I have been working at Multnomah County Library, as a page, for over 6 years. I started at the Gresham Library, then I moved to the Belmont Library, followed by my first full time job at the Rockwood Library, and then I moved to the Central Library in downtown Portland and worked there from 2006 to 2010. At the start of 2011 I was promoted to Clerk and have worked at the Sellwood and Central libraries in that role, and have subbed at another 6 branches as a clerk as well as 14 as a page.
In my tenure at library I have served on and have held leadership positions on several committees for the Multnomah County Library, on a City/County Task Force, and for Multnomah County. My first exposure to committees while I was at Rockwood was the Branch Safety Committee, I served 1 and 1/2 years with them, and helped inventory the chemicals used at the branch and helped update the Material Safety Data Sheets for that branch and for others.
When I moved to the Central Library I joined the Multnomah County Green Team and have been its vice chair and chair. I have been the project leader for our outreach at Earth day the last 2 years, have been on the film series sub-committee since it was formed, and helped expand the Reuse-A-Shoe project to several of the libraries for 5 of the last 6 years. I am using this group as a vehicle for a project that I feel very strongly about, creating sustainability conscientiousness change throughout Multnomah County. We will do this through developing a training, based on the work of University of Oregon Professor Bob Doppelt, that will encourage a paradigm shift within individuals, teams, and departments. Once we have the training fully developed we could offer it to local businesses, non-profits, and other organizations interested in working through these challenges.
I was an inaugural member of the Toxics Reduction Strategy Steering committee. This is a City/County Task Force attempting to lessen or eliminate the toxins released in daily operations at the City and the County. While on this committee I wrote a charter for the Lighting Procurement and Disposal Sub-committee and served as liaison for the Chemical Inventory Sub-committee. I also organized and recorded a podcast for a member of Oregon Center for Environmental Health (OCEH) to educate our co-workers and the public about chemical body burden from cosmetics and other personal care products,and its how their use has negative effects on our health.
I helped form and was the inaugural chair of the Library Environmental Team, an environmental group at the library. We have replaced some cleaners with safer, cheaper alternatives, helped institute a rigid plastic (CD/DVD case) recycling project, we have composting at 2 libraries, and have several other initiatives such as our Sustainability Manual that captures our current sustainability options. We are looking at to create a safer, more healthy work environment and to make our work become sustainable.
Due to my work on environmental issues I have been asked to discuss, with the other Multnomah County sustainability liaisons, how to create thriving environmental teams at the other County Departments. I have been asked to present information on greening libraries at a regional librarian conference, and offered assistance to a grad student in Kalamazoo, MI (Western Michigan University) to set up an environmental group at their library. I will also gave a presentation at the national Public Library Association (PLA) Conference in 2010 on greening your library while saving money at the same time.
Through my union leadership I have been on several committees as a union representative. I have been on the 2007 and 2011 Bargaining Teams where we worked hard to maintain our benefits while adding new innovative language around flexible scheduling and sustainability at the county. Other committees and teams include: Employee Benefits Team (EBT), 30 Hour Committee (our victory ensured that previously under insured part-time workers at the county were given the health insurance benefits they deserve), Library Employee Relations Committee, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Steering Committee, and the LMT scheduling sub-committee. I will be an advisor to the still to be formed Alternitive Scheduling Team (created with the new 2011 contract).
