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!