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Vol. 13-28                                                                                                                    7.9.13
Search for New MHLS Director Begins

The Board of Trustees of the Mid-Hudson Library System seeks an experienced library leader - responsive to member, staff, and community needs and skilled in focusing the efforts of a team of talented professionals - as its next Executive Director.

 

MHLS, a regional consortium of public libraries, works in partnership with its member libraries providing access to excellent library services for 650,000+ NY residents. With a $3 million annual budget and 17FTE, MHLS is a member-focused organization with a reputation for providing continuing education for member library directors, trustees and staff, and strong outreach services to its diverse membership including support for innovative technologies.  

 

The Executive Director serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Library System, and under the general direction of the 15-member Board of Trustees, has overall responsibility for general administration of System operations. The Executive Director supervises all managers and staff -and works with the Board, staff, member libraries, and major stakeholders to establish the strategic vision for the System aligning its mission, with member library and community needs and priorities. This is complex executive work planning, directing, managing and overseeing the activities and operations of the System.  

 

Qualifications: An ALA-accredited Master's Degree in Library Science; the ability to obtain and retain a New York State Public Librarian Certificate; and a minimum of eight years of post MLS experience including two years of which must have been in an administrative capacity. Essential attributes and skills include: vision, creativity, energy and enthusiasm; superior written and oral communications skills; meaningful public library experience; flexibility; political acumen; collaborative and consensus-building skills; experience in recruiting, mentoring, evaluating and retaining an excellent staff; and a desire to continue the tradition of excellence and innovation within the System. See the  Executive Director Job Description for additional responsibilities and detailed qualifications. Success working with and reporting to a governing board and working in a union or civil service environment are additional preferred qualifications.

 

The hiring range is $100,000-$120,000 (dependent on experience and qualifications) with an attractive benefits package. For complete qualifications, responsibilities, and application information, please visit http://www.gossagesager.com/MHLSad.htm.

 

This position closes August 11.

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding

Customize Templates and More with the Latest Release of LibraryAware: The latest release of LibraryAware includes a much-requested feature: the ability for administrators to customize templates. This feature gives your library the power to customize layouts with content, photos, fonts and colors and then save the template for your organization. Also included in the release are expanded reporting and viewing options, including:

  • Publication schedule: Provides, at a glance, a look at the upcoming items that have been scheduled for release. Filters and tools on the page make it easy to manage all publications from one place.     
  • Promotion reports: Displays expanded metrics for each promotion, including clicks, views and opens.        
  • Widget contents: Displays the contents of each widget and makes it easier for users to see and manage all the slides from one convenient location.

Three new formats are also now available: postcards, wide bookmarks, and rack cards.

 

Questions about getting started with LibraryAware? Visit  

 http://midhudson.org/libraryaware.htm or contact MHLS Marketing & Program Assistant Kerstin Cruger: [email protected].

Professional Development

Two Upcoming Events @MHLS: 

  • Adult Programs: What's Hot & What's Not Friday, July 12th from 10:00am-12:00pm in the MHLS Auditorium.    
  • Fundraising Idea Exchange / Friends Support Group on Wednesday, July 17th from 4:30 - 6:30pm in the MHLS Auditorium.  

Register online today at http://calendar.midhudson.org  

Reference & Collection Development

Thanks to the NOVELNY program through the New York State Library your patrons have access to new resources through HOMEACCESS: http://midhudson.org/databases/ 

 

Gannett Newsstand Complete contains over 85 Gannett newspapers, 6 of which are New York newspapers. These include the Ithaca Journal, Poughkeepsie Journal, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Journal News (White Plains), Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton) and Star-Gazette (Elmira).

 

KidsInfo Bits is designed especially for students in kindergarten through grade five. Complete with an engaging, developmentally appropriate graphic interface, premier reference content and the best magazines for elementary students, Kids InfoBits addresses the way kids learn and conduct research - and makes it fun! For a fact sheet and title list visit http://www.gale.cengage.com/InfoBits/more.htm 

  

eLibrary Elementary contains more than 130 magazines, newspapers, books, transcripts, maps, images, weblinks, and audio/video titles, all selected as appropriate for elementary school studies. The colorful, graphical K-6 interface is designed specifically to engage and guide younger students. Find quality information from eight different media types:

  • Magazines. Provides more than 40 full-text titles that cover children's and general interest publications. Popular titles include Children's Playmate Magazine, Cobblestone, Ranger Rick, Time for Kids, and Sports Illustrated for Kids
     
  • Newspapers. Track trends and follow current events with eight full-text titles including the Los Angeles Times, Times of London, and USA TODAY
     
  • Books. Place information and topics in context using more than 40 full-text reference books such as the Columbia Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica Intermediate Ed., Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, and The World Almanac
     
  • Maps. Find over 5,000 topological, historical, thematic, and interactive maps from sources like Maps.com and MapQuest.com
     
  • Pictures. Explore more than 400,000 photos and images-both current and historical-of art and architecture, animals and plants, people and places, and more. 
     
  • TV & Radio Transcripts. Get the final word on broadcast programs with over 30,000 transcripts from popular TV and radio programs like CBS Evening News and CNN. 
     
  • Audio/Video. Use more than 14,000 streaming audio and video files to bring events and processes to life. Clips include historical footage, current news programs, animations of how things work, and more. 
     
  • Weblinks. Search the web more effectively using more than 100,000 editor screened and selected websites indexed by topics appropriate to K-6 study.

Quick Start Guide for eLibrary Elementary:http://bit.ly/15rcqk8 

 

Please note: NOVELNY access to both Primary Search (which includes Kids Search & Searchasaurus) from EBSCO and Twayne's Author Series from GALE ended on June 30th, 2013.

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.