Life After Zeno

Last weekend, I put a symbolic finish on my Zeno yard project (see my November post) by getting the final bunch of brush into the yard-debris cart, and thus out of my yard. That leaves me free to consider other yard projects that have been languishing in the months since I started the Zeno project. Because I have a big yard, and my yard-work attention span isn't always very long, this means that I pull a few weeds, collect a little kindling, pull some ivy, rake some leaves, etc., but don't concentrate on any one thing.

Seems like something similar has been happening at work. After a quiet week between Christmas and New Years, when I could work on a few off-beat special projects, the new year brought an unusual number of deadlines and multiple priorities. It's hard to sit down and concentrate on any one thing for very long, and I find myself multi-tasking a lot.

This is probably reality for many, if not most, of us in the "doing more with less" library world. It's not a totally bad thing; after all, variety is good, and I wouldn't want to have a job in which I did exactly the same thing, day after day.

Now, what is it I was going to do after I finish writing this?

Zeno's Projects

I was on vacation in late October and early November. Since we weren't planning any major trips, I had a list of projects to get done at home, including trying new recipes, learning new music, and selling some stuff on Ebay. However, the weather was gorgeous, and I didn't want to spend much time inside, so I concentrated on one project in our yard. I had started it in February, simply planning to prune the ivy away from a brick border during a time it was too wet to do much else. Once I got started, I discovered a lot of other over-grown things, and began to feel I'd never finish. I eventually named it Zeno's Yard Project, after the best-know of Zeno's paradoxes.

This Zeno's paradox basically says that it's impossible to get anywhere, because you always have to cover half the distance left, and then half that distance, and then half that distance, etc., etc. I was fascinated with it as a child; I remember trying to keep moving my finger smaller and smaller distances, but never touch the wall I was standing by. My Zeno Yard Project was something like that. I did finish it (after all, it is a paradox), but it involved a lot of work, and some serious sawing of 30-year-old arbor vitae and cotoneaster, not to mention pulling dried blackberry canes out of 10-foot-tall holly trees. and pulling up half-inch thick ivy vines. (For those concerned about invasive species, I'm replacing these invaders with native plants)

So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, after I got back to work, I started to notice that I've got a number of Zeno project here, too. They tend to be pretty technical services oriented, although I imagine folks in other library disicplines have them, too. Mine are usually lists (fequently in Create Lists in Millenium) of records than need to evaluated, and possibly updated or deleted. They frequently point out other problems that need to be addressed. They also typically aren't particularly high priority, so other demands take my attention away from them for months at a time.

I bet most of you out there in support staff land have similar projects. I'm not claiming to be in control of mine, but I have come up with some coping ideas:

• Scope small: It's easier (and safer) to eat things in small bites. Don't get distracted from the thing you set out to accomplish. For instance, if your goal is to clean up check-in records, don't start cleaning up order records.
  
• Harvest the low-hanging fruit: Do the easy stuff first. It's possible that will be enough.
• Ask for help: You might need someone with different expertise to handle some of the project. Or, with a more general project, you may be able to turn it into a group event, where everyone pitches in for an hour.
• Say "no": This is tough! If the project is really low-value and low-priority, a diplomatic "I'm sorry, but other priorities will keep me from working on this" is worth a try. (Of course, this is assuming this isn't a project that you assigned to yourself!). At the very least, asking to postpone the project, and giving a recommended date to start, may help.

We're all juggling multiple priorities in busy workplaces. Recognizing and managing Zeno projects can make our work a little easier.

Newly elected SSD officers, etc.

Hello, All,

This is my first attempt at the blog, so please bear with me.

Here forthwith are the newly elected SSD officers :

Jay Cooper (Eugene Public Library) -- Chair-elect

Margaret Harmon-Myers (Eugene Public Library) -- Archivist

Rea Andrew (Newberg Public Library) -- Treasurer

Eugene Newbill (Oregon State Library) -- Recorder

These are the latest election results, but the SSD Executive Board is also made up of the following :

Susan Bacina (Oregon State University) -- Chair

Susan Gilmont (Oregon State University) -- Past Chair

Carrol Barton (Lane Community College) -- Continuing Education Committee Chair

Lauren Mathisen (Lake Oswego Public Library) -- 2011 Conference Committee Chair

IT Team :

Sean Park (Coos County Library District) -- Web Master

Becki Roth (Multnomah County Public Library) -- Blog Master

Kate Schwab (Multnomah County Public Library) -- Facebook Master

We also have two vacant Member-at-Large positions, so if anyone out there is interested in becoming a member of our group, or knows of anyone who might be interested, please let me know.

Susan Bacina
Support Staff Division Chair
susan.bacina@oregonstate.edu
(541)737-7328

Hard Times Can Make For Good Parodies

Nobody can deny that times are hard in many ways now. The news is rarely hopeful, and most (if not all) libraries are coping with either current or upcoming budget cuts.

There's nothing funny about it. And yet humor is a valuable way to deal with tough times.

Here at the State Library, I've been writing one or two song parodies every year for performance at our winter staff party. I'm lucky that several of my co-workers are willing to get up in front of the rest of the staff and risk making fools of themselves year after year. Below, we're singing about our scheduling software, to the tune of "Ding Dong, Merrily on High"



I've found that the worse things are, the easier it is to write a parody. Last year, both H1N1 and unpaid furloughs provided inspiration.

Last week, OLA past president Connie Anderson-Cohoon forward this video to the OLA executive board

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8QjjKrEK7Y

It's worth watching, despite the danger of ending up with an ear worm. These library folks are definitely using humor (and a good deal of skill and talent) to point out the importance of their services.

Do any other libraries have parody traditions, or other ways of using humor to deal with difficult realities? If so, please share!

Fall is in the Air

It's late in the afternoon on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. The weather outside is warm and sunny. I'm having trouble concentrating, and looking forward to three days of leisure (well, if you consider serious yard work leisure).

I'm also feeling antsy. This happens every year in the late summer, when the morning and evening air has a distinct crispness to it, even on hot days. It means fall is coming. And, for years, that meant a new school year was coming.

I've been out of school for a heck of a long time, don't work for an academic library, have no children, and my youngest nephew is in college. Yet this time of year still brings on a slightly nervous, slightly anticipatory feeling; a combination of being afraid you won't like your new teacher (or vice versa) and excitement about wearing your new school shoes for the first time.

I think it's good that the passage and time and changes in the seasons effect us in more than intellectual ways. It's nice to feel, in addition to knowing, things.

In libraries, we know a lot of stuff. And we also know our jobs make a difference in people's lives, now and in the future. It's just as important to feel that, too; to have the deep conviction that what we do matters.

It's almost as good as new school shoes.

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.

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