This award was established to honor the memory of Velma Moore, one of the charter members of The New York State Association of Library Boards (NYSALB), now the Library Trustees Association Section (LTAS) of NYLA. Mrs. Moore worked actively for the improvement of library services in New York State from 1947 until her death in 1961. She served two terms as president and was a member of the NYSALB Board from its establishment and, for 33 years, she was also a Trustee of the Kenmore Public Library near Buffalo, New York. The Award was originally established in 1962 with a gift from the Moore family and carries a $1,500 prize, which will be given to MHLS.
The MHLS Board have received this award for their leadership, in general, and specifically, for their leadership to help MHLS become the first public library system in the country to complete the Sustainable Library Certification Program. In the course of our certification process the board had to make many decisions, commitments, and new policies. A few highlights:
- Passed new policies such as new mission, vision, and value statements; a Sustainability Policy; and an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy;
- Created a new policy and procedure analysis framework to ensure when policy is created or reviewed for our organization we are conscientiously applying though to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion;
- Convened and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group of the board to provide education for our board and direction to our staff, this group’s efforts resulted in an EDI Assessment conducted by an outside consultant that 100% of staff and board members participated in; two orientations per year for our board on EDI topics; the creation of an EDI strategy for board recruitment; and the creation of a new position at the System, our Outreach & EDI Specialist;
- The development of The Library of Local program with a new partner, the Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley. This program funded community resilience hubs at 15 member libraries which feature specialized collections on climate solutions with a special emphasis on food security; seed libraries; tool lending libraries; and targeted programs designed to help bring community members together to solve issues in their communities that are exacerbated by climate change;
- Authorized facility operational decisions related to purchasing, hospitality, landscaping, renewable energy, material management have all been optimized to ensure we are putting human health and the health of our planet first in decision making while ensuring we are spending funds wisely on behalf of our stakeholders – like our new solar panel system which will generate 75% of our electrical needs from the sun; and
- A full review of our reserve fund strategy to ensure our organization is more financially future-proofed.
You can view our final certification presentation is available online here .
As a result of our boards’ efforts five more public library systems in New York were inspired to engage in the certification program as well: Clinton-Essex Franklin Library System, North Country Library System, Ramapo Catskill Library System, Southern Tier Library System, and the Suffolk Cooperative Library System. RCLS and SCLS are now certified as well! There are more than 200 public, academic and school libraries across North America now involved in this certification program with 45 having completed the program including our own Highland Public Library and Kinderhook Memorial Library with 13 more of our own member libraries currently engaged in the program. “It is wonderful to see our board, a group of committed, diligent, and good humored trustees, recognized for setting a wonderful model for the 6,000+ trustees of the state, and hundreds of thousands of trustees across the country” said Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, MHLS Executive Director.
