Last week in Albany hundreds of library supporters got some encouraging news - the New York State Senate is proposing a $3 million restoration to library aid. If successful, this will result in a small step in the right direction (library aid needs a $20 million boost to get back to statutory funding levels, or "full formula funding.")

However, this is not final yet. We are still waiting to hear the Assembly's proposal for library aid restoration, if they match the Senate's proposal it is highly likely to happen, otherwise there will be a period of negotiation about library aid before the target budget completion date of March 21st.

Advocates used the History of Library Aid chart, available at http://bit.ly/Zgp9X3, to give legislators and their staff a visual aid to help them understand how far behind library aid has fallen.

Library advocates will need to continue their work right up until the budget passes. The New York Library Association has their Online Advocacy Center ready and waiting for library advocates to use, but never forget - a phone call goes a long way! Don't be shy, call up your legislators and express your support for their support of library aid restoration. Contact info for your legislators and a link to the NYLA Online Advocacy Center can be found at midhudson.org.

Area Friends Groups Make it Happen!
Fourteen member library Friends Groups joined the Foundation for Hudson Valley Libraries to help underwrite the buses to Albany that carried over 100 regional supporters up to Library Advocacy day. We know how hard Friends Groups work to earn every dollar and how valuable their efforts are, we thank them for investing in library advocacy this year!

Thanks goes to:

• Friends of the Brewster Public Library
• Friends of the Greenville Public Library
• Friends of the Library of Haines Falls
• Friends of the Howland Public Library
• Friends of the Kinderhook Memorial Library
• Friends of the Kingston Library
• Friends of the Mahopac Public Library
• Friends of the Pine Plains Free Library
• Friends of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District
• Friends of the Red Hook Public Library
• Friends of the Saugerties Public Library
• Friends of the Starr Library in Rhinebeck
• Friends of the Town of Esopus Library
• Friends of the Phoenicia Library Association

Save the Dates!

• Hacking, Making & Creating Webinar, March 29
• Readers Advisory Training, Catskill, April 9
• Readers Advisory Training, New Paltz, April 11
• Book Repair Workshop, MHLS, April 12
• Sierra Users Group, MHLS, May 9

Check midhudson.org for more information.

Get Ready! Online Catalog Enhancements Coming Soon! MHLS will be implementing the NoveList Select online catalog enhancement to improve readers advisory for patrons through the catalog. If your library's public access OPAC stations are locked down to prevent browsing sites other than the catalog, you will need to add the following entries to your "white list" directory:

• ebscohost.com
• Contentcafe2.btol.com
• Goodreads.com
• S.gr-assets.com
• Nextreads.com

Sierra Update:

• New documentation has been uploaded on the Resource Sharing page of midhudson.org. Please refer to this page for future updates and procedural documentation.
• If you haven't sent updated initials, you will use your current Millennium initials to access the Sierra test database.
• Not all permissions and functions are usable in the Sierra testing environment.
• The Sierra testing environment uses a license. If you receive an "all ports in use" message then close Sierra and that will free up a license.

For libraries with web sites hosted by MHLS: You can now get access to your web site statistics, provided through Google Analytics, on your own! Contact MHLS IT Coordinator, Robert Drake for more info: rdrake@midhudson.org.

Summer Reader Online Record Software: Since 2010, the New York State Library has offered statewide access to Summer Reader, an online summer reading registration tool developed by Evanced Solutions, to every MHLS member library as a component of "Summer Reading at New York Libraries." Summer Reading is a web-based online summer reading registration system that allows children, teens and adults to track their reading, log books read, monitor the prizes they've won, write reviews, and more. More information is available at http://bit.ly/XUCjHZ