June 15, 2010 (Vol. 16, No. 11) – News

Hotline Editor Position / OLA Election Results / SSD Conference / ORCA Logo Contest / OLA-Q Call for Articles

***OLA Hotline Editor Position
Interested in getting more involved with OLA?  Editing the OLA Hotline is a great way to keep in touch with OLA leadership and members while providing a valuable service to the organization.  I will be passing the torch to a new Hotline Editor this coming fall, so I am now fielding statements of interest in this position.  If you are interested in the Hotline Editor position or have any questions, please email me at olahotline@olaweb.org.  Thanks!

April Witteveen
OLA Hotline Editor

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***OLA Election Results
The votes are tallied! Following are the results of the OLA 2010-11 election of officers. Please congratulate–

• Vice-President/President-Elect: Robert Hulshof-Schmidt, Program Manager, Government Research Services, Oregon State Library
• Secretary: Emily Papagni, L-net Partner Support Librarian, Multnomah County Library
• ALA Representative: Hannah Gascho Rempel, Biosciences Librarian, Oregon State University Libraries

OLA will be served well by these new officers. Much appreciation to the other candidates on the slate: Dolores Judkins, Ted Smith, and Suzanne Sager, and to Susan Barnes Whyte who served with me on the Nominating Committee. Thanks for voting…

Mary Ginnane, OLA Past-President, mjginnane@comcast.net

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***Support Staff Division Gateways Conference
Registration is now open for Gateways 2010, the 16th annual conference of Oregon Library Association’s Support Staff Division. https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=ola&formId=82926 (You can see the whole program on the registration form.)  I’m extremely pleased to be able to say that our “Sweet 16” conference looks to be excellent. I had tough choices to make for every single session.

Highlights:
Past OLA President, Oregon City Library director and strong support staff backer Maureen Cole will be giving the keynote address.

Carolee Harrison of PSU will be leading an all-day book repair workshop.  If you have never attended one of these, or have never been able to attend a hands-on session, get ready for a wonderful experience.  You will learn, and you will reinforce what you learn with expert guidance.  Just what the book doctor ordered.

Other topics include:  On the Front Lines: Support Staff and Intellectual Freedom; Serving Patrons with Disabilities; Treasures from the Vaults: Special Collections in Oregon Libraries; Stable Libraries, Stable Jobs; Author, Author (a session on support staffers pursuing writing careers; and the ever-popular A Day in the Life of a Library Assistant.

Amenities include a breakfast buffet, lunch, basket raffles, and many opportunities to network with your peers.

The conference will be held Friday, July 23 with registration and breakfast from 7:30-8:30, and runs from 7:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. at the Salem Conference Center ( http://salemconferencecenter.org/ ).

This is going to be a good one.  I hope to see you there!

Susan Gilmont, SSD Chair
Guin Library, Hatfield Marine Science Center|
541-867-0162
susan.gilmont@oregonstate.edu

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***Oregon Reader’s Choice Award Logo Contest
Since the ORCA award is so new, we stand in need of a logo!  Folks on the ORCA committee thought it would be super-cool if an Oregon youth designed the logo.  Thus, the contest was born.

The contest is open to all Oregon children who are able to take part in ORCA voting.  We hope to have the logo in place by the beginning of the 10/11 school year in order to coincide with our back-to-school publicity campaign.

The Oregon Library Association’s ORCA Book Award Logo Contest will include artwork submitted between Monday June 14, 2010 and Friday August 13, 2010.  No entries will be accepted after that date.  The winning design will be used for all Oregon Reader’s Choice Award materials, such as posters, bookmarks, forms, flyers, etc.

The ORCA is intended to be a fun and exciting way for Oregon youth in grades 4-12 to become enthusiastic and discriminating readers.  During the course of the school year, Oregon students choose their favorite book in a real-life democratic process.  For more information on the ORCA, please visit: http://www.olaweb.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=109508

For full details on submitting an entry, contact Trey Imfeld, trey.imfeld@albany.k12.or.us.

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***Call for Articles: OLA Quarterly Winter Issue
The OLA Quarterly’s Winter Issue will be about librarians and libraries that are “Doing More with Less: Creative Strategies in the New Economy.” Librarians and library staff are a resourceful and creative group. This issue is about using that creative resourcefulness to meet user needs.

• Are you trying to meet patron needs with fewer funds than ever before?
• How are you reaching out to patrons in the new economy?
• What kinds of partnerships are you developing / have you developed to meet needs?
• What creative ideas has your library successfully implemented, using the talents of staff, faculty, and / or volunteers to make the best of the challenging economic climate?

Please send a brief summary (250 words or less) of your proposed article by July 15^th, 2010 to Tricia Juettemeyer at tjuettemeyer@aii.edu.  OLA Quarterly author guidelines are available here: http://web.memberclicks.com/mc/page.do?sitePageId=64570&orgId=ola.

