The Development of the Iowa Library Association Support Personnel Forum

At the urging and with the administrative support of Parks Library, Iowa State University, four support staff members attended the Support Staff Interests Membership Initiative Group focus sessions at the 1991 ALA Mid-Winter Conference. In a somewhat parallel manner, the Iowa Library Association sponsored spring meetings featuring Kathleen Weibel, "I Work in a Library but I'm not a Librarian." Attending these workshops sparked the interest of Pam Williams, Iowa State University. She investigated and found that Faye Clow, Director of the Bettendorf Public Library, had already petitioned the Iowa Library Association (ILA) to establish a Support Staff Roundtable. An informational meeting was held at the ILA Fall Conference in Sioux City, October 17, 1991. Twenty individuals listened to Pam present background, and summarize information received from other state organizations. An exchange of ideas followed with a consensus to proceed with officially establishing a Roundtable as part of ILA. The necessary number of member signatures were collected and approval given by the ILA Executive Board.

Guidelines for establishing a roundtable required 15 dues-paying members, ability to be self-supporting, and submission of an agenda. Janet Bennett, ISU; Bill Musser, Luther College; Cathy Cottrell, Boone Public; Sheryl Bissen and Shealey Sieck, Grinnell College; Carol Kayser, Cedar Falls; Della Taylor, UNI; Robin Chaney, Waterloo; Kathryn Bly, Kirkwood Community College, and Pam Williams, ISU, met at the ILA Springbrook Planning Retreat, November 4-5, 1991. Bylaws, goals, purpose, dues ($2), membership drive, and responsibilities for the next Fall Conference were decided on and planned for. The committee approved the following goals:

1. To establish the organization structure for the Support Personnel Roundtable.

2. To promote support personnel membership in ILA and the Roundtable.

3. To send a letter of recruitment to all Iowa libraries targeting support personnel membership.

4. To increase visibility of the Roundtable by attending all appropriate workshops and meetings.

5. To have an ILA Support Personnel Roundtable contact person in every library.

6. To develop a professional identity for support personnel positions.

7. To work with ILA and sponsor a workshop for support personnel during spring meetings.

8. To improve communication and networking among library support personnel across Iowa and the nation.

9. To promote cohesiveness among support personnel statewide.

10. To motivate support personnel to give the best possible service to their libraries.

11. To foster positive working relationships with all library staff.

12. To establish awards and recognition of deserving persons and organizations.

Officers in 1992 were Pam Williams, ISU, Chair; Carol Kayser, Cedar Falls Public, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Janet Bennett, ISU, Secretary/Treasurer. The Roundtable had many highlights that first year including: creation of a logo (support personnel are the bookends holding together our libraries), a needs assessment survey, a membership directory, a square contributed to ILA's unity quilt, a promotional/informational booth at the ILA Innovation Fair, and co-sponsoring two conference speakers. Bill Musser, Sheryl Bissen and Shealey Sieck did a great job bringing in Kathleen Weibel, Fostering Unity in the Workplace: Support Personnel and MLS Librarians as Teammates. We co-sponsored (with Resources & Technical Services Forum) Patricia Eskoz, Cataloging with Support Personnel.

The Roundtable had 67 members in 1992.

In 1993, Carol Kayser, Cedar Falls Public Library was chair; Sheryl Bissen, Grinnell College, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Pam Williams, ISU, Secretary/Treasurer. The membership continued to grow and we petitioned for status as a Forum (more than 50 members) rather than a roundtable. This pushed the requirement for adoption of by-laws into high gear, and Carol expended considerable effort fine-tuning and rewriting. Membership reached 80 members.

At five spring regional meetings, our activities included an ergonomics presentation, cosponsoring a 2-hour session on "Librarians and Support Personnel at the Same Desk: Making the Most of this Partnership," and a 1 hour session cosponsored with the Public Library Forum called ‘Public Image and Correct Attire." A newsletter was sent to all members, and we tried to host a low-cost, one-day support personnel conference. Low registration forced cancellation of this first attempt at planning, promoting and executing our own conference. This minor disappointment only motivated executive committee members to evaluate our strategies and prepare for a 1994 event.

Personal growth on the job, and identifying strengths and weaknesses were the topics addressed in the session "Self Knowledge: the Ethanol of Excellence." Suzanne Mahmoodi was the presenter for this session sponsored by the SPF at the 1993 Fall Conference. In addition, the group sponsored a scholarship for registration fees to this Conference.

In 1994, Sheryl Bissen began a term as chair of the Forum; Kathryn Bly, Kirkwood Community College, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Shealey Sieck, Grinnell College, Secretary/Treasurer; Mary Lohr and Susan Knippel, ISU, were members at-large. One of the goals of the leadership of the Forum was to provide a one-day, low-cost conference for support personnel. This became a reality in September when Grinnell College hosted a conference with the theme "Strengthening Libraries through Support Personnel." Registration had originally been set at 50, but due to increased demand, Grinnell graciously extended accommodations to almost double that number. The conference included sessions on the Internet, dealing with disruptive patrons, and basic reference services.

A newsletter and updated membership directory were published. At Spring Meetings, the Forum sponsored a speaker from the Iowa Division of Labor addressing ergonomics in the workplace. At the ILA Fall Conference, the Forum sponsored "Finding Motivation in the Workplace" by Bernie Saggau. Angela Paul, AIB in Des Moines, received a $125 scholarship from SPF to attend the ILA Fall Conference.

