50th Annual Meeting

More than 150 library directors, trustees, staff members and special guests attended the System's 50th Annual Meeting in the Danny Kaye Theater of the Conrad Hilton Library at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, New York, on Friday, October 2nd.

The day began with Merribeth Advocate, Coordinator of Outreach Services, and Laurie Shedrick, Automated Systems Manager, presenting "Meet the New Patron Friendly Online Catalog" in the Danny Kaye Theater.

At 9:45am Board President, Marie Smith called the 50th Annual Meeting to order and introduced Assemblyman Joel Miller who spoke briefly about the valuable role libraries play in their communities and the need for continued advocacy for increased funding .

Patricia Miller, member of the MHLS Board's Nominations and Elections Committee, conducted the election of three trustees to the MHLS Board: Steve Benson, from Columbia County, Stephen MacNish from Dutchess County, and William Conine, from Greene County, were elected for five year terms commencing January 1, 2010.

Following the elections, Executive Director, Josh Cohen:
- Thanked Board President, Marie Smith, for her 10 years of service on the MHLS Board, and presented her with parting gifts;
- Presented Employee Service Awards to: Lena Smolon, Outreach and Education Assistant (10 yrs.), and Kit Kassel, Manager of Interlibrary Loan (5 yrs.);
- Introduced the Directors Association Steering Committee and Advisory Committee members, and recognized them for their leadership efforts throughout 2009;
- announced that the first System Retreat on the future of System funding was successful, and the Task Force will continue to work to develop a model for
decision-making on funding through 2012 and beyond;

After Josh's speech he introduced an entertaining and informative "50 Year Retrospective" video produced, edited and animated by former MHLS Intern and computer whiz, Bryan Clarke. Josh thanked, Outreach & Education Coordinator, Merribeth Advocate for her work on the production of the video with Bryan.

Following this presentation, Josh introduced State Librarian, Bernie Margolis, who praised the accomplishments of the System under Josh's leadership and expressed his hope that future leadership will continue to meet whatever challenges that arise.

Sam Patton, who currently serves on the East Fishkill Board and the New York State Association of Library Boards (NYSALB) then spoke briefly. He emphasized that trustees are "the unpaid advocates of library service" and encouraged them to affiliate with NYSALB to support and promote libraries.

Assemblywoman, Sandra Galef from Putnam County, then presented the System with a Citation from the New York State Assembly for providing 50 years of excellent service to member libraries.

Keynote Speaker, Karen Hyman, Executive Director of the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, whose presentation entitled "Do libraries rock? Some more than others…" gave insight into what makes a library great and secrets that great library leaders employ to make their libraries successful.

Lunch followed Karen's presentation where attendees were treated to a special cake shaped as two books made for the occasion by the Culinary Institute of America:

MHLS Announcements
Josh Cohen to Retire in 2010: At the Annual Meeting Josh announced his plans to retire in June 2010. He thanked the member libraries, MHLS staff and trustees for their support during his tenure.

Josh has worked for MHLS for over 20 years and been executive director of the System for 10 years, a period of time in which member libraries have flourished. Josh oversaw the migration to Innovative, ushered in an era where all 66 member libraries are online with Millennium and online holds were turned on. He has helped 30 libraries secure stable funding by having their budgets voted on by the public.

During Josh's tenure libraries have experienced massive growth in most areas. Usage has increased by 55%, funding has increased 109% and 27 libraries have done a significant facility expansion project. Josh has helped member libraries through these times, always willing to talk over a problem, find solutions and adjust System services to meet member needs.

Josh's leadership and good humor have resulted in the development of services and products focused on the needs of member libraries - a legacy Josh can be proud of.

MHLS Libraries
Congratulations to West Hurley Public Library director Kara Lustiber and the West Hurley Board of Trustees, they are the third member library to score 100% on the MHLS Essential Documents Inventory! The Essential Docs Inventory touches on the basics each library should have in place to meet NYS Minimum Standards for Public Libraries including a current long-range plan, report to the community and a full complement of both internal and external policies. The West Hurley team did an especially nice job of packaging their policies, creating a policy document that centralizes all policies in one place and clearly states the date of approval and last date of review for each policy.

The Ulster County Library Association (UCLA) held their annual meeting last month and announced that they have finished the first step in their incorporation process. The group, made up of all public libraries in Ulster County, both in MHLS and the four in the Ramapo Catskill Library System, work together primarily to advocate for funds from the county legislature to fund coordinated purchases such as databases. The group works to: coordinate activities required to secure public funds on behalf of county libraries; coordinate the dissemination of information to the public on library services and activities; provide a forum to encourage free communications between county libraries; and defining and executing special projects for the benefit of county libraries. Learn more at http://www.ulsterlibraries.org/

Resource Sharing & Millennium
On the morning of Tuesday, October 20th member library staff should not log into Millennium without first checking the MHLS Millennium list. MHLS will be uploading the final phase of the Millennium upgrade 2009A1.1 that morning which will require a full backup, restart and re-indexing. While we will begin this process as early as possible and hope to be back up and tested by 9:00am, things sometimes take longer. There will be no noticeable changes in this upgrade. This upgrade is an "under-the-hood" restructuring that includes over 250 bug fixes.

Marketing, Advocacy & Funding
Did you know? 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements. [Sources: July 2009 Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey & "Marketing to the Social Web," Larry Weber, Wiley Publishing, 2007]

Programming
Game on! Hundreds of libraries across the country will join the American Library Association (ALA) to celebrate the second annual National Gaming Day @ your library on November 14, 2009. The nation's libraries will celebrate the popularity of board and video games, as well as the recreational and educational value of play. Gaming also teaches leadership, problem-solving, and team-building skills. A recent Pew/Internet study found that social gaming that occurs in person in the same room encourages civic engagement among teenagers and helps them become invested in their community. For more information on National Gaming Day and gaming in libraries, visit http://ilovelibraries.org/gaming

Youth Services
Last week representatives from the Valatie, Kinderhook and North Chatham Libraries attended the Ichabod Crane Primary School's Parents Night. Parents were invited to sign up and get library cards for their children during the open house.

Any MHLS library that is interested in having a team in the 2010 Battle of the Books should attend the planning meeting on Friday, October 30 from 1:00 - 4:00pm in the MHLS Auditorium. Please bring a list of 10-12 books (they must be available in paperback) that you think should be used in the 2010 Battle. Questions? Contact Christina Ryan-Linder at clinder@midhudson.org

The Howland Public Library in Beacon has reopened their Homework Help Center. The library offers homework guidance and research assistance for all grade levels and is open Monday-Thursday from 3:00-5:00pm. The library has a qualified Homework Mentor and teen assistant, as well as volunteers, who offer support to students. Parents may also be assisted in helping their children. Students must be registered to receive assistance, but once registered can stop by any time the Center is open for help. Check out the MHLS Homework Help Center Manual: a guide to setting up a homework/literacy center in your library and Homework Mentor Manual at http://www.midhudson.org/program/homework.htm

PAGE 4: October 2009 Calendar: http://calendar.midhudson.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.