Millennium Downtime

The Millennium Server Upgrade will result in some downtime at your library.

Downtime begins on Tuesday evening June 5th through Wednesday, June 6th.

We have scheduled the replacement of the “Gigcat” server, on which our circulation system and database runs. The new and more powerful server will be installed in an overnight process beginning 6:00pm on Tuesday June 5th. The installation and testing will continue through the morning of the next day, Wednesday, June 6th and will hopefully be concluded by noon. In doing the process overnight we hope to minimize the inconvenience of not being able to access the system, but completely eliminating it is impossible.

In order to prepare for the brief downtime, please review and consider the points below.

-Does your library have the latest version of the offline client (OCIRC) installed on at least one of your circulation desk computers? The version you should be running is 7.0 To find out which version you have open it and go to “help” then “about”. To get the download instructions go to http://midhudson.org/resource/Millennium/Offline/Instructions/9.pdf

-Is your staff familiar with starting and using the offline client? Have a “fire drill” and test their skills and comfort levels. Complete setup and procedures for OCIRC can be found at http://midhudson.org/resource/Millennium/Offline/Instructions/Millennium_Offline_Circulation.pdf

-Will the online catalog be available? No - All Millennium services will be unavailable until the process is complete. You may consider posting a notice for patrons and let staff know in case patrons call or ask.

-Will SAM be affected? No – We have made arrangements to remove the link to Millennium from the patron authentication process.

If you have any questions remaining, please contact Laurie Shedrick at x21 or lshedrick@midhudson.org.

MHLS Announcements
During the June 7th DA meeting, at 11:30 Gene Nescot will come to speak about the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan for about 30 minutes. The New York State Deferred Compensation Plan is a supplemental retirement savings plan that gives you the opportunity to add to you future pension and Social Security benefits. Annual participant fee is $14. Contributions to your account are not subject to federal or NYS income taxes until you receive them, so they reduce the amount of income tax you pay today. Contributions are deducted directly from your salary each pay period; you may change the amount you contribute at any time. There are a variety of investment options to choose from. Learn more at: http://www.nysdcp.com.

Professional Development
Reminder: Black Belt Librarians: Security That Works! Workshop is coming up on Friday, June 1st. Cost of the workshop is $25 for MHLS member libraries. Lunch is included. Please send checks, made payable to MHLS, to: MHLS Business Office, 103 Market St., Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. Mark ‘Black Belt' on the check. You will be officially registered when your check is received.

Resource Sharing & Millennium
At the May Directors Association meeting the group approved the Record Deletion Schedule recommended by the MHLS Resource Sharing Advisory Committee: "The Resource Sharing Committee recommended that the deletion of item records be done after 3 years, during the first quarter of the new year. This includes items lost & paid, discard, claims returned, missing, and billed."

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding
Future National Library Week dates:
2008: April 13-19
2009: April 12-18
2010: April 4 -10
2011: April 10-16

Reference & Collection Development
The MHLS Central Library / Collection Development Advisory Committee recently reviewed the ALA Guidelines for Establishing Local History Collections and noted that member libraries may want to adopt them locally: http://www.ala.org/rusa/stnd_gen_local.html.

Fiction Last Copy Policy & Procedure: During the weeding of your collection, please note if an item is the last copy in the system.
1. Rethink your decision to weed it - you may want to keep the last copy in your collection.
2. Last copies of adult fiction titles that are listed in the current Wilson Fiction Catalog* should not be discarded. Send them to Adriance Memorial Library, attn. Lauren Muffs.
3. Last copies of children’s and YA are recommended to be kept by your library if they are in the Wilson Catalog. Do not send them to Adriance Memorial Library.
* Contact Sue Hermans [shermans@poklib.org] for Wilson Fiction Catalog ID and Password [http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/login.jhtml?_requestid=1977]

Now through HOMEACCESS you and your patrons have direct links to all the E-Books we carry from the Gale Virtual Reference Library! No longer do you have to drill down to get into the title - each title is directly accessed with one click. Your library has the full text of each of these reference books through your computer:
· Encyclopedia of World Biography
· Business Plans Handbook Vol. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10
· Encyclopedia of Small Business
· Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce
· American Civil War Reference Library
· American Revolution Reference Library
· Americans at War
· Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
· Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
· Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages
· History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide
· Major Acts of Congress
· Contemporary Poets
· Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
· Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer
· Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders
· Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
· Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health
· Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations
· Biology
· U*X*L Encyclopedia of Science

The New York State Newspaper Project, located at the NYS Library, ceased operation on January 31, 2007, after almost twenty years locating, cataloging, and preserving New York State newspapers. The Project was responsible for filming over 4.37 million pages of New York State newspapers. As part of the United States Newspaper Program (USNP), and funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Project staff inventoried 1,759 newspaper repositories, cataloged 22,785 distinct newspaper titles, with 10,537 of those published in New York State, and created 66,065 local holdings records with issue-specific data. Newspapers were microfilmed and added to the State Library’s collection, making the papers available on-site to patrons and available through interlibrary loan. A copy of the film was also provided at no cost to the institution loaning the newspapers. Information about newspapers in the State Library’s collection, and a link to the Project’s database of microfilmed and original New York State newspapers searchable by city, county or title are available on the Library’s web site at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp.

Trustee Resources
Top Ten Warning Signs for Boards
1. Lack of available documentation on the organization’s by-laws, charter, mission statement, organization chart, and prior year financial statements.
2. Lack of independent attitude or excessive conflict among trustees/board members.
3. Infrequent board meetings. Absence of board minutes.
4. Poor board attendance at meetings.
5. Lack of access to key, fiscal, budget, program, and operations information.
6. Lack of access to the chief financial officer.
7. Existence of conflict of interest relationships or less than arm’s length transactions between the institution’s board members and organizations that conduct business with the institution.
8. Lack of internal financial controls and written policies and procedures to safeguard, promote, and protect the organization’s funds and other assets.
9. Lack of involvement in the hiring of key employees.
10. Failure to file documents with key control agencies such as the NYS Education Department, Internal Revenue Service, and NYS Department of Taxation and Finance.
[Source: The University of the State of New York’s Statement on the Governance Role of a Trustee or Board Member, 2007 Edition, http://midhudson.org/trustee/duties/main.php]

Job Openings
The Pleasant Valley Library is looking for a friendly, efficient, computer experienced circulation clerk to work 25-35 hours a week. Every other Saturday a must. 625-3226.

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