Next week is National Library Week, April 7th-13th. This is a time to celebrate the contributions of our libraries and library staff and to promote library use and support. Tuesday, April 9: National Library Workers Day is a perfect time to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers; library staff, administrators, and Friends groups.
The New York State Library is pleased to announce that the current collection of New York Online Virtual Electronic Library (NOVELNY) statewide e-resources will continue through the coming year (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020), and these e-resources will also be extended for an additional year through June 30, 2021, pending availability of funds.
To see a listing of the database collection view this week’s MHLS Bulletin.
The next Big Library Read kicks off April 1st with Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah & Winnie Yeung. This title will be available through OverDrive for unlimited access, no holds or wait lists, from April 1st -15th. To access the marketing materials for the Big Library Read visit https://biglibraryread.com/marketing-materials/
The Senate & Assembly are expected to release their one-house budget bills this week. These are their responses to the Governor’s Executive Budget and therefore their response to his proposed cut to library aid and library construction aid. Keep up the great work connecting library supporters with their elected officials! It wouldn’t hurt to push more supporters to call and write to their State Senator and Assembly representatives, let them know their constituents are watching!
New features in the Sierra 4.2 release include the ability for staff to place new title-level holds using information from a cancelled hold, and insert that hold either at the end of the hold queue or in order by the original hold’s placed date; an option command link to allow libraries to publish a privacy policy in their WebPAC screens; adding an option to select a default Create Lists view so that each user can set their own default and more!
Library Advocacy Day is this week! Dozens of library supporters from our region will travel to Albany to speak with legislators about state library aid and the State Aid for Library Construction program. We know that not everyone can join us in person so find out how you can help from your home or office in this week’s MHLS Bulletin!
We are now live with our Syndetics Unbound Catalog Enhancement. This change was recommended by the Central Library/Collection Development Advisory Committee and approved by the Directors Association in November 2018. Syndetics Unbound provides a comprehensive solution for providing the elements that make a record more interesting, connected and relevant to users in our online catalog. The service provides cover images, summaries, author info., ‘look inside’, series, ‘you may also like’, professional reviews, reader reviews, other available formats, tags, reading level, awards, shelf browse and more.
Help us tell the story of what a good investment libraries are, leading up to Advocacy Day on February 27th. Investing in libraries has a big return on investment for the communities they serve. Real People. Real Dollars. tells that story in pictures by working with a patron or a family of patrons to calculate how much they save annually by using the library. If you would like to participate in this campaign there is still time! Learn more at:
http://midhudson.org/real-people-real-dollars/
If your library is already participating in the MHLS Real People. Real Dollars. Campaign email your pictures to Kerstin Cruger, Library Sustainability Associate & Communications Specialist at kcruger@midhudson.org by Wednesday February 20th.
Image courtesy of Valatie Free Library.
The Governor’s proposed budget suggests a $4 million cut to Library Aid and a $20 million decrease to Library Construction Aid. You can take action now by sending a letter to your representatives in Albany and the Governor through the New York Library Association’s [NYLA] Online Advocacy Center.
It only takes two minutes to let your voice be heard!
Governor Cuomo is in the process of finalizing his FY2019-2020 Executive Budget proposal. Take a moment to send an e-mail to Albany and let them know that you support funding for libraries!