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June 15, 2010 (Vol. 16, No. 11) – Happenings

Keeping Up with NW Central / Hood River Libraries to Close / Online NW Call for Proposals

***Keeping Up with Northwest Central
Training for library staff is more important than ever, especially when that training is affordable and accessible.  The Northwest Central website (www.nwcentral.org) is a gateway for locating free webinars, tutorials, and other low and no-cost learning tools.  The Events listings on Northwest Central (available in list or calendar view) is available to find training opportunities in your region or online.  The Resources listings include presentations, handouts, weblinks and other learning tools for your type of library job.

RSS users!  Please note that if you subscribed to NWCentral RSS feeds before the major site upgrade (March 2010), you will need to subscribe again; our apologies for the inconvenience.  A list of custom feeds is available at http://www.nwcentral.org/rss .  RSS feeds are a great way to learn about upcoming library trainings in your region and new resources for your job, so everyone is invited to take advantage of this service.

Northwest Central is a community-driven project supporting library learning, and the library community is being stretched thin in these lean times.  Please support strong libraries by sharing your training resources on Northwest Central.  Post workshops, conferences and meetings to the Events Calendar, and share your favorite links, tutorials and other learning tools.  More than ever, we need to share our resources to be able to keep up and thrive.

Send questions or comments to admin@nwcentral.org, and thank you for your support of community-driven library continuing education.

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***Hood River Libraries to Close
From a press release dated May 28, 2010:

“…Hood River County won’t be the first in Oregon to close its library system because of budget cuts.  But on July 1, it will become the only county in Oregon without a functioning library system.  County Librarian June Knudson has already begun preparing for the closure of libraries in Hood River, Parkdale and Cascade Locks.

The closure is the result of two key decisions. In September 2009, the county’s Board of Commissioners decided to discontinue funding library services in the 2010-11 budget year. To prepare for that, they convened a task force to propose an alternate funding plan. That task force earlier this year proposed and the Board endorsed a ballot measure to create a separate library district with its own taxing authority. Voters defeated that proposal May 18.

… Hood River County Administrator Dave Meriwether says that if a second ballot measure were to be proposed for creation of a Hood River County Library District, Sept. 2 is the deadline for getting something on the November ballot.

He said the 2010-11 budget contains no Plan B funds for bailing out the library. It includes only $20,000 to pay for basic utilities until the long-term future of the library is resolved.

Michael Schock, chair of the Library Foundation board and co-chair of the task force that proposed the defeated library district plan, said the situation has become complicated.  “We had a very simple, straightforward answer, and with the failure of that measure, all options are on the table,” said Schock.

The proposal asked support for a maximum property tax rate of 70 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. At the full amount, the levy would have cost an additional $140 a year in taxes for the owner of a house assessed at $200,000, and raised an estimated $1.19 million.

Schock said the group that proposed the ballot measure is now reviewing options and trying to identify a plan that would make sense.”

Contact June Knudson (june.knudson@co.hood-river.or.us) for more details.

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***Online Northwest 2011 Call for Proposals
Online Northwest is a one-day conference focusing on topics that intersect libraries, technology and culture.

The conference explores how technology is being applied within library settings and how technology is affecting library patrons and services.   Academic, public, school, and special librarians are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.

For information on submitting a proposal or lightning talk visit: http://www.ous.edu/onlinenw/ .

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June 1, 2010 (Vol. 16, No. 10) – News

ACRL-Or Award for Excellence / Oregon Libraries on Twitter / Nominations for OLA Support Staff Division needed

***ACRL-OR Award for Excellence
The ACRL-Oregon Award for Excellence is given annually to an individual or group whose project or ingenuity has significantly improved Oregon academic libraries or librarianship.

The award will be presented at the ACRL-Oregon/Washington Fall Conference (October 28-29, 2010 – Menucha Retreat and Conference Center) and the winner(s) will also be recognized at the Oregon Library Association Annual Conference Award Ceremony (April 6-8, 2011 – Salem). The winner(s) receive registration to the ACRL Oregon/Washington Joint Fall Conference, a stipend to attend the OLA Award Ceremony, and an engraved plaque.

Who can be nominated:
Any individual or group that includes at least one employee of an academic library in Oregon may apply.  The initiative or project that is the basis of the nomination must have occurred in the previous three years.  This is NOT a lifetime achievement award and ACRL-OR membership is NOT required to win this award.

The nomination form is available at: https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=ola&formId=66029
Deadline: Nominations must be received by Friday, July 23, 2010 (11:55pm)
Questions: Please contact Garrett Trott (gtrott@corban.edu or 503-589-8116).

