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Vol. 13-06                                                                                                                     2.5.13
Advocacy Day in Albany!

Library Advocacy day in Albany is on Tuesday, March 5th! MHLS Member Library staff, trustees, Friends and patrons are encouraged to attend. Sponsored by the New York Library Association (NYLA), our goal is to help legislators understand how they can best serve their constituents through the support of libraries and Systems in the State budget. To make an impact on March 5th in Albany we need lots of library supporters, from every legislative district in the System!

 

The Governor's Proposed Budget holds library funding even with last year, retaining the 3% restoration in aid gained during last year's legislative and advocacy season. That is good news. This brings library aid back to a level even with funding levels from sixteen years ago. This is not good news. There is work to be done.

 

The Governor has proposed a 4.4% increase for education aid, library supporters are asked to help raise awareness amongst legislators and the Governor that libraries are part of the education infrastructure in New York and are, in fact, chartered by the Board of Regents, just like schools. Libraries should see, at least, the same 4.4% increase.

 

FYI: More good news! The $14 million for library construction aid was included

in the Governor's budget! 

NYLA Advocacy Day on Tuesday March 5th provides library supporters from around the state with the opportunity to reach out to legislators together - our message is stronger when we deliver it together!

 

MHLS makes it easy: We make all the appointments and have a System staff person at each one to help get the conversation started with your legislators. We will supply you with talking points and tips for telling the meaningful stories of how library and system services improve lives in your local community.

 

Jump on the bus! There will once again be a bus running up the NYS Thruway picking up library supporters along the way! Avoid the parking hassle in Albany! Thanks to donations from area Friends Groups the bus ticket price is down to $12 this year! Register for the bus through the Ramapo Catskill Library System:  http://calendar.rcls.org/ Bus registration and payment deadline for the bus is February 25.

 

Driving up on your own? Register through MHLS: http://calendar.midhudson.org/ Directions and parking information are available on NYLA's web site: http://www.nyla.org/ (click on "Advocacy Day," under Calendar)

 

Pre-Advocacy Day Events, Monday, March 4th: Workshops - including a Legal Issues Clinic for Libraries with "library lawyers" Bob Schofield and Ellen Bach - and the New Yorkers for Better Libraries Political Action Committee's gala event are held in Albany the day before to get everyone revved up for Tuesday. The speaker at the March 4th PAC dinner in Albany will be David Vinjamuri, the Forbes columnist who wrote the recent article, "Why Public Libraries Matter and How They Can Do More": http://onforb.es/VJwBsU 

Resource Sharing & Millennium

Two new features have been added to the MHLS Book Club in a Bag Reservation System (powered by KitKeeper):

  • Recently added titles now display first! Click on List and the titles that have been recently added to the program are displayed at the top (listed alphabetically by title). Please note this feature does not work if you sort by author.
  • You can now sort Book Club in a Bag kits by age group. Click on List and choose Adult, Juvenile or Young Adult under the drop down menu entitled "All Age Groups. "
Check it out at  http://midhudson.org/bcb/
Marketing, Advocacy & Funding

Upcoming Advocacy Related Training:

 

Advocacy Boot Camp is a good place for directors, staff, trustees and Friends to get a basic understanding of how libraries and the System are funded, who key decision-makers are and message delivery tips.

Tell It Like It Is: Using the Power of Storytelling to Advocate for Your Library with professional storyteller Lorraine Harin-Gelardi and Rebekkah Smith Aldrich on Tuesday, February 19th from 6-8pm @Millbrook Library.

 

Please register online for MHLS Workshops:  http://calendar.midhudson.org/  

Administration & Management

The Long Island University's Palmer School of Library and Information Science's Public Library Administrators Certificate Program is coming to the Hudson Valley this spring in partnership with the Westchester Library System. The program is a five-course, graduate level management program; each course is equivalent to a three-credit hour graduate course at the Palmer Institute. Learn more about this certificate program at http://bit.ly/V1idLr. Costs average $1,150 per course. Classes meet at the Westchester Library System headquarters at 540 White Plains Road, Suite 200, Tarrytown, NY 10591. The first course, Principles of Public Library Organization and Management, meets Wednesdays, 9:00am to 1:00pm, on March 13, 20, 27, and April 3, 10, 17, 24, and May 1. The announcement, application and contact information can be downloaded at  http://midhudson.org/ce/admin_cert.pdf  

Job Openings

Library Director, Newburgh Free Library: Library Director III (Provisional appointment), effective July 1, 2013. Qualifications: Master's Degree in Library and Information Services from an ALA accredited university; NYS Public Librarian Certificate; Four years of experience in a Public Library setting is required; 1 year experience which is supervisory or administrative is preferred; and Evidence of Continuing Education or Post graduate work. General Statement of Duties: This position will provide leadership in the planning and development of all public library initiatives, will prepare and oversee the administration of the library's 4.2 million dollar budget, supervise a staff of 40 (FTE) including 12 Full time professional librarians and review, maintain and evaluate the library's holdings of 310,000 items. This position is a competitive Civil Service position and is classified as Confidential/ Managerial. Reply must be received in the Human Resource Office of the Newburgh Enlarged city School District by 4:00pm on February 13, 2013. Contact Mary Ellen Leimer, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources at 845.563.3463 or [email protected].

MHLS recommends that the minimum starting salary of a full or part-time librarian with an MLS degree be at least equal to that of a teacher with a master's degree in the same community.

 

Member Libraries are welcome to submit items of interest and job openings to the MHLS Bulletin: [email protected]

The MHLS Bulletin is available on line at http://midhudson.org/bulletins/main.htm.