. There are over 80 current members, yet 140+ people were at conference!

Director of Tualatin Public Library Abigail Elder gave the keynote address titled Growing Optimism. I found it really encouraging to be reminded that I have the power to become an expert on a topic, digging roots deep, seeking mastery. What really appeals to me about improving my professional offerings this way, is that I do not need to ask permission. I don’t need to win the approval of every co-worker and boss ahead of time nor navigate red tape. These are value-added hobbies I can education myself about (she used knitting as an example, she knows which co-workers can answer knitting questions and recommend knitting resources). Why didn’t she use gardening instead? I have dabbled with my genealogy hobby, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that I could become a resource!

Managing Stress for Healthy Workplaces presented by Philip Mandel- Communication & Stress Management Expert
This dude wrote “Getting Things Done” and “Nuts & Bolts.” We talked about ways to manage stress that we probably have all heard. Breathing out for 6 seconds and inhaling from the soles of your feet up to your collar bones creates the quieting response. Acupressure stress relief points; getting enough water and sleep etc. He also talked about altering our perspectives while being criticized and different ways to work on our brains. Work on our brains!? Yes. People respond to their maps of reality. If you change your map or reality, you change your emotional state. I hope to remember his suggestion to put this on your map “behind every behavior, is a positive intention”.

The most useful thing he showed us was when talking to a patron, to create a triangle (physically and subtly in your choice of words, especially if you are on the phone). You are one point of the triangle, the patron is another and the focus becomes the third point (be that the computer screen, a physical item, or even use your hand to represent an abstract or non-present point of focus). Now you are side by side, working together on the third point. Most of us have already experienced how much better that dynamic is when we help a patron at the check out stations, rather than opposing sides of a desk. I also learned that “Eustress” is the word for positive stress and dysponesis he used to describe “making it worse without wanting to.” Is that the correct usage?