Events - March 5 2024

Meeting of the MHLS Bylaws, Policy, and Procedures Committee.

Join MHLS Executive Director Rebekkah Smith Aldrich for a guided walk-through of the new Memo of Understanding between MHLS and member libraries.

The Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) is a cooperative public library system, chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, working in partnership with our member libraries. To define the relationship between MHLS and member libraries we have operated under two documents that outline the parameters and expectations of the relationship: the “Document of Understanding,” which is over twenty years old, and the “Automation Agreement,” which is approximately seven years old. Recognizing that both documents have elements that are out-of-date from several perspectives (e.g. terminology, contractual obligations, and state regulations), the MHLS Staff, Directors Association, and Board of Trustees collaborated in a 13-month effort to update and merge these two documents, resulting in the attached “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).”

The basis of the MOU is not a major departure from the original two documents, it simply merges them; removes or updates out-of-date language and concepts; and clarifies issues that have become questioned in recent years.

In November 2023 the MHLS Directors Association unanimously approved this new MOU. In December 2023 the MHLS Board unanimously approved this new MOU.

The MOU will need to be signed by each member library board president and director in order to re-establish clear lines of communication about the relationship between MHLS and member libraries.

Meeting link will be emailed to registered participants on Monday, March 4th, 2024.