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***Oregon Libraries on Twitter
Because there has been some interest of late about how libraries in Oregon use social networking, I thought folks might be interested in this list of libraries in Oregon using Twitter: http://twitter.com/oregonstatelib/oregon-libraries-archives/members

If your library has a Twitter account and would like to be included on the list, please let me know.  (Please also let me know if any of the listed accounts aren’t official library accounts and shouldn’t be included.)

For academic librarians in particular: the ACRL-Oregon Board is seeking Oregon academic librarians who tweet on professional issues so we can add your feed to the ACRL-Oregon Blog. Let us know if you are interested!

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***Nominations for OLA Support Staff Division needed
Please consider nominating yourself or someone else (with their express permission) for a position on the Oregon Library Association / Support Staff Division Board. The election is in July at the SSD annual conference. If you are a current Board member, consider running for your current position or try something new! The positions are:

• Chair-Elect – 1 year term, acts as Chair the following 1 year term, acts as Past Chair for a 1 year term
• Recorder – 1 year term
• Treasurer – 2 year term
• Archivist – 1 year term

You may be wondering just what the Support Staff Division is. Our bylaws state:

The purpose of the Support Staff Division shall be to provide a framework for information sharing, continuing education and moral support for all library support staff. Specifically, the aims are to provide a forum to encourage new ideas, discuss concerns and solve problems; promote awareness of library issues; inspire and promote professional growth through networking, conferences, workshops and mentoring; exchange ideas on processes, systems, and policies; provide a medium for the exploration of new ideas and technologies; foster cooperation among all Oregon libraries in all the various public and technical areas throughout the library; and to increase awareness in the library community of the evolving roles played by support staff.

Position descriptions per our bylaws are as follows:

• Duties of the Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect
  Assumes the office of Chair after one year as Vice Chair.
  Assists the Chair; becomes familiar with the By-laws and procedures of the Association and Division. Attends meetings and chairs meetings in the absence of the Chair.
• Duties of the Treasurer
  Has approval authority for all expenditures below $250.00. Obtains signature of Division Chair for all expenditures above $250.00 (two signatures are necessary for expenditures above $250.00). Submits bills and receipts to OLA Treasurer.
  Maintains records of all expenditures and profits for the Division.
• Duties of the Recorder
  Records minutes of the Division’s Executive Committee Meetings.
  Assures each Executive Committee member receives copies of the meeting minutes before the next meeting.
• Duties of the Archivist
  Maintains all historical data, scrapbook and photo album of SSD conference and other events, including keeping conference programs and accompanying material.

For more information about the Oregon Library Association and the Support Staff Division, visit our website at www.olaweb.org.  Please call or email if you have any questions. And email your name if you’d like to nominate yourself. I’m ready and waiting!  Thank you!

Cathy Zgraggen
Deschutes Public Library
cathyz@deschuteslibrary.org
541-312-1094

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June 1, 2010 (Vol. 16, No. 10) – Happenings

***Tualatin Library Awarded Excellence in Environmental Design
Awarded by GE Edison, 2009
The Tualatin Public Library received an international award for sustainability in a competition held in Germany and Las Vegas in May 2010. The remodel and renovation of the Tualatin Library was the only Pacific Northwest project to receive this prestigious award.

Tualatin Public Library opened its renovated library in July, 2008. A member of the Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS), Tualatin Public Library circulates more than 660,000 items annually and hosts over 900 programs for children, teens, adults and families a year.

More information about the Excellence in Environmental Design at http://bit.ly/aweFcn

May 15, 2010 (Vol. 16, No. 9) – News

OLA Quarterly Call for Articles / PLD Nominations / SSD Nominations / OLA Legislative Committee Updates / DIGOR Officers

***Call for Articles: Fall issue of the OLA Quarterly on “Openness”
Libraries are fundamentally committed to openness, and we try to be accessible and transparent to the people we serve. But that commitment goes beyond just making our materials and services open; it also includes the people, infrastructure, content, and decisions upon which we rely to deliver those materials and services. The Fall 2010 OLA Quarterly will be devoted to how libraries are taking openness to new levels, and how that affects our operations and patrons. Topics could include:

• Open institutional data repositories
• Open source software
• Open management styles and decision-making processes
• Open government principles
• Open content and free culture
• Open access publishing
• Openness on the reference desk and in public service
• Open Courseware and open education

Of course, we’re open to related topics! Send your article proposal ideas by Friday, June 4th, to Buzzy Nielsen at bnielsen@cclsd.org. Proposal ideas need not be long, but please include some details on the direction of the proposed article and how it fits with the issue’s theme.

For a list of guidelines for potential authors, check out: http://web.memberclicks.com/mc/page.do?sitePageId=64570&orgId=ola.   

