On Not Getting What You Don’t Ask For

A non-faculty member recently asked for a library carrel, in order to take an online class. I’ve been here for twenty-three years now, and we’ve almost never have support personnel ask for a study carrel, which is rather sad. It’s not that people don’t know the rooms are there – at one time, when we had a rash of newborns, we set one carrel aside for nursing mothers, and the room got brisk use.

Thinking about this reminded me of another event. Some years ago, I arranged a noon-hour tour for support staff around the science center—people from all sorts of departments, not just the library—we took a “dock walk” and learned to identify different types of fishing boats. The woman who coordinated the program told me that she had been arranging these tours for over ten years, and she had never given herself permission to go on one of the tours until our event.

It got me to wondering, how often in life do I “short” myself? Do I lack the imagination, courage or energy to carve out some time to stretch and grow some new skills? Or to have a new experience? Are there services I think are just for faculty/management because I have never asked? How often do I say, “I’m worth it” and mean it?

In Praise of Standing in Line

I was only able to attend the first two hours of the SSD conference last month. Even in that relatively short time, I ended up standing in a couple of lines.

Queuing up is a standard activity at pretty much every conference. (A notable exception was Online Northwest several years ago, when the conference planners had designated one of the men's restrooms as a women's restroom for the day). We line up to get food, to visit the rest room, or visit a popular exhibitor. We frequently complain about it while we're doing it, and mention it on our conference evaluations.

Standing in line has its good points, though. Since I was at SSD for a short time, I never would have seen many of my SSD colleagues if I hadn't encountered them in the line for breakfast or the restroom. It was great to have a chance to catch up with folks I hadn't seen for a while (over a year, in some cases).

Standing in line is also a good way to meet new people. Don't be afraid to say "hi" and introduce yourself as the line snakes slowly toward the desserts. You can find out about other libraries and maybe make a new friend. At the very least, the line seems to move faster when you've got someone to talk to.

OLA SSD Officers for 2011-12

We now have a new slate of elected officers for 2011-12 :

Chair : Sean Park (Coos County Library Service District)

Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect : Margaret Harmon-Myers (Eugene Public Library)

Past-Chair : Susan Bacina (Valley Library, Oregon State University)

Treasurer : Rea Andrew (Newberg Public Library)

Recorder : Eugene Newbill (Oregon State Library, Salem)
Archivist : Margaret Harmon-Myers (Eugene Public Library) -- Yes, Margaret now holds two posts. She wanted to and there is nothing in the SSD by-laws saying someone can't do so. So thank you doubly, Margaret, for your double duties!

The SSD Board also consists of the following unelected but no less important members :

Member-at-large : Elaine Bortles (Pacific University)
Member-at-large : Sylvia Bowers (Baker County Library)

IT Team :
SSD Website : Sean Park (Coos County Library Service District)
SSD Blog : Rebecca Roth (Multnomah County Library)
SSD Facebook : Kate Schwab (Multnomah County Library)

Continuing Education Committee Chair : Carrol Barton (Lane Community College -- semi-retired)
2012 Conference Committee Chair : Anybody interested??

If anyone is interested in becoming more involved with SSD, the Continuing Education Committee or the Conference Committee are good places to start.

Please consider becoming more active in SSD... It's a great professional development opportunity! We welcome all OLA/SSD members. Not a member? There are SSD scholarships for first time joiners!

Please contact me, Susan Bacina (Valley Library, OSU), if interested :
Email : susan.bacina@oregonstate.edu Phone : 541-737-7328

Report on the 17th annual conference of the Oregon Library Association’s Support Staff Division
July 15, 2011 – The Oregon Garden
By Susan Gilmont

I just got back from the 17th annual “Gateways” conference of the OLA Support Staff Division. It was a wonderful experience. You couldn’t have a better setting than The Oregon Garden, and our attendees were quite pleased by the venue.

One of the great things about support staff is that we have long memories. We don’t forget who helped us along the way. Thus, the conference began with a tribute to retiring State Librarian Jim Scheppke to thank him for his consistent support of support staff. Two of our past chairs, Donetta Sheffold and Jey Wann, as well as Susan Bacina, our current Chair, saluted Jim. Susan gave Jim an orchid and a loud, vulgar, gaudy trophy inscribed, “Thanks, Coach!”

The keynote address was one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Conference 2011

Growing Together: Support Staff in Action

Friday, July 15, 2011 | 7:30 am - 4:30 pm
Oregon Garden Resort, Silverton, OR
http://www.oregongarden.org/

Cost of attendance is $70 for OLA members and $85 for non-members.
We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker is Abigail Elder, recently-elected OLA Vice President/President-elect and Tualatin Public Library Manager.
Don’t miss out on this great value for important and timely sessions. Registration includes free admission to the Oregon Garden and a boxed lunch to take on a garden stroll.

Basic Book Repair for Libraries, an all-day workshop* capacity reached! Please contact Rea Andrew for upcoming book-mending workshops.

What to Say: Customer Service in Difficult Situations

How to Get the Training You Need: Professional Development Options for Oregon Support Staff

A Day in the Life of A Library Assistant

Marketing Your Library: Strategies for the 21^st Century

Technology Petting Zoo including e-readers, iPads, iPhones and more!

Managing Stress for Healthy Workplaces, a presentation by Phil Mandel

Registration is now open.  The link to the registration form is below
https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=ola&formId=101057

Registration deadline is July 8th.

A Single Voice Can Make a Difference

In many areas of the world today, citizens are taking serious risks to speak out against their government. People have been imprisoned, even killed, for daring to speak up. Despite the danger, the protests continue.

In the United States, it can be easy to take our right to freedom of speech for granted. The US constitution guarantees our rights. Oregon's sometimes controversial constitution is even more liberal when it comes to freedom of expression.

It's safe and legal to express yourself in public in Oregon, but that doesn't mean it's easy. And it's not just the big political arena where this is true. It's also true within our professional organization, the Oregon Library Association.

At the annual OLA conference a couple of weeks ago, the membership voted on a number of changes to the by-laws.

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)