The election of Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) trustees will be an item of business at the MHLS Annual Membership Meeting on Friday, October 24th. MHLS is governed by a fifteen-member board made up of trustees from each of the five counties served.
Procedures for Election of Trustees:
Article II. Nominations:
Section 2.01 -The county library association of each county for which a trustee is to be elected shall meet for the purpose of selecting a candidate from their county to nominate at the MHLS Annual Membership Meeting. The chair of the county library association shall submit to the MHLS Executive Director the name of the county library association’s nominee no later than two months prior to the Annual Membership Meeting.
Section 4.03 – Each member library is a voting unit having one vote.
Three MHLS Board of Trustee vacancies are to be filled for terms commencing in January 2026:
Ms. Leinung has been unanimously nominated by the Columbia County Library Association for her second full five-year term (2026-2030).
Jill A. Leinung currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of the Valatie Library and is a retired school librarian who worked for the East Greenbush Central School District, where she taught for 27 years. She is a past president of the New York Library Association’s (NYLA) Section of School Librarians and has sat as a Councilor-at-Large on the Council of NYLA (2016-19). Ms. Leinung’s professional service includes her current roles as the Section of School Librarians’ Representative on the NYLA Legislative Committee and a volunteer for the Section of School Librarians’/Youth Services /NYLA Youth Advocacy Committee. Ms. Leinung is a former member of the Advisory Board for the Sustainable Libraries Initiative.
Dr. Lavallee has been unanimously nominated by the Dutchess County Library Association for his first full five-year term (2026-2030).
Dr. Lavallee is the former board president of the Starr Library in Rhinebeck and a former trustee of the Croton-on-Harmon Library. During his professional career he served as the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of the SUNY System Administration, providing services for all 64 colleges and universities in the SUNY System. Prior to that, as a college provost at Hunter College, The College of New York, and most recently, SUNY New Paltz, Dr. Lavallee oversaw their campus libraries. Dr. Lavallee notes that his interest in libraries began when, at age 10, he learned that his local library was open to all and he could explore books with the help of a welcoming, helpful librarian. In his professional life as a scientist and educator, he noted that he “haunted libraries” to find out what others had done in his field and feels that “thorough citations are a must.” Dr. Lavallee notes that he would like to “continue to support and foster our great Mid-Hudson system by serving on its Board.”
Ms. Swanson has been unanimously nominated by the Columbia County Library Association for her first full five-year term (2026-2030) after fulfilling a vacated term on the MHLS Board (2024-2025).
Barbara Swanson serves on the board of the Mountain Top Library in Tannersville. From 1983 until 2021 Ms. Swanson was the Associate Director for Professional Development of the New York State Association of Independent Schools. Prior to that she held library positions in Madison, WI and Altadena, CA. Ms. Swanson was raised in Maui, HI, and attended schools in Texas, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin before moving to Scotland. Ms. Swanson has lived in New York, Millbrook, and Nashville, TN before moving to the Catskills in 2007 where she still resides.
Since retiring in 2001, she has enjoyed international travel and volunteer work with food pantries in the area, as well as library board service. And, of course, reading! She is also active in her small residential community, Twilight Park, serving on many committees and boards, as well as the local church.
