Category Archives: General News-Home Page

Thanks to your efforts we have relatively good news from Albany via the New York Library Association (NYLA) about the fate of Library Aid in the upcoming NYS Budget :

• The Library Aid program will be funded at $95.6 million reflecting a restoration of Governor Cuomo’s proposed cut. While this is flat funding over last year, our efforts staved off a reduction.
• Library Construction Aid has been increased to $24 million. This not only reverses the Governor’s proposed cut of $5 million, it also increases the Aid program by $5 million above where were last year!
• There is also word that there will be $15 million in Senate “Bullet Aid” for Special Legislative Grants for education institutions, including public libraries. While this is less than last year, it is still a viable source of funds for your library. NYLA will have a sample letter you can use to request funds through your State Senator soon.

MHLS thanks you for your efforts to influence this outcome.

Recommend to Library Function now Live in the MHLS eBook and downloadable audiobook collection (OverDrive): Now each member library will be able to get recommendations from their patrons of OverDrive titles that would like the library to purchase! Read all about it in this week’s MHLS Bulletin.

Thank you Columbia County Library Directors for a $3,300+ donation to MHLS for the purchase of eBooks & eAudiobooks to be shared by all 66 MHLS member libraries!

We are dubbing this Phone-a-Thon week!

A double dose of library advocacy is called for as we find ourselves activated on two fronts: Library funding at both the state and national level is under fire and NOW is the time to keep the pressure on both our New York State Senators and Assemblypeople and our national representatives in Washington D.C.

1) Please call your NYS legislators and urge them to keep the negotiations for an increase to library aid alive through the end of the month! The final budget is expected on April 1.

2) The President has called for a defunding of the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) which provides a large portion of the funds that enables the State Library and Division of Library Development to exist. A looming deadline of April 3. Please use the American Library Association’s Online Advocacy Center to call your representatives ASAP and tell them to #SaveIMLS!

OverDrive Big Library Read, March 16^th-30^th

The eBook ‘Art of the Pie’ by Kate McDermott is available for every patron that wishes to read it—no holds, no wait lists. Available for download at https://mhls.overdrive.com/ By participating in the 12^th worldwide Big Library Read, we are joining a global movement of passionate readers and library patrons who support the availability of eBooks at libraries, and it’s a great way to increase circulation.

MHLS now provides Library Card Registration Forms in a bilingual English and Spanish format. Upon request, the Mid-Hudson Library System supplies all member libraries with library card registration forms free of charge. Order Form

Due to the weather forecast we are rescheduling the MHLS Webinar: Drafting a Basic Facility Plan to Tuesday, March 21st @2:00pm.

MHLS would like to thank the following sponsors of the buses to Albany for Library Advocacy Day last week! Their generosity helped to keep ticket costs at a very reasonable $7 this year!

• Friends of the D.R. Evarts Library (Athens)
• Friends of the Howland Public Library (Beacon)
• Friends of the Cairo Public Library
• The Claverack Free Library
• Friends of Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library (Cold Spring)
• Friends of the Heermance Memorial Library (Coxsackie)
• Friends of the Town of Esopus Library
• Friends of Blodgett Memorial Library (Fishkill)
• Friends of Kent Library
• Friends of the Greenville Public Library
• Friends of the Kingston Library
• Friends of the Mahopac Library
• Elting Memorial Library (New Paltz)
• Friends of the Patterson Library
• Friends of the Pine Plains Free Library
• Friends of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District
• Friends of the Starr Library (Rhinebeck)
• Friends of Saugerties Public Library
• Friends of the Staatsburg Library
• Friends of the Mountain Top Library (Tannersville)

Do you have 10 minutes this week to devote to speaking up for state aid for libraries? Dozens of your fellow library advocates are traveling to Albany this week to speak with legislators and help them help us fight the Governor’s proposed cuts to library aid, but EVERYONE can help this week. Carve out 10 minutes to do “One Act of Advocacy” to support the statewide effort this week:

• Call your state representatives’ Albany office and let them know how you feel about the Governor’s proposed cut to library aid. Contact info for legislators is available at midhudson.org
• Send a letter via email through the New York Library Association’s Online Advocacy Center
• Help someone else send a letter through the Online Advocacy Center
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, NYLA has drafted one to help get you started
• Participate in Virtual Advocacy Day: http://bit.ly/2lKjtaw Use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the word out about #NYLALAD17 Don’t forget to tag your legislators so they can see the level of interest among their constituents when it comes to supporting libraries!

We’re one week away from Library Advocacy Day in Albany!

• Advocacy Day Briefing: Didn’t have a chance to attend last Friday’s Advocacy Briefing? No worries! We recorded the event so you can watch it at your convenience!

• Don’t miss the bus! If you are traveling to Albany by bus and haven’t registered yet please do! The deadline is this Thursday, February 23^rd

• Can’t come to Albany with us on March 1? You can still be a part of the action! Participate in Virtual Advocacy Day! Save 10 minutes of your day to send an online message and make two phone calls! Watch next week’s Bulletin for more information!

• Real People. Real Dollars. photos are due to MHLS today! Send them to kcruger@midhudson.org