MHLS Board Meets @Esopus

The MHLS Board of Trustees hold an "away" meeting each year at a member library. On Wednesday, May 21, the board met in the Hasbrouck Community Room of the Town of Esopus Library and:

• Thanked Kelly Tomesecki, Director of the Town of Esopus Library for hosting the meeting;
• Welcomed new Greene County representative, Lisa Baker Brill, to the meeting;
• Announced the resignation of Ulster County representative, Jennifer Lange, effective August 1;
• Went into Executive Session to discuss a personnel issue;
• Reviewed the System's State Aid Budget Application and reviewed and approved the 2008-2009 Central Library Basic State Aid Application;
• Reviewed the draft of the System's Quality Measures Assessment document;
• Reviewed the System's Interlibrary Loan activities.The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9th at 10:00am in the MHLS Auditorium.

The MHLS Board of Trustees is made up of three representatives from each of the five counties served by MHLS: Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam & Ulster. You may meet representatives from your county at your library as trustees make their way around their counties doing what we call "Board-to-Board Visits." To learn more visit http://midhudson.org --> MHLS Board of Trustees, or get there directly at http://midhudson.org/meetings/board/main.htm

MHLS Libraries
MHLS member libraries have reported $81,566,182 in construction needs through the 2008 Construction Needs Update Action Memo. Nineteen libraries plan to apply for the 2008-2009 State Aid for Public Library Construction. The estimated price tag on projects libraries are planning to apply for totals over $1.6 million. MHLS receives about $550,000 to divvy up to members.

Director Update:

• MHLS welcomes Robert Reilly as the acting director at the Pawling Free Library.
• Tracy Priest has been named as interim director for the Catskill Public Library. Some of you may have met Tracy in her capacity as the branch manager at the Palenville branch of the Catskill Public Library.

Professional Development
YALSA Online Courses: The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of the American Library Association (ALA), opened registration for three online courses this summer: "Reaching Teens with Gaming" (Beth Gallaway); "Making the Match: The Right Book with the Right Teen at the Right Time" (Teri Lesesne); and "Tech Tools for Teen Leadership" (Linda Braun). All courses last six weeks and meet July 7-August 18. To read course descriptions, please visit http://www.ala.org/yalsa and click on "Online Courses." YALSA's summer courses cost $149 for YALSA members, $195 for ALA members and $215 for nonmembers.

Resource Sharing & Millennium
Millennium Notices: At the Small Libraries Roundtable discussion, held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library last week, it was evident that some libraries are unclear about Millennium Notices. Notices are generated for your library based on certain triggers in Millennium circulation, such as due date. These notices accumulate until they are no longer valid. Your library should have a regular schedule for printing most notice types. It is not only important to inform your patrons about their overdue items in timely and regular intervals, but also the unprinted messages are using system resources that could be allocated elsewhere. Look for more information at midhudson.org --> Resource Sharing --> Printing Notices or get there directly at http://midhudson.org/resource/millennium/notices/printing_notices.htm. Contact Laurie with any questions 845.471.6060 x21.

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding
"What are you free2 do - or be - thanks to your library?" That's the marketing theme of a new campaign just launched by Bay Area libraries in Northern California. The idea is to "reintroduce communities to their local libraries." The campaign includes a Free2Contest, which invites people to describe, in 25 words or less, what they are Free2Do at their library. [http://www.WeAreFree2.org] -As seen in Library Hotline, 4.21.08

Library Advocates Converge on the Capitol: More than 400 librarians and library supporters converged on Washington, D.C., May 13-14 for the American Library Association's 34th annual National Library Legislative Day. They came from as far away as Hawaii and from a variety of libraries to lobby their members of Congress on such issues as copyright, telecommunications, and funding. "Vote for Libraries!" was the message of the day and the enthusiastic crowd set out to bring that message to their senators and representatives. Learn more about federal legislation impacting public libraries at the American Library Association's Washington Office web site.

Protecting Patron Privacy: The American Library Association announced that it has received a $350,000 seed grant from the Open Society Institute. The grant will launch a three-year public engagement initiative to inspire library patrons and Americans to stand with librarians as they fight to usher in privacy standards for the digital age.

• Check out the MHLS Patron Privacy Statement
• Order a packet of the Public Libraries & Patron Confidentiality bookmark on the MHLS Online Material Request form (free)

Reference & Collection Development
Brush up on Reader's Advisory with the new issue of the Central Library Bulletin. The issue is filled with tips and resources for library staff looking to improve their reader's advisory skills. Also included in this issue is a listing of recent Central Library acquisitions. Find the Spring 2008 issue, and previous issues, at http://midhudson.org --> Reference and Collection Development page. Or get there directly at http://midhudson.org/CL/enews/vol2_iss2.pdf. A copy is enclosed with this week's Bulletin.

Youth Services
Teen Read Week 2008 is October 12-18, with a theme of Books with Bite @ your library, encouraging teens to read, just for the fun of it. Learn more at http://www.ala.org/teenread

Administration & Management
2009 Emerging Leaders Application Process Now Open: The American Library Association (ALA) is now accepting applications for the 2009 class of Emerging Leaders. Applications can be found at http://cs.ala.org/hrdr/emergingleaders/. The deadline to apply is July 31. The program is designed to enable more than 100 new librarians to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership. Participants are given the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, network with peers and get an inside look into ALA structure and activities. An ALA division, round table, ethnic affiliate, state chapter or AASL Affiliate will sponsor approximately one-third of the selected applicants. Each sponsor will contribute $1000 towards expenses ($500 for each conference). To be sponsored, apply directly to your division, chapter or round table on the application. A list of sponsoring units is included as part of the online application.

ALA Professional Tips Wiki: http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php

Job Openings
Reference librarian(s) sought for evening reference desk service, Monday - Thursday, 6:00 - 10:00pm, year-round. Position may be shared or may be filled by one person. Responsibilities include general reference assistance and occasional special projects. MLS degree, knowledge of academic research resources, and strong technology skills required. Previous reference experience preferred. $21/hour. Position available July 1. Send resume to Barbara Petruzzelli, Library Director, via e-mail at petruzze@msmc.edu or by mail to Curtin Memorial Library, Mount Saint Mary College, 330 Powell Ave., Newburgh, NY 12550. Applications accepted until position is filled.

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.