Back issues of OLAQ are available on OLA’s website at http://www.olaweb.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=64573&orgId=ola.

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***Nominations for PLD needed

The Public Libraries Division of OLA is currently soliciting nominations for the 2010-2011 year.  New positions will start in September 2010.

Please contact Todd Dunkleberg (toddd@deschuteslibrary.org) by June 4 if you are interested in a Board position.  We will be holding elections in late June for 2 director-at-large positions (2-year terms), Secretary, and Vice Chair/Chair Elect.

The Public Library Division of OLA represents all public libraries in Oregon.  We offer support through the creation of standards for public libraries.  We also develop programs to support your continuing education.  Joining the Executive Board is a great way to network with public library staff from around the State.  Board positions are open to public library employees at all levels.

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***Nominations for OLA Support Staff Division needed
This is a 2^nd request for nominations. Please consider nominating yourself or someone else (with their express permission) for a position on the Oregon Library Association / Support Staff Division Board. The election is in July at the SSD annual conference. If you are a current Board member, consider running for your current position or try something new! The positions are:

• Chair-Elect – 1 year term, acts as Chair the following 1 year term, acts as Past Chair for a 1 year term
• Recorder – 1 year term
• Treasurer – 2 year term
• Archivist – 1 year term

You may be wondering just what the Support Staff Division is. Our bylaws state:

The purpose of the Support Staff Division shall be to provide a framework for information sharing, continuing education and moral support for all library support staff. Specifically, the aims are to provide a forum to encourage new ideas, discuss concerns and solve problems; promote awareness of library issues; inspire and promote professional growth through networking, conferences, workshops and mentoring; exchange ideas on processes, systems, and policies; provide a medium for the exploration of new ideas and technologies; foster cooperation among all Oregon libraries in all the various public and technical areas throughout the library; and to increase awareness in the library community of the evolving roles played by support staff.

Position descriptions per our bylaws are as follows:

• Duties of the Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect
  Assumes the office of Chair after one year as Vice Chair.
  Assists the Chair; becomes familiar with the By-laws and procedures of the Association and Division. Attends meetings and chairs meetings in the absence of the Chair.
• Duties of the Treasurer
  Has approval authority for all expenditures below $250.00. Obtains signature of Division Chair for all expenditures above $250.00 (two signatures are necessary for expenditures above $250.00). Submits bills and receipts to OLA Treasurer.
  Maintains records of all expenditures and profits for the Division.
• Duties of the Recorder
  Records minutes of the Division’s Executive Committee Meetings.
  Assures each Executive Committee member receives copies of the meeting minutes before the next meeting.
• Duties of the Archivist
  Maintains all historical data, scrapbook and photo album of SSD conference and other events, including keeping conference programs and accompanying material.

For more information about the Oregon Library Association and the Support Staff Division, visit our website at www.olaweb.org.  Please call or email if you have any questions. And email your name if you’d like to nominate yourself. I’m ready and waiting!  Thank you!

Cathy Zgraggen
Deschutes Public Library
cathyz@deschuteslibrary.org
541-312-1094

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***Updates from the OLA Legislative Committee
A year-long project is completed!  OLA now has guidelines for libraries concerned with identity theft.  These are available on the committee’s web site and suggestions are welcome.  Thanks to Caleb Tucker-Raymond for making a few already.   http://www.olaweb.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=100902

Also, we have written the 2009 report on the state of public management of Oregon’s libraries. We intend to do an annual report that gives a snapshot of the state of Oregon’s public libraries.  This is available on the OLA web site.  http://www.olaweb.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=101736  An interesting piece is our comparison of statistics on the Jackson County Library system.

Finally, the Oregon library community worked together in the last session to pass HB2586 that requires school districts to plan for quality school libraries.  Recently, OASL developed materials for people to use in implementing HB2586.  http://www.oasl.info/resources/HB2586.html  We are still waiting for the more formal OARs to be finalized.

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***DIGOR Announces Officers
Documents Interest Group of Oregon officers for the coming OLA year are:

• Chair: Jey Wann (Oregon State Library)
• Secretary: Liz Paulus (Cedar Mill Community Library)
• Chair-elect: Valery King (Valley Library, Oregon State University)
• Past chair: Arlene Weible (Oregon State Library)

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May 15, 2010 (Vol. 16, No. 9) – Happenings

***Going to Washington, D.C.?
If you are going to the ALA Conference or just being a tourist, you can stop by Senator Merkley’s office on Thursday mornings at 9am (SR-107).  He hosts a weekly coffee and these are open to constituents who just want to say hi or bend his ear.  You can call the Senator’s office for details – 202-224-3753.  Also, if you want to know what to say if asked about library issues, contact the ALA Washington Office – Kristin Murphy, 202.628.8410, kmurphy@alawash.org