1995 officers were Kathryn Bly, Kirkwood Community College, Chair; Nancy Medema, Bettendorf Public, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Jalois Crotty, Scott County Library System, Secretary/Treasurer; Martha Lubaroff, Iowa City Public, at-large member. 77 people requested membership in SPF. The 2nd annual SPF Conference, "Strengthening Libraries through Support Personnel" was held at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Four workshops were offered. Kathleen Collison-Good, a Kirkwood faculty member and social worker, presented Too Much Work and Not Enough Time-How to Keep a Positive Attitude. Gretchen Revie, Grinnell, spoke on intellectual freedom issues. Jo Pearson and Steve Hess, CMF&Z Ad Agency, Cedar Rapids, discussed Netiquette: E-Mail Ethics. A panel consisting of Sandy Dixon, State Library, Mary Estle-Smith, Iowa City Public, Pam Williams, ISU, and Nancy Medema, Bettendorf Public, led a discussion on Training and Supervision of Student and Part-Time Workers. Eighty-eight persons attended the day’s events.

At ILA’s fall conference, SPF sponsored Tinker Massey, archivist at the University of Florida and nationally know speaker. She led two sessions entitled Library Support Staff: Your Career. Laury Zwart, Sioux Center Public Library, received the $125 conference scholarship. (This scholarship was discontinued after this conference due to lack of applications.)

Sheryl Bissen headed fund-raising efforts and sold many coffee mugs adorned with the SPF logo. Some of our members branched out and served on ILA central committees; Sheryl Bissen, conference planning, Carol Kayser, finance, Leanne Alexander, membership, and Martha Lubaroff on the spring meetings planning committee.

In 1996, with 65 members, SPF officers were Nancy Medema, Bettendorf Public, Chair; Martha Lubaroff, Iowa City Public, Vice-Chair Chair Elect; Jalois Crotty, Scott County Library System, Secretary/Treasurer; Pam Williams, ISU, and Carol Bellairs, Clarinda Public, members at-large. September 11, 1996, the third annual Support Personnel Forum Conference was held at the Starlite Village, Ames, Iowa. Speakers were Sharma Smith, the State Librarian; Sandy Dixon, from the State Library; Sarah Mort, UNI; and Emily Navarre, Southeastern Library Services. Mugs, T-shirts, and pins were sold as a fundraiser.

ILA’s Fall Conference, Challenge of Change, was held October 9-11, in Waterloo, Iowa. Pam Williams compiled a membership directory.

1997 had 62 members.

1998 had 64 members. Jalois Crotty, Scott County Library System, Chair; Carol Kayser, Cedar Falls Public Library, Vice Chair; Gloria Cobb, Kirkwood Community College Library, Secretary/Treasurer; Amy McGraw, Independence Public Library, and Nancy Medema, Bettendorf Public Library, At-Large. On September 10, 1998 we held "Strengthening Libraries Through Support Personnel V, at Grinnell College.

1999 had 59 members with Carol Kayser, Cedar Falls Public, Chair; Amy McGraw, Independence Public, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; The year 2000 had 61 members and SPF officers were Amy McGraw, Independence Public, Chair; Pam Williams, ISU, Vice-Chair; Nancy Medema, Bettendorf Public, Secretary/Treasurer; Kim Tovar Waterloo Public, and Beth Cox, Grinnell Public, At-Large Members. Strengthening Libraries through Support Personnel VI was held at Hawkeye Community College, Tama Hall, on April 13, 2000. Speakers were Carol French Johnson, ILA President; Marie Harms, Clive Public, "New Technology Trends for Libraries;" and David Moore, Peoples Memorial Hospital, "Ergonomics in the Workplace." ILA Fall Conference, Libraries Enrich Iowa Communities, was held in the Scheman Building, Ames, Iowa, October 18-20. SPF sponsored Annamarie Erickson, CSO/Librarian, Epixtech Inc., Chicago, Illinois, speaking on Distance Education for Paraprofessionals. Ms. Erickson created a web-based Library Technology Degree allowing paraprofessionals to obtain certification via the Internet. SPF also co-sponsored with the Public Library Forum a panel discussion entitled Making Connections. The panel consisted of Susan Craig, Director, Iowa City Public; Ann Dobbs, Information Services Librarian, Ames Public; Dawn Hayslett, Assistant Director, Ames Public; Susan Kling, Director, Marion Public; and Martha Lubaroff, Business Office Manager, Iowa City Public and past SPF executive officer. They examined communication techniques between staff and administration, setting up staff development days. SPF’s web site went up on the Iowa Library Association web page. The plan was to have the membership directory posted at this site; however, the membership didn’t send back acceptance forms for posting this information. The idea was dropped, but the web site continued with SPF History, Officers information, Conference information, etc. Three newsletters were sent and web posted during 2000. 2001: the challenging year. At the business meeting in 2000, Chair Pam Williams made a plea for leadership. At that time, SPF had no candidates for any of the executive committee positions other than chair. Discussion followed on disbanding, foregoing future SPF conferences, etc. Clearly, one person could not handle such a large undertaking. Two wonderful people stepped forward, Leanne Alexander, Iowa State University, as Secretary/Treasurer and Kim Tovar, Waterloo Public Library as Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect. The SPF conference was put on hold until additional leaders step forward. We had approximately 50 members. Newsletters, personal correspondence with members and the web site were highlighted. SPF co-sponsored (with the Computer Forum) a pre-conference at ILA’s annual fall meetings. E-Lessons@Your Library: Teaching the Internet to the Community, featuring Gail Junion-Metz, Librarian and President, Information Age Consultants, Hershey, Pennsylvania; Paulette Groet, Library Technician; Susan Hasso, Administrative Assistant; Nancy Simpson, Director, Oskaloosa Public Library; and Darlas Shockley, Dean of Learning Resources, Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa.

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Last updated: December 2, 2004