Map of Members

Map data ©2015 Google, Landsat, Data SIO, NOAA, NGA, GEBCO, LDEO-Columbia, NSF

Ever been curious about where your fellow SSD members call home? Every star on this map marks a city with at least one OLA SSD staffer. If you notice you’re in the middle of a big blank area, don’t worry! We haven’t forgotten you. The Executive Board has formed a new group dedicated to reaching out to regions where our membership is sparse, in hopes that with a more even distribution we’ll be able to do more for everyone. That means direct benefits for you.

New things on the horizon

Along with our outreach campaign, we’re creating new spaces and resources for current SSD members across all of Oregon. Some exciting things we’ve got in the works you’ll want to watch out for:

●     Casual regional meetups, much more often than once a year.

●     New opportunities to represent your library or your branch’s support staff on a statewide level.

●     A monthly/bimonthly newsletter exclusively for support staff.

●     ...and more!

If you have questions, comments, or ideas, you can email the new group at ola.ssd.outreach@gmail.com.

Keep your eyes on your inbox, the SSD Facebook, and this blog for more updates. We are excited to see where we can take SSD this year!

Five Tips for Creating Boundaries with Library Patrons

A while ago, I read about the horrible experiences Sarah Houghton has had at some conferences. While this post doesn't deal with anything near what she's dealt with, some of us may sometimes have problems creating boundaries with patrons in our everyday work.  I asked library customer service specialist extraordinaire Jennifer Steward if she had any helpful advice.  She certainly does! (Personally, I've found the "Do you have a library question?" to be really effective.) -Rebecca

 No, thank you/No/Stop

May have your phone number?  

Would you like some eel-eye candy?

Working with in a public library means talking with a large number of people everyday. Most of the time this is great. People ask great questions and we help help them use the library. Yay!

But sometimes the questions aren't so great. They can be personal, invasive and harassing and you just want to hide in the workroom. It is hard to do your job while hiding, so what can you do? 

1. Be prepared.

Instead of avoiding eye contact with everyone, be ready to deal with the small percentage of people who make things difficult. If being assertive is new to you, practice with someone you trust. End your sentences with periods, not question marks. OK? OK.

2. Start with "no, thank you."

"Would you like to see my scar?" "No, thank you." 

"Do you want to go to the movies tonight?" "No, thank you."

You were asked a question and you gave a polite answer. Done. Most people will accept your answer and move on. Yay!

3. Say "no" and mean it.

Sadly, some people won't accept a polite refusal. Boo! Then you have to be clear and redirect the conversation to a professional place.

"Tell me more about where you are from?" "No, thank you."
"Come on, tell me how many languages you speak?" "No. Do you have a library question?"

Someone who doesn't accept a "no, thank you" to personal questions graciously is not respecting standard social boundaries. You need a clear and simple message. "No." Do not apologize, make an excuse, or ask a question. You get to decide the boundaries of this conversation.

4. Say "stop" and get help.

If the person continues to pursue an intrusive conversation, be more direct. "Stop." Move away from this person and find a supervisor or other person to help you. If someone is violating social boundaries to the point where you have to say "stop", be aware and be safe.

"Do you want to go out?" No, thank you."

"Do you know you have pretty eyes?" No. Do you have a library question?"

"Why don't you want to talk to me?" "Stop."

5. Tell someone.

If you have an encounter with a patron who doesn't accept a "no, thank you", be sure to share what happened with your supervisor and co-workers. If this person violates social boundaries with you, it is likely this person is doing the same with other staff members. Supervisors need to know what happened so they can support staff and follow up with patrons.

Two last notes: 

"No, thank you" works great outside of work, too. 

"Would you like to contribute to this fundraiser?" "No, thank you."

"Would you like to sign up for that service?" "No, thank you."

Try. Practice. Master. These are the keys to being good at anything. Try different tones of voice until you find the no-nonsense "no, thank you" that works for you. Practice saying no thank you/no/stop with a friend. Master setting polite and professional boundaries. You will be great!

What We Owe Donetta Sheffold

Donetta Sheffold, founder of SSD, is retiring from her job at Oregon State University at the end of April.  When I read Susan Gilmont's post on the SSD email list yesterday, I remembered an afternoon long ago - in the last century, in fact!

At the 1991 Oregon Library Association conference in Ashland, in a room overcrowded with interested folks, Donetta asked this question:  Should there be a unit of OLA dedicated to the interests of support staff?  The answer was a resounding yes!  The next year, the Library Support Staff Round Table was born, eventually becoming the Support Staff Division.

Through the years, LSSRT and SSD have had many leaders, and Donetta eventually left her job at the OSU library to work in another department.  But I'm pretty sure that, without Donetta's vision and leadership, SSD wouldn't be here today.  It seems obvious now that support staff are a vital part of libraries, and thus of OLA.  It frequently takes someone with vision and drive to notice the obvious and do something about it.  That's what Donetta did for library support staff in Oregon.

My library life has been much richer, not to mention more fun, because of Donetta's vision.  I'm sure that's true for many others.

