Congratulations, Rea!

At the Oregon Library Association conference last week, SSD member Rea Andrew received the Library Employee of the Year award.  Rea has served SSD in many ways, including as chair, and as chair of the Conference Committee.  She's currently SSD treasurer.  She's a major force in her job at Newberg Public Library.  The introductory comments by her co-workers emphasized her flexibility, adaptability; and ability to rise to any occasion; I'd never heard a plunger referred to in an OLA awards presentation before!  Rea received a standing ovation from the crowd.

It's great to see the contributions of support staff celebrated at the OLA conference.  OLA president Abigail Elder also lauded SSD in her opening remarks, saying how impressed she was by the SSD conference last summer, and by this blog, especially Fix It Fridays.

Huzzah, Rea, and huzzah, SSD, for continuing to serve and Oregon library community in so many ways!

Magical meat?

Grilled unicorn detail from a newly discovered
Medieval cookbook at the British Library.

In case you missed it, an article over at American Libraries has an April Fools roundup, with this year's best from libraries around the globe. 

I especially like the Really Advanced Search from google.  Technically not a library, but since it's google, it's only a matter of time, am I right?

Greg Landgraf, the articles author, says libraries and pranks have a strong tradition.  Did your library "celebrate" April Fools?  What is your library's best prank?

And since it's the season for Peeps, this really never gets old.

-Rebecca

Fix-It Friday : Be Square

This month's Fix-It Friday book mending topic is short and sweet: some quick ways to get straight, square measurements without taking down a lot of numbers. 

First of all, it's useful to know how wide your regular metal ruler is, and to use a cutting mat that has grid lines printed on it.  You can use the width of the ruler as well as its length as a measuring tool, and the paper or stock you are cutting can be placed square on the grid on the cutting mat to ensure a straight cut.

A trick I learned recently was to install a jig onto the cutting mat that can be used to jog up paper and hold it true and straight while cutting or folding.  Such a jig can be made easily with a piece of thick, stiff board (here, a strip of Davey book cover board), attached with strips of double-backed tape.

The library of the future

Images courtesy Yi ARCHITECTS

This is the floor plan for the 8th floor of the new Stuttgart library designed by Yi ARCHITECTS.  It's been described as the Apple store of libraries.  It's very modern and very, very bright.

As a support staff person,  one thing I always want to see, and rarely do, is the work space and how it will be used.  On the above floor plan, the sorting area is denoted by #7.   There are other sorting areas on other floors, but they are pretty much the same size.  Is it just me or is that really tiny for the size of the library?  Take a look at the pictures and let me know if you can figure out where the rest of the work gets done.

What do you think of the library of the future?

-Rebecca