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Volume 18-38 | 9.18.18 
Board Candidates
The election of MHLS trustees will be an item of business at the MHLS Annual Membership Meeting on Friday, November 2nd. MHLS is governed by a fifteen-member board made up of three 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.

There are three MHLS Board of Trustee vacancies to be filled for terms commencing January 2019:
 
The Columbia County Library Association has nominated Janet Schnitzer for a first five-year term.  

Ms. Schnitzer's prior service on the MHLS Board ended in 2015 after completing two consecutive 5-year terms.   Ms. Schnitzer is now eligible to serve a new five-year term. Janet served as Secretary of the MHLS Board from 2010-2012. Ms. Schnitzer holds a B.S. Degree from Rider College and a Master's Degree in Business Education from the State University of New York at Albany, as well as Certification in Diversified Co-Operative Education. Janet has remained active in the library community and her service includes membership on the Board of Trustees of the Hudson Area Association  Library on which she served terms as both Secretary and President.

The Putnam County Library Association has nominated Michele Ment for a second five-year term.

Ms. Ment was elected for her first five-year term on the MHLS Board in 2014, and currently serves as Board Secretary. Michele earned an M.S. Degree in Education at Brooklyn College, and a P.D. at Richmond College, Staten Island, NY. She taught in the New York City School System for 35 years, and post retirement has worked as an Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College. Michele has performed extensive community service for a number of local organizations, and is currently a trustee on the Kent Library Board.

The Ulster County Library Association has nominated: Stuart Auchincloss for a first five-year term.

Mr. Auchincloss was appointed to the MHLS Board in December of 2015 for a two-year remainder term. Mr. Auchincloss is a retired civil engineer and lawyer with an advanced degree in environmental law. He served as a trustee on the Woodstock Public Library's Board of Trustees for ten years and served as Board President for five years. Mr. Auchincloss is deeply committed to ensuring that public libraries continue to thrive and serve the needs of their communities.
MHLS Announcements
NYS Library's Adult Literacy Library Services 2017-2018 Funds Awarded: Congratulations to nine MHLS member libraries who have each received $1,000, funded by the 2017-2018 New York State Library's Adult Literacy Library Services grant program and 2018 Coordinated Outreach Services Aid administered through MHLS:
  • Brewster Public Library partnered with Delancey Street Foundation
  • Grinnell Public Library District partnered with Wappingers Central School District
  • Hudson Area Library, Poughkeepsie Public Library District, and Stanford Free Library partnered with Literacy Connections of the Hudson Valley
  • Kingston Library and Saugerties Public Library partnered with Ulster Literacy Association
  • Patterson Library partnered with Information Performance Corporation
  • Pawling Library partnered with Dutchess Community College.
These libraries have worked with literacy partner organizations over the past year, providing more than 609 group programs and a total of 4,311 one-on-one programs, which enhanced workforce development services in their libraries; improved adult literacy on the job and in the home; and increased participation of adults in library literacy programs, improving their career and educational opportunities.
 
Participating libraries developed a Tip Sheet to share at
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Stakeholder Survey: MHLS Executive Director Rebekkah Smith Aldrich has sent a Stakeholder Survey to all member library directors, board presidents, MHLS Staff and MHLS trustees to solicit input regarding the future of member libraries and our system. In addition, Ms. Aldrich is embarking on a "Listening Tour" in each county this fall to ask member library leadership what their hopes are for the future of their libraries. Rebekkah will use this input to help guide future program and service design.
Professional Development
Reminder: The first Makerspace Field Trip is on Wednesday, September 26th from 10:00am-12:00pm at the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison. Take advantage of this amazing opportunity to receive a custom tour of Desmond-Fish Library's Innovation & Learning Center. Space is limited. Register online today at http://calendar.midhudson.org

Looking for more? Reserve your spot today to visit  The Makerspace @Germantown Library on Friday, October 26th from 10:00am-12:00pm
Resource Sharing & Sierra
DA Actions: The MHLS Directors Association (DA) made two decisions at their September meeting that will impact what frontline staff see in Sierra:
  • They have voted to remove the gender field as a required prompt in the registration process. This field is still available should your library want to track that piece of demographic information. A custom local template can be implemented if a library chooses to require the field by opening a ticket with techsupport@midhudson.org  

  • The Town Code field will be updated to annotate towns that are "unserved" (meaning they have no library of their own) and "non-resident" (meaning towns outside of the system service area.)
Join MHLS ILP Operations Supervisor Thomas O'Connell on Thursday, September 27th for a Sierra Lunchtime Webinar. The topic will be Patron Data Entry and Fields. This one hour session begins at 12:00 pm. Space is limited. Register online http://calendar.midhudson.org
Sustainable Libraries
FY2019 Tax Cap Info: The Office of the New York State Comptroller has released the 2019 Fiscal Year Inflation Factors and Allowable Levy Growth Factors:
  • Inflation Factor: 2.25%
  • Allowable Levy Growth Factor: 1.0200
This is relevant to libraries who a) have a calendar fiscal year and b) have ever had a public vote on their budget. For a refresher on the Property Tax Cap and how it impacts your library.