Leon Karpel , 87

Leon Karpel, the second executive director in the history of the Mid-Hudson Library System (1961-1978), passed away August 12th at the age of 87. While most of us did not overlap with Leon, his legacy lives on to this day.

Within a year of his appointment to the position of executive director then board president, Mr. Elwyn noted the “confidence, respect and warm regard” he inspired,
“I should like to say that Leon Karpel’s performance, and his watchdog attitude toward the taxpayer’s dollar are very reassuring to the System Trustees who are responsible for the way the System is run and the way your money is spent.”

In the 1964 “5 Year Review” of the Mid-Hudson Library System Leon put into writing his desire for a shared vision for the System: “We need you to tell us what you want to do to better serve your community and then, together, we can get the job done.”

The entity that is the public library system in New York had just been established in 1959. When Leon took over the System it was barely two years old. Upon his retirement in 1978 it was noted that “with no guide but with forthrightness” Leon was able to generate the necessary buy-in from staff and member libraries to stabilize and grow the System during its formative years.

Leon’s own parting comments as he retired revealed his commitment to working in partnership with the member libraries,
“Any success that Mid-Hudson has had is not due to any one individual. It’s due to its component parts…the Board of Trustees…, the staff…, and it could not succeed without the member libraries. If all the libraries did not cooperate, there would be no System.”

MHLS Announcements
The MHLS 48th Annual Meeting will be held at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park on Friday, October 5th beginning at 9:00am with lunch served at 11:30am. Our guest speaker this year will be Marilyn Johnson, author of The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. Marilyn wrote The Dead Beat after writing obituaries for Katherine Hepburn, Princess Diana, Jackie Onassis, Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, and Marlon Brando for Life. She has been a staff writer for Life and an editor for Esquire. Her articles, reviews, essays, and poetry have appeared in many publications. This year's Continuing Education Session will be "The Next Generation of OPACs,” presented by Susan Wagner of Innovative Interfaces, Inc. from 9:00 – 9:30am in the Danny Kaye Theater. Following our speakers and business meeting lunch will be held at the Ristorante Caterina de’Medici. This year’s menu will be:
Appetizer: Crepes Au Gratin with Swiss Chard & Ricotta Cheese
Entrée: Rosemary Grilled Chicken with Soft Polenta & Braised Greens
Dessert: Espresso-soaked Lady Finger with Mascarpone Cream & Seasonal Fruit
Invitations have been sent out this week. Each library will be guaranteed three seats. Extra guests will be accommodated as space permits. Registration is required. Please RSVP by September 14, 2007. Directions to the CIA are available at http://midhudson.org/annual/directions.pdf.

MHLS will be closed Monday, September 3rd. There will be no deliveries.

Professional Development
Circulation Essentials, presented by Laurie Shedrick, MHLS Automated Systems Manager will be held on Wednesday September 26th from 1:00-3:00pm in the MHLS Auditorium. The basics in Millennium Circulation designed for new library staff, but open to all who would like to attend. This workshop provides introductory, baseline information about Millennium including common circulation and patron data entry tasks. The workshop will cover:
· Patron Records-How, when and why we create patron records
· Checkin / Checkin for the Bookdrop
· Checkout: Dealing with it all from pop-up messages to missing parts
· Holds: How they work and what you need to know to keep on top of the process
· Fines and fees: How fines work, how to create and add manual fines, waiving, fine history
· Printing notices: Pages, bills, overdues, hold pickup
· Entering items at the circ desk
· Neat tricks-things to save you time and work!
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

Reminder: SEAL ILL System Review Sessions
Presented by Judy Fischetti, Southeastern New York Library Resources Council's Member Services Librarian. At the end of this workshop you will be able to: Search for and request material in SEAL; Request items using a "Saved List"; Identify requests needing action; Respond to conditional replies, cancel requests and renewal requests; Delete old ILL requests from your queues. Register for one of the following sessions through the MHLS web calendar at
http://www.midhudson.org/evanced/lib/eventcalendar.asp
· Wednesday, September 5, 9:00am-12:00pm at MHLS Auditorium (105 Market Street, Poughkeepsie)
· Friday, September 7, 9:30am- 12:30pm at Kingston Library (55 Franklin Street, Kingston)

Programming
Libraries help kids prepare for kindergarten. The Beekman Library is holding a “Get ready for kindergarten” program this week for children who are entering kindergarten in September. The program includes “a fun morning of stories, crafts and snack. We will talk about starting kindergarten and make a bus out of an egg carton.” Other libraries, including Hyde Park Free Library and the East Fishkill Community Library, hold a mock-kindergarten day where the children hear stories about going back to school and discuss bus and school rules and safety.

Youth Services
The Need to Weed: As work has proceed on the new Kids' Catalog this summer it has become very apparent that there are some very outdated titles in the catalog, especially in time-sensitive areas like Health and Science. The committee working on this project begs you to look at your own collection, pull the old material and throw it away. (Don't put it in your library's book sale!) The general wisdom is that it's better not to have any titles on a specific health topic than to risk having a patron read a 35 year old book, especially for children's materials where kids might not realize the information is obsolete. Use your judgment but be realistic (and a little ruthless!) Weeding resources on the MHLS web site: http://midhudson.org then Reference & Collection Development then Collection Development or get there directly at http://www.midhudson.org/collection/collection/development.htm

Job Openings
The Board of Trustees of the Beekman (NY) Public Library seeks to hire a qualified professional to serve as our new Library Director. The Director will be responsible for leading and inspiring a staff of ten (10) employees in the management of the Library’s day-to-day operations, in addition to personnel administration and budget oversight supporting our new $1.4M Library building. The Town of Beekman, NY, is a dynamically growing and expanding community located approximately 70 miles north of New York City, in the beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State, with a population of over 13,000 residents. The competitive candidate will possess, at minimum, a Masters of Library Science degree, in addition to practical library management experience of at least three (3) years. This is a competitive position with a provisional appointment. Salary: $45,000 - $55,000 a year, depending on qualifications, including a comprehensive benefits package. Qualified candidates will submit a cover letter, resume and letters of reference to: Lisa O’Brien-Censi, President of the Beekman Library Board of Trustees, c/o Beekman Library Board of Trustees, P.O. Box 793, Poughquag, NY, 12570. Information may also be sent electronically to: lisa.censi@hotmail.com. The deadline for applications is September 15, 2007, or until the position is filled.

Part-time librarian trainee needed. Providing direct public service at a reference or children's services desk; training and assisting library patrons in utilizing library resources, including technology resources. Applicants must be currently enrolled in, and actively in the process of completing an MLS from an ALA-accredited university. Hours: 4-10 hrs/week. Must be able to work flexible hours (including evenings and weekends). Salary: $15.00 per hour, Mondays-Saturdays; $19.25 per hour, Sundays. Send or fax: Cover letter and resume to the attention of Sara Rodgers, Head of Reference, Dobbs Ferry Public Library, 55 Main Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522; Phone: 914.693.6614; Fax: 914.693.4671; e-mail: dobref@westchesterlibraries.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.

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.