Fall 2015 Continuing Education Scholarships Sponsored by the Southern Oregon Library Federation (SOLF)

Enter to win a $200 scholarship award to attend the library-related conference of your choice.

SCHOLARSHIP ENTRY FORMS DUE NO LATER THAN  WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7^TH, 12 NOON

Eligibility: Open to any support staff member (who does not have an MLS/MLIS degree). You do not have to be a member of the Southern Library Federation (SOLF) to enter but a SOLF member must nominate you or endorse your application.

Application and more information available here:

http://klamathlibrary.org/solf-2015-continuing-education-scholarships

For further information, contact:

Christy Davis

Library Director

Klamath County Library Service District

cdavis@klamathlibrary.org

541-882-8894 ext. #23

OLA SSD Presentations and Pictures

We know that you all are missing OLA SSD 2015, and sad that you have to wait almost a year for the next OLA SSD conference. We've got some good news though! You can remember your time at the 2015 conference in a number of ways:

Many of the presentations are now available on NW Central!

We also have some fun pictures from OLA SSD 2015 up on our Facebook . If you have any to share or any stories/comments to tell, please feel free to post them there as well. We had record attendance of 141 people!

It's our hope that everyone had a great time and brought lots of new and interesting ideas back to their library. Thanks to all who filled out the evaluations- the Board and 2016 conference committee are looking at your comments and they're appreciated!

It's not too late to get involved for the 2016 OLA SSD conference- if you'd like to help out, please see how you can do that here.

Great Ideas From Deschutes

Libraries are the place to go for new and exciting ideas and the Deschutes Public Library system is obviously no exception, judging by this article from The Atlantic.

Take a moment to read about their exciting library projects and innovations and then please share yours with us as well, either in the comments below or on our Facebook page. We know libraries all over Oregon (and beyond) are up to some amazing things to meet their patron's needs (often before the patrons even know what those needs are!) and we'd love to hear all about it!

OLA SSD 2015 Conference & Get Involved!

We're in beautiful Newport, OR at the 2015 OLA SSD Conference! It's off to a great start, with a ton of attendees. We hope everyone's having a great time so far!



Want to share your work experience with the OLA SSD community, but don't want to do so from the stage? Share your job and stories with us with the OLA SSD Blog's "A Day in the Life"- no microphone required!

If you're enjoying the conference, why not help to plan next year's? There are currently openings on the 2016 Conference Committee and we'd love to hear from you! To get involved or to share any feedback, please send an email to-

Shanel Parette (2015 Conference Committee Chair)
Justyne Triest  (Conference Committee, OLA SSD Social Media)

2015 Conference schedule

We're thrilled that the OLA SSD 2015 conference is less than a week away! If you're joining us Friday July 17, we want to make sure you know when and where all the excitement is happening. Here's the conference schedule.

Whether or not you use Twitter, you can follow along with photos, conversation, and live-tweeting of events using the hashtag #OLA_SSD15. You don't need an account to join the fun, but if you'd like to follow us, we're @ola_ssd. See you at the beach!

Last Chance for OLA SSD Conference Registration!

Wow! So many of you have already signed up for the OLA SSD Conference, and we’re really looking forward to seeing you next week! For those of you who haven’t registered yet, you only have a few days left to get your registration in! The last day to register is Sunday July 12 so don’t wait much longer. With such warm temperatures across Oregon over the last few weeks, what more incentive do you need to attend a conference in Newport, OR?

The OLA SSD 2015 Conference will be Friday July 17 from 8:00am-4:00pm. The conference is at the Best Western Agate Beach Inn in Newport, OR. For full details on sessions, food, and more, as well as to register, please visit the registration page. If you need a ride or can offer a ride to attendees, please check out our ride share page to coordinate.

See you all next week at the beach!

A Day In the Life... of a Library Assistant

Today we welcome Holly Freewynn, MLS, as our guest blogger from the Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library to talk about what she does in a typical day as a Library Assistant. She says: "Library Assistants are responsible for customer service, reference/reader's advisory, collection development, content creation, programming, outreach, and professional development. We get a HUGE variety of questions, and connecting our patrons to their information needs is primary. We have A LOT of resources, in a wide array of media, for our patrons."

"Angel" walks in - she's in 5th grade, and VERY excited to be heading to 6th grade. Her family is from central Africa, and we get to see her often. Her big interest is READING, and lots of it. She is engaged, funny, whip smart, and very motivated. Her questions are always interesting - "How do I find a book about Rosa Parks, but not just a kid book?"; "Do you have anything new that is like the Kane Chronicles?"; "How do I find primary sources for my research project?" etc. I had looked in to being a medical or academic while I was in library school (Emporia MLS '12). Helping "Angel" discern trusted information and be media savvy is one way we make a difference every day.

I am a Librarian Assistant, providing reference services, reader's advisory, and technical assistance to patrons. We have a lot of leeway to offer programming ideas for the branch, highlighting our collections in novel ways. Our leadership is focused on how libraries are growing and changing into the future - it is a great time to be in LIBRARIES.

I LOVE my Midland Branch of Multnomah County Library (MCL). As a transplant from investigating abuse against the elderly, I feel my skill set works very well for our patrons' needs.

I LOVE being able to spend time with our patrons to help them with research, job applications, readers advisory, and navigating government websites.

I LOVE that my branch offers four target languages, along with staff who speak them - Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian and Chinese. We have multiple story times each week that are held in these languages.

I LOVE our attempts to keep our patrons able to use our services - we THINK YES, and have a lot of support to work around barriers for patrons.

Thanks, Holly! Want to hear more about what other library support staff do in their jobs around Oregon?  "A Day In the Life..." is also an annual breakout session topic at our conference each year.  It's taking place on Friday, July 17 in Newport, OR this year and you can register here. More information can also be found at our 2015 Conference page.And if you have our own story to tell, you can comment below, or fill out our survey.