I'm a Child of the Lib'ry...

Here's another "save our libraries" effort...

You can find more information about this at Piers Cawley's blog and feel free to spread it far and wide!

Mysterious Paper Sculptures

Have you all seen the amazing book sculptures left in libraries around Edinburgh?  They are really quite stunning.  And such a thoughtful and generous way to show appreciation for these essential institutions.

We get some lovely gifts from our patrons who sometimes bring us flowers or baked goods, and always hand them directly to us and get a big "thanks!".

The things we tend to receive anonymously are more on the weird side.  I swear I heard a story about someone finding teeth in the bookdrop one morning, but when trying to track down the source of that story, no one had heard it but me.  I'm sure I didn't make it up, though! Was it a misguided attempt to contact the tooth fairy?  A late night brawl in parking lot?

I know we've definitely had a kitten put in our bookdrop overnight. Quite the surprise for the morning crew! Fortunately, the kitten was not injured by books coming in on top of it and eventually found a good home.

What fabulous anonymous gifts has your library received? Or, barring that, what's the weirdest thing your library has received?

"There is not such a cradle of democracy on earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration." Andrew Carnegie 1835-1919

This past Monday I traveled from Eugene to Hood River for the SSD Board Meeting at the library there.  What a thrill and privilege it was to visit the Hood River library, recently reopened after a year's closure due to loss of funding.

The library is in the original Carnegie building with an addition built on at a later date.  Taking a brief walk around the building I spotted a delightful sculpture near the trees.  Taller than I it had a small brass plaque identifying it as "Stoniferous Pine" and was made entirely of rocks and flat stones in the shape of a tree.

They were fitted into place with no mortar, held together by their careful, complicated placement.

From the Hood River County Library District's website: "Hood River County's first publicly-funded library opened on September 13, 1912."   "Hood River County Library District recently became a member of the Libraries of Eastern Oregon, LEO, an organization dedicated to helping the many small, rural libraries across Oregon deliver great services to their users." 

The library reopened this July thanks to enthusiastic community support, generous monetary donations, and grants; and thanks to their library Foundation which used imaginative fund raising dinners held in local homes with themes based on books, in addition to their further dedicated efforts to solicit stable funding.  The Hood River library stands as a testament to those grass roots movements that often achieve what bureaucracy can't or won't.

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.