Customer Centered Library

Reinventing the Customer Centered Library": 12 steps to maximize your ability to attract and delight your patrons and make it more rewarding for you, too!

Presented by Karen Hyman, Executive Director, South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative. Karen's 12-step Reinventing Your Library programs have been a feature at every Public Library Association Conference since 2000 and have been presented at library conferences, staff days and trustee workshops in 37 states/provinces in the US and Canada.

This workshop is great for:
- Staff that work with patrons - it will help you develop your ability to assist them
- Library directors and trustees - it will help you to increase the success of your library and the provision of quality library service to your community.

After attending the program you will make customer service a way of life in your library:
- See from the customer's point view.
- Focus on user needs/expectations and service opportunities.
- Develop and implement the culture, policies, services and environment that support a customer centered library.
- Operate your library for the convenience of the customer.
Come away with new ideas and at least 5 things you can start immediately to make your community want to love your library (more).

When & Where:
Thursday, October 1, 2009 from 1:00 - 4:00pm
Mid-Hudson Library System Auditorium
There is no charge for attendees from MHLS member libraries. All others: $40. When registering please choose 'Non-MHLS library' from the 'Select Your Library' drop-down list. Please send checks, made out to MHLS, to the MHLS Business Office, 103 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

Register online at http://calendar.midhudson.org/

MHLS Announcements
The next Roundtable for New Directors will be held after the October Director's Association meeting: Tuesday, October 6th. Lunch will be provided and we will wrap by 2:00pm or sooner depending on the end time of the DA. Our topic this quarter will be Budgeting Best Practices and we'll have two featured guest speakers - Margie Menard of the Kingston Library and Gillian Thorpe of the Julia L. Butterfield Library in Cold Spring. We will cover:
- The director's role in the budgeting process & the trustee role
- Budget oversight / checks and balances
- Budget cycles and cash flow
This roundtable is designed for MHLS library directors who have been in their position for 3 years or less to give you the opportunity to meet with others dealing with similar situations and to find answers and contacts to help you in your day-to-day life at the library. Please register online at http://calendar.midhudson.org/

MHLS Libraries
MHLS welcomes Lisa Prentiss as the interim director of the Staatsburg Library. Lisa is also the youth services staff person at Staatsburg.

The Howland Public Library in Beacon received a very large donation of books and videos recently and couldn't take them all. They partnered with the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 203 to sent more than 80 pounds of books and videos to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. VFW Post 666 Beacon donated the postage fee for all packages.

The Red Hook Public Library was recently featured in the "Three Cheers" section of the 8.10.09 Poughkeepsie Journal: "Three cheers:
To the Red Hook Public Library, which is collecting paperback and audio books to be donated to members of the U.S. Armed Forces. New and gently used paperbacks and either cassette or CD audio books may be put in a box in the library (please do not leave them on the porch). All materials collected will be distributed by Soldiers' Angels, a volunteer-led nonprofit group with more than 30 teams supporting all branches of the armed forces. The library is at 7444 S. Broadway in Red Hook. Visit http://www.soldiersangels.org for more information about that organization."

Professional Development
Help Southeastern New York Library Resources Council (SENYLRC) plan their very first "unconference," Solutions for Hard Times: Cutting Costs While Improving Services [scheduled for Friday, November 20th at the SENYLRC office in Highland, NY]. During meetings last spring, committee members discussed the impact of budget cuts at our libraries. The discussions grew into plans for a region wide "unconference" to further the discussion with other librarians and library staff on the topics YOU are interested in related to the topic. An "unconference" gives attendees the power to set the agenda, you pick the topics and join in the discussion or discussions of your choice. To determine interest and identify discussion topics please fill out a brief survey to help SENYLRC determine areas of greatest interest: http://www.senylrc.org/ . Please respond to the survey by Friday, September 18, 2009.

Reference & Collection Development
NY400 Bookmarks: In this delivery you will find a packet of bookmarks topped with the Quadricentennial 'Explore NY400.com' logo. This bookmark, conceived by the Central Library / Collection Development (CL/CD) Advisory Committee, is a listing of books that would interest people who are looking for information about New York's 400th anniversary. These bookmarks would be good to offer next to a display of books related to the topic, or for you to distribute at Quadricentennial events. With the regional emphasis on this topic it is a good time for libraries to highlight the materials people are interested in. Extra bookmarks are available by emailing kcruger@midhudson.org

What are we missing? Earlier this year the CL/CD Committee discussed the concept that there may be some underrepresented areas in the system-wide collection. With the impending Quadricentennial emphasis, the committee asked Central Library staff to analyze that area of the holdings to be sure that collectively MHLS member libraries had a good representation of titles people would be interested in. During the analysis they targeted some new related materials to be purchased from Central Book Aid funds to supplement what was already owned, to help in building a strong system-wide collection. The Central Library works with the MHLS Central Library / Collection Development Advisory Committee to look at non-fiction areas of the collection that are not represented, under represented or out-of-date in the system-wide collection. If you see an area like that, please send us your input through the brief form linked on midhudson.org in the Reference & Collection Development section at http://midhudson.org/collection/main.htm.

Also in the delivery with the Bulletin this week is a copy of The State of the Hudson 2009, a report for the community from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The report addressed the #1 question the DEC receives: "How is the Hudson doing?" The report is also available online at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/51492.html

Youth Services
CPSC Issues Rule Regarding Lead Standards; More Guidance To Come for Libraries: On August 26, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) final rule on children's products containing lead was released. In the rule, CPSC confirmed that libraries have no independent obligation to test library books for lead under the law. CPSC also announced its intention to release a Statement of Policy specifically providing guidance for libraries with regard to the treatment of older children's books that could potentially contain lead. CPSC officials feel that the Statement of Policy should be released within the next several weeks. While we await the Statement of Policy, the American Library Association recommends that libraries take the following actions. If a library is aware that any children's book does indeed contain lead above the legal limits or otherwise presents a danger to children, it should remove it from public access, for instance by moving it to the non-circulating collection. We would also ask that if libraries do learn of any books containing lead to please let the ALA - Washington Office know so that we might share that information with other libraries. When the Statement of Policy is released, we will promptly notify our members. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Jessica McGilvray, Assistant Director of the ALA Office of Government Relations at jmcgilvray@alwash.org or 1.800.941.8478. [From the ALA Washington Office District Dispatch Blog, 8.27.08]

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.