Open Meeting Law Amended

Open Meetings Law Now Requires Meeting Dates to Be Listed on Your Web Site: On May 12, 2009, Governor David Paterson signed Chapter 26 of the Laws of 2009 (A3169/S2754) An Act to Amend the Public Officers Law in Relation to Requiring Posting of Notice of Meetings on the Internet.

The Committee on Open Government of the New York State Department of State has indicated that this new statute applies to all entities that are subject to Open Meetings Law. This includes all types of libraries.

The legislation amended Article 7 of the Public Officers Law related to Open Meetings, by adding a new subdivision 5 to Section 104 which is about public notice. Subdivision 5 requires that in addition to one or more public sites previously designated, that notice of the time and place of any upcoming meeting of the library board must be posted conspicuously at least 72 hours in advance on the library's website.

- The text of Article 7, Public Officers Law, Section 104 (5) can be found at: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/openmeetlaw.html

- The text of Chapter 26 of the Laws of 2009 (A3169/S2754) can be found at: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A03169

MHLS Announcements
MHLS Staff @NYLA Conference, October 14-17: Josh Cohen, Merribeth Advocate, Rebekkah Smith Aldrich & Christina Ryan Linder. Staff will do their best to check their email during this time.

Reminder: Friends Support Group to meet Wednesday, October 21st from 5:30 - 7:30pm in the MHLS Auditorium (105 Market Street, Poughkeepsie). Bring your questions! This group meets regularly to address issues of concern to all size Friends Groups. Register online at http://calendar.midhudson.org/

Professional Development
Scholarship applications now available: The American Library Association (ALA) has more than $300,000 for students who are studying library science at the master's degree level. Scholarships typically range from $1,500 to $7,000 per student per year. The application and instructions are online at http://www.ala.org/. The application deadline is March 1st.

Reference & Collection Development
Top 10 Health Sites for Teens: Results of the Health Information Project's Teen Intern Program website evaluations are in! The top 10 picks represent a strong cross-section of information resources -- vetted by teens and approved by adults. The list is the result of the Health Information Project's summer Teen Intern Program where teens worked at 4 of our MHLS libraries to review a variety of sites for their content, currency, relevancy, navigability and authority. By adding http://hip.midhudson.org/hip_websites.htm to your teen page, you'll have an easy way to point teens to many of their personal health and social information needs.

Programming
"One Great Idea: Why your library should get on the One Book, One Community bandwagon" by Beth Dempsey is a featured article in the September 1, 2009 issue of Library Journal. This program led to The Big Read grant program now available through NEH [http://www.neabigread.org/]. It is a "mass reading" program where everyone in the community reads the same book together, the library sets up programming at the library and throughout the community with partners like local schools, colleges, arts agencies, social service groups and nonprofits. "They're fun and flexible, but, more important, One Book programs have the potential to create real dialog and memorable experiences for participants." This is a good fit for libraries looking to build up their base of supporters by building a reading community in which the library is the centerpiece. You can read Library Journal online at http://www.libraryjournal.com, archived issues, going back to 1996 are available through HOMEACCESS in the ProQuest database.

Youth Services
Allison Francis the Youth Services Librarian from LaGrange Library has just had her first article published in Children & Libraries the journal of the Association for Library Services to Children. This journal highlights programs and ideas that work well, written by librarians for librarians. Allison's article entitled "Thursdays with MacGyver" emphasizes the benefits of children's programming and therapy dogs. MacGyver, a registered therapy dog and his owner visit LaGrange Library once a week for two hours and sits quietly while children read to him. According to Allison this is a wonderful, relatively no-cost program for children who are reluctant readers especially when reading aloud. The dog is an attentive, nonjudgmental listener and never makes fun of a child who stumbles over words. The program is also very inexpensive to set up and run. The therapy dog and his owner are at the library on a volunteer basis and Allison, although always present during the reading sessions, is called on infrequently to assist. The program at LaGrange has become so successful Allison is thinking about adding another day to MacGyver's weekly schedule so more children can benefit from this experience. Congratulations to Allison Francis for having her very successful program highlighted in ALSC's quarterly magazine! Readers can find Allison's complete article in the Summer/Fall 2009 issue of Children & Libraries. For more information on therapy dogs visit http://www.therapyanimals.org/read/about.html or call 801.272.3439.

Administration & Management
Value of Volunteer Time: The Independent Sector's most recent evaluation of the dollar value of volunteer time is $20.25 per hour.
[Source: http://www.independentsector.org]

Top Ten things Library Administrators Should Know About Technology:
1. Technology isn't as hard as you think it is.
2. Technology gets easier all the time.
3. Technology gets cheaper all the time.
4. Maximize the effectiveness of your most costly technology investments - your people.
5. Iterate, don't perfect.
Read them all at http://techessence.info/topten.

Flag Management: Libraries flying the American flag in front (or on top of!) their library buildings may be interested in the list of dates/reasons provided by the NYS Office of General Services for flying the flag at half-staff. While libraries do not fall under the same laws governing government buildings (Title 4 US Code [Flag Code] and NYS Executive Law, Article 19) there is the issue of public perception to consider.
- Memorial Day (May)
- Pearl Harbor Day (December 7)
- Peace Officers Memorial Day (May 15)
- Patriot Day (September 11)
There are also periods of mourning for which government buildings fly their flags at half-staff, for the death of the president, vice president and members of Congress. NYS Governor Paterson has also directed the flags on all State buildings to be lowered to half-staff in tribute to the State's service members who are killed in action or die in a combat zone. For more information: http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/FlagsInfo.asp

Job Openings
Part-time Clerk position at the Plattekill Library: Must like working with public, have computer skills, be flexible, and have general office experience. High school or GED diploma minimum. 16+ hours/week (Monday 12:30-6, Tuesday 3-8pm, Saturday 9:30-3pm; possibly more). Pay-DOE. Send your resume to John Georghiou, Library Director, by fax 883-7295, mail Plattekill Public Library, 2047 State Route 32, Modena, NY 12548 or email to plattekill@optonline.net.

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.