So hats off, and best wishes for a wonderful retirement, to Donetta!

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!

How to use what you learn in LSSC

Another post from Sylvia in our continuing series about LSSC - Library Support Staff Certification. Sylvia works for Baker County Library District managing the magazine and newspaper collections.

What helps you the most in completing your classwork in the LSSC program?

Working from home: I mentioned that I work from home and this is possible because our IT manager made a house call; he helped me set up my home pc for internet access and appropriate programs that would support my support staff training. The expense for equipment and the internet connection, of course, has been my own, but the library I work for supported me by allowing the technology manager to do that, and I am grateful.

My co-worker’s creative support: As much as possible, I look for opportunities to integrate my class assignments with my daily responsibilities at work, or I turn class projects into an opportunity for on-the-job training. My co-workers help me find opportunities. For example, for one class project I was able to learn all about the online and in-library resources we had for genealogy research. Myself and a co-worker attended “Family History Days”, where I gave a power point presentation I’d prepared on that topic and she put together an informational booth. This presentation led to another opportunity for a similar presentation at another local genealogy conference, as well as sharing the information at an all-staff training day. I needed help from more knowledgeable staff to create the presentation because I needed to learn about the resources for myself, I shared the information with the community and passed the information on to other staff who hadn’t yet had the opportunity to learn about these resources.

Thanks once again, Sylvia. Are you taking classes and working? Let us know how it's going for you by commenting below.

Barriers to Participation in Library Associations: a Quick and Dirty Literature Review

Susan Gilmont (Past Chair, OLA Support Staff Division), March, 2011

I tried to look at works on barriers to participation in professional associations for librarians and library workers. There is a dearth of literature on this subject. I did find some work on the broader topic of professional development, including professional development in libraries, in which library associations were mentioned. Some rewarding insights may be found in these writings.

I found two studies that addressed release time and travel support for committee meetings and other activities associated with library associations. A 2001 study of small colleges (125 respondents) showed that 63% of librarians received travel support for committee meetings of national associations while 14% of “non-professional staff” received similar support. 78% of librarians received support for committee meetings for regional associations, while 42% of “non-professional staff” received support (Gaskill and Morrill, 2001) A study of academic librarians in Oklahoma found important correlations between employer-provided funding and/or release time and meeting attendance, association membership, committee service, and other professional development activities. (Havener and Stolt, 1994)

OLA Participation Survey

The Oregon Library Association and Support Staff Division Executive Boards are interested in why support staff would not join, or if they join, not actively participate in, the Oregon Library Association and the Support Staff Division. To that end, we would like to pose a couple of questions --

Have you experienced any barriers to your participation or involvement? What are they?

Also, have you had to write up a justification for your participation or involvement in professional organizations?

We'd be grateful for any additional comments you'd wish to share, as well.

Please send any responses to me at : susan.bacina@oregonstate.edu

All responses will be kept confidential and are for compilation purposes only.

Thank you,

Susan Bacina

OLA SSD Chair

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!"

Support for Professional Activities

In a recent post on this blog, SSD Past Chair Cathy Zgraggen solicits nominations for SSD officers for the coming membership year. In Library Journal's Paraprofessional of the Year award article , award winner Allison Sloan credits a former boss with encouraging her to become involved in the Massachusetts Library Association.

Unfortunately, the current economy may have created conditions in which may be difficult for support staff to participate in professional activities. Recently, some SSD members with an impressive history of involvement in the organization have been unable to continue that involvement. This makes me both sad and worried.

I certainly understand libraries are trying to do way more with considerably less these days, and that giving staff time off for professional activities can make it difficult to provide the service patrons expect and deserve.

I don't know if MLS librarians are having the same experience of no longer being supported in their professional activities. I'd like to think that it's spread over all levels of staff, but suspect that support staff are more likely to be effected.

I've been lucky to to have significant support from my library for my involvement in OLA. I know it has, at times, taken me away from my usual job duties for significant amounts of time. Yet I also know that I'm a better employee because of the opportunities for growth I've had by being involved in OLA and SSD.

There's no easy answer to this problem. But here are a few suggestions:

For managers: Make sure you're treating staff at all levels fairly regarding support for professional activities. Be flexible. Realize that your staff will have opportunities to learn and network, which will make them better employees.

For support staff: Make sure your boss and co-workers know how much time you may be spending on professional activities, and what you'll be doing. Be flexible. Be willing to do some professional activities on your own time.

Professional organizations like OLA depend on the participation of their members. Let's hope that we'll continue to receive the support we need to make that participation possible.

Support Staff Scholarships Available!

Are you interested in certification, attending a workshop or conference? Would you like financial assistance getting where you want to go? Then visit The OLA Support Staff Division homepage to learn more about SSD scholarships and completing the application process. We are here to help! Feel free to contact anyone on the Executive Committee with questions, comments and concerns. And don’t forget to visit our blog site at http://ola-ssd.blogspot.com/ to share ideas and learn more about SSD.

Cathy Zgraggen
SSD Past Chair
541-312-1094