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Vol. 14-12                                                                                                                      3.25.14
Lives Change @your library

Celebrate National Library Week 2014 (April 13-19, 2014) with the theme Lives change @ your library! This year's Honorary Chair is Judy Blume.  

 

"Libraries and librarians have a powerful and positive impact on the lives of Americans on a daily basis. Their stories are key to communicating the value of libraries. National Library Week is the perfect opportunity to encourage your community to tell the story of how the library has changed their life." -American Library Association (ALA) 
 
National Library Week hashtags: #liveschange and #nlw14

ALA has provided this downloadable "word bubble" PDF to help you ask your patrons to put into words how the library has changed their life, a great opportunity for all libraries to capture wonderful anecdotes to use in their newsletter, web site and through social media. They would also make for a pretty eye catching display in your library!  

 

Access the PDF, sample press releases, PSAs and more! 

MHLS Announcements

The NYS budget negotiations are underway and we should learn the outcome later this week. MHLS would like to thank all of the library supporters throughout the Mid-Hudson region, your voice was heard! Here's how we know that:

  • The Senate continued their positive track record by including an additional $8 million for library aid. This amount would fill in the cut from the Governor and match the Governor's proposed increase for Education Aid which is exactly what the New York Library Association has been advocating for.
  • For the first time in many years the NYS Assembly proposed an increase to library aid in their one-house budget bill. They proposed an amount that would roll back the Governor's cut and add $2 million to library aid from last year.
  • $14 million for public library construction aid is included in both house budget bills.

Only time will tell the fate of library aid, but all messages from Albany so far are very positive! Thank you for speaking up and stay tuned!

MHLS Libraries

MHLS Welcomes New Directors to Member Libraries:  

 

Jen McCreery has been named the new director at the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison. Jen was previously the interim director and a staff person at Desmond-Fish before being named as director.

 

Brooke Dittmar has been named the new director at the Town of Esopus Library. Brooke was previously the interim director at the Chatham Public Library.

 

The Marlboro Free Library is promoting Money Smart Week, a public awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances, an effort coordinated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The Library will host programs related to finance, fraud, and saving money. Local professionals will be sharing their knowledge about how residents can become more money smart! The library has organized programs on shopping and couponing tips, avoiding scams and identify theft, budgeting and debt management. The library is also hosting a shredder truck event!

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding

Don't Miss Out! Over 30 member library Friends have already registered for Signature Fundraising Events with Cassie Guthrie. This workshop will be held in the MHLS Auditorium (105 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY) on Wednesday, April 2 from 4:30-6:30pm. Please register online

Youth Services

The New York State (NYS) Library has launched DaybyDayNY, an early literacy website designed to engage families and very young children in reading, learning and public libraries. DaybyDayNY is an important component of Ready to Read at New York Libraries, a new statewide program designed to help library staff further enhance and expand their early literacy services and programs.

 

DaybyDayNY is a virtual calendar with content that changes every day. This unique setup gives families with young children numerous daily activities and a story to read together. The story, provided each day by One More Story, is in the form of an eBook that includes original music and sound effects, produced by former Sesame Street Music Director, Robby Merkin.

 

In addition, the website includes monthly activities, storytelling and nursery rhyme videos, rhymes for young children, craft activities for children and their caregivers, a link to "Find Your Public Library," a New York State map of museums with activities for young families, health information, and reading lists. The website is designed to help parents and caregivers increase their young child's cognitive skills and have fun together at the same time.

Administration & Management

OverDrive Reports: At the March 2014 Directors' Association meeting MHLS Assistant Director Merribeth Advocate provided a demonstration on how member library directors can access OverDrive Reports such as:

  • Titles that have a waiting list
  • The number of checkouts by your patrons this month
  • How many of your patrons are registered to download from OverDrive
  • How to see if your promotional activities increases the number of registered patrons
You can use the general login provided at the link found below or contact Merribeth at  [email protected] to create a custom "marketplace" login for your library that will also enable you to buy additional titles directly for the shared collection. For more information on OverDrive statistics and the new additional reports available go to  http://midhudson.org/collection/overdrive.htm#statistics.

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 online at http://midhudson.org/bulletins/main.htm.