Support Staff Interest Group

Submitted by Judith Thompson-Verdi

Annual Report

6/22/2009

ALAO-SSIG
Annual Report 2008-09

The Support Staff Interest Group participated in numerous online collaborations and met seven times during fiscal year 2009. A recap of the year’s highlights is included in this annual report.

August 2008: SSIG members met at Ohio Wesleyan University to review the success of the 2008 workshop and begin planning for the fall ALAO annual conference. Initial discussion and planning for the Spring 2009 workshop at Washington State Community College was begun.

October 2008: During the ALAO annual conference in Wilmington, Ohio, SSIG members met to prepare for conference activities. SSIG sponsored and hosted ALA-APA Director Jenifer Grady as a session speaker. Ms. Grady’s session covered the inspiration, development and progress of the Library Support Staff Certification Program. Also during the conference, SSIG presented its annual Award of Excellence to Bobbi Bishop of Heidelberg College and its Award of Appreciation to Louis Mays of Southern State Community College. The SSIG board displayed at the conference presented an overview of the group along with information about the upcoming 2009 workshop.

December 2008: Based on tasks and responsibilities identified during the October 2008 meeting, a spring workshop action plan was developed to facilitate online collaboration and follow-up for the workshop.

January 2009: Ohio Wesleyan University was the site of SSIG’s first meeting in 2009. The purpose of the meeting was to review in earnest plans for the spring workshop. Workshop budget items were discussed and approved. Additional marketing efforts were identified to spur registrations. During this meeting, discussion was initiated to change the group structure to one incorporating co-chairs. It was agreed that future meeting locations would alternate between Southern State and a central (Columbus area) location.

March 2009: On March 6, SSIG met at Washington State Community College to cover last minute details for the spring workshop, tour the facilities, and assemble handout packets for workshop attendees. The March 27 workshop ran from 9:00 to 3:00 with 32 people attending. Keynote speaker Kerry Strayer of Otterbein College started the day off with an inspiring session based on “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”

April 2009: SSIG met at Otterbein College on April 24 for its final meeting of the fiscal year. A critique of the spring workshop identified those things that were done well as well as potential improvements for future workshops. Information was shared on the newly-adopted board policy for the Support Staff Presenter Grant. Upcoming changes to the ALAO website were briefly discussed and SSIG members learned that in the future, interest group chairs will be trained to post changes on the site for their respective groups. An upcoming meeting coordinated by Doug Moorison will gather past and present SSIG individuals to revitalize SSIG.


Submitted by:
Judith Thompson-Verdi, Chair
June 17, 2009