Connecting With Yes Voters

The Campaign Institute continues with its third installment - "Connecting With Yes Voters" on Thursday, June 8th from 9:30am - 1:00pm in the MHLS Auditorium. Presented by Libby Post, President of Communication Services in Albany, this workshop is designed for library staff, board and Friends groups, this workshop will teach attendees how to maximize voter contact and track voter response for a successful campaign. The workshop will cover:

· What is voter contact?
· How to set up and maintain your computerized voter database.
· How important are Door-to-door and phone contact efforts?
· Why have a Friend-to-Friend campaign?
· How will we put all this data to use?

Register online through the MHLS calendar by going to http://midhudson.org and clicking on Calendar OR get there directly at http://www.midhudson.org/evanced/lib/eventcalendar.asp
This workshop series is part of Mid-Hudson Library System's Getting to Yes LSTA Grant Project for 2006. To find out more information about Getting to Yes visit http://midhudson.org/GTY/main.htm

MHLS Libraries
The Mid-Hudson Library System's Heath Information Project (HIP) implemented the "Exploring Careers in the Health Field" conference on April 28th at the Kingston Library. Funded by the Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center (CHAHEC), 59 eighth graders attended and heard from five health professionals, two Ulster BOCES New Visions interns from Benedictine Hospital and a HIP Teen Intern from the Kingston Library. The grant will also fund the acquisition of health career materials for the Kingston and the Town of Ulster Libraries. CHAHEC sponsors activities that promote healthcare awareness and inform youth about healthcare careers. MHLS member libraries may want to request funding for their own related programs. For funding requirements and further information, contact Barbara Clapp, HIP Coordinator, at 845.471.6060 x 23; bclapp@midhudson.org, or CHAHEC at chahec@hvi.net .The organization maintains the very informative, interactive "My Health Career" at their site http://www.catskillhudsonahec.org.

The Howland Public Library in Beacon launched a book review blog, featuring a few books recently added to its collection. All reviews have direct links to the Online Public Access Catalog so that "Request-A-Title" can be used immediately. This is Howland's third blog, all are accessible through the library's web site at http://beaconlibrary.org/.

The Board of Trustees of the Marlboro Free Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Christina Jennerich as Assistant Director. Christina joins the Library staff with 6 years of reference experience. In her new role at the Marlboro Library, Christina will provide the public with library and customer support services and work with the director to develop library programming, fundraising and public outreach initiatives.

The New York Council for the Humanities has awarded the Kent Public Library a "Speakers in the Humanities Program" grant that will allow us to host a series of four free lectures. Entitled "Immigration: A Continuing Story," the series will be offered at the library on four consecutive Wednesdays beginning May 10. Each lecture starts at 7:30pm and lasts about an hour. Led by professors who are recognized scholars in this field, each session focuses on a different aspect of immigration in America. Dates, titles, and speakers are listed below. To register, please call the library at 845.225.8585. To learn more, please visit http://www.kentlibrary.org/programs.html.
­ Wednesday, May 10, 7:30pm - "New York City's Lower East Side: A Revolving Door for Immigrants" Dr. Thorin Tritter, Princeton University Lecturer and Program Coordinator
­ Wednesday, May 17, 7:30pm - "Italian American Comedy: From the Immigrant Era to the Present" Dr. Salvatore Primeggia, Professor of Sociology, Adelphi University
­ Wednesday, May 24, 7:30pm - "Cuidad y Suburbia: The Changing Nature of Latino Immigration" Professor Sherrie Baver, Department of Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, The City College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
­ Wednesday, May 31, 7:30pm - "America as the Promised Land: The Immigrant Story" Professor Melvyn Dubofsky Bartle, Distinguished Professor of History, Binghamton University, SUNY

Professional Development
Got scrapbooks of local interest? You will want to attend the Preservation of Scrapbooks workshop, Tuesday, May 16 at the Mid-Hudson Library System Auditorium. Instructor: Deb Wender, Director of Book Conservation, NEDCC Scrapbooks and albums present some of the most complex conservation and reformatting challenges to staff of the cultural institutions in which they are held. Composed of varying materials adhered to often acidic pages, albums and scrapbooks frequently need to be reformatted in order to preserve the intellectual information. Discussion will focus on:
- Selection and preparation for reformatting
- Structures, types of materials, and methods of attachment and their implications for preservation and conservation
- In-house, low-cost preservation strategies
This workshop is designed for staff members interested in preservation options for scrapbooks and will address conservation and reformatting issues that arise when dealing with these unique books. Participants are invited to bring examples for examination and discussion during the last segment of the workshop. Class size is limited to 20 students. Information at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/cp/workshop.htm#Preservation, registration at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/cp/regform.htm

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding
Web Site Calendars: Many of you are using calendars.net for your library Web site calendars. Some of you have reported difficulty in getting to your calendar - when clicking on the link you sometimes get the message File Not Found. If this happens, hit Refresh on your browser. But note that if this is happening to you it is also probably happening to your patrons, which interferes with your communication of library programs. Calendars.net calendars are a free product, and so successful that their servers are getting literally tens of millions of hits per month. When the free server gets multiple hits in the same second, the result can be a few second delay = File Not Found. You will want to consider moving to their Premium Server for an annual fee of $36, which has 99% less traffic and provides a faster, more consistent response.
Info about upgrading to the Premium Server at http://www.calendars.net/merging.htm#premium. You do not have to re-do your calendar, they just move it over to the new server. Contact Merribeth Advocate, Outreach and Education Coordinator, at x54 or madvocate@midhudson.org if she can be helpful with your library Web site calendar.

Reference & Collection Development
National Archives Web Site Launches Spanish Portal (http://www.archives.gov): For the first time, the National Archives web site now includes a Spanish portal.The new "Espanol" portal, which is linked from the top of every page on the web site, provides basic information to Spanish-speaking customers about records, services and exhibits at National Archives facilities nationwide.

Job Openings
Poughkeepsie Public Library District:
Library Assistant (hourly) - two positions in Youth Services Department of busy urban library serving a diverse community. Requires four-year degree with preference given to applicants who have previous experience working with young children. Competitive Civil Service position as well as CSEA.
Salary $14.27 per hour; minimum 17.5 hours per week.
Library Assistant (full-time) - one position in Reference and Adult Services Department to provide programming and outreach to high school aged young adults in a busy urban library serving a diverse community. Requires a four-year degree with preference given to applicants who have previous experience working with high school students. Competitive Civil Service position as well as CSEA. Minimum salary is $33,369; 35 hours per week.
Librarian I or II (part-time; dependent on qualifications) - one position in Reference and Adult Services Department to provide reference service and some collection development in a busy urban library serving a diverse community. Requires ALA/MLS. Non-competitive Civil Service position but CSEA. Minimum salary $22.49 per hour; maximum 17.5 hours per week.
All positions require evening and weekend rotation. To apply, send letter of application and resume to Poughkeepsie Public Library District, 93 Market
Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 or send them as an e-mail attachment to jobs@poklib.org.

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.

The MHLS Bulletin welcomes submissions from member libraries at bulletin@midhudson.org. The MHLS Bulletin is available on line at http://midhudson.org/bulletins/main.htm.