Building Your Base

Want to get groups you’ve never seen before to use your library? On the lookout for ideas to freshen up marketing, outreach and programming? Then the new MHLS Building Your Base Toolkit [http://midhudson.org/byb/] is for you!

This online resource is filled with tips and tricks to help you use targeted marketing approaches to connect more effectively with new facets of your community. Target marketing is a way to identify and tailor your communication methods for a specific group of people you’d like to reach. It’s an approach worth considering for the following reasons:
(1) The climate for library funding is more competitive than ever before making it critical to steadily build community support for your library.
(2) It enables you to create new and stronger connections in your community.
(3) It empowers you to work smarter rather than harder in your marketing efforts.

Visit the online toolkit to learn the 4 Steps to Effective Targeting and:
- View sample targeting materials to get ideas.
- Get fresh programming ideas and resources.
- Discover tips for communicating better with your patrons online.
- And more…

Start building new inroads in your community today. Visit http://midhudson.org/byb/.

This toolkit was created on behalf of the 2007-2008 Building Your Base (BYB) project. MHLS’ BYB project is funded by Federal Library Services and Technology Act funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

MHLS Announcements
MHLS will be closed Friday, July 4th. There will be no deliveries.

MHLS Libraries
The Big Read will be held in three MHLS member libraries’ communities this year! The Big Read is a grant program administered through the National Endowment for the Arts and gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 23 selections from American and world literature.

Heermance Memorial Library (Coxsackie)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Hudson Area Association Library
The Call of the Wild

Poughkeepsie Public Library District
The Great Gatsby

The selected libraries will receive grants ranging from $2,500 to $20,000 to promote and carry out community-based programs. Participating communities also receive high-quality, free-of-charge educational materials to supplement each title. Learn more at http://www.arts.gov/national/bigread/press/bigread2009.html

Professional Development
Save the Date! The Small Libraries Roundtable, designed for the administrators of libraries with 3 FTE or less, will meet Thursday, August 21st at the Morton Memorial Library in Rhinecliff. Our topic will be Best Practices for Working with Your Board. The workshop will cover:
· Director / Board Roles
· Working with your board president
· Effective Director’s Reports
Register now at http://calendar.midhudson.org/

Resource Sharing & Millennium
New button in the OPAC: More Info.
The book jacket display in the online catalog (OPAC) has a slightly updated look. You will notice that there is a grey box with text underneath many of the book jacket images that reads "More Info." The button will only display if more information is available for that title. This is an improvement over what we had before, where the button displayed at all times, leading patrons to a dead end in some cases. Once you click on the “More Info” button you will see things like the table of contents, books in a series, first chapter or summary – depending on the title. Questions? Contact Laurie at x21 or lshedrick@midhudson.org

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding
Win Cash for Your Friends Group! The Library Friends Roundtable of the New York Library Association – Empire Friends – won the Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) award for the best State Friends celebration of National Friends of Library Week 2007! The Empire Friends will use their award to “pay it forward” and offer $100 awards for the best Friends group celebration of National Friends of Libraries Week 2008 in New York State. National Friends of Libraries Week 2008 will be October 19-25. There will be three awards of $100 each for the best celebration by a small Friends group affiliated with a public library (fewer than 300 members), a large Friends group (more than 300 members), and a non-public library Friends group (school, college, university, or special library Friends). Stay tuned for more details but start planning now! Sample NFLW resources – press release, letter to the editor, proclamation, and bookmarks - are available from the FOLUSA web site at http://www.folusa.org/sharing/national-friends-week.php

The NYLA Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) is seeking nominations for the NYLA - ProQuest Intellectual Freedom Award. The Award recognizes an individual, group of individuals or organization engaged in activities which have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom in the State of New York. The deadline for submitting nominations is July 31, 2008. The link to the NYLA - ProQuest Intellectual Freedom Award web page is:
http://www.nyla.org/index.php?page_id=102

Youth Services
The 3 Apples Book Award – New York State’s Children’s Choice Awards - will begin in September this year. A great way to encourage new titles to be nominated is to remind the children and teens about the 3 Apples Book Award during the Summer Reading Program (SRP). The Children’s Choice Award is for students in grades 3rd - 6th or ages 8-12 and the Teen Choice Award is for students in 7th -12th grades or ages 13+. Some easy ways to promote the 3 Apples during the SRP are to create displays of past nominated titles (listed on the website below) and of the past winners with the tag line “What will the winner be this year? What’s your favorite book?” For more information: http://www.3applesbookaward.org

Trustee Resources
More than 55 trustees from 30 member libraries attended the MHLS Essential Trustee Duties and Responsibilities workshop this spring. This year a new curriculum was used to focus attendees’ attention on the 9 duties of public library trustees in NYS. 92% of those who came gave us a “1” using the scale of 1 = most useful, 5 = not useful; the other 8% gave it a “2.” Comments from those who attended:
· “I expected this to be very dry & frankly a bit boring. Not so. It was absolutely enlightening. Enjoyed it and learned a lot. Thanks so much!”
· “Very informative and concise.”
· “Terrific job! Great pace! Well worth my time.
· “Well done. Covered great deal of material clearly & well. Good allowance for group questions & comments. Excellent handouts!!!”
This workshop will be repeated this fall - stay tuned for dates and locations.

Administration & Management
Managing Public Access Computers:
“We use Deep Freeze, which is a program that freezes our system so that changes cannot be made by anyone other than the IT person. A password is entered and the computer stays placed in a thawed state. Then I make any needed changes, put the computers back into the frozen state, and reboot. So far this has worked very well in maintaining the security on our system.” -Mindy Farley, Barton Library, El Dorado, Arizona
- Find more tips like this in the MaintainIT Project “cookbooks”: http://www.maintainitproject.org/

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.