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Contact Us
The MHLS Bulletin welcomes submissions from member libraries.
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MHLS Board Forms Racial Equity Task Force
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At their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, July 15th, 2020, MHLS Board President Ric Swierat announced the formation of a Racial Equity Task Force with membership of board members from each of the five counties served by the Mid-Hudson Library System in addition to himself and MHLS Executive Director, Rebekkah Smith Aldrich:
- Columbia County: Mark Wilson
- Dutchess County: Rajene Hardeman
- Greene County: Debra Klein
- Putnam County: Priscilla Goldfarb
- Ulster County: Stuart Auchincloss
This task force will join the MHLS staff in their efforts to design a path forward to address racial equity issues using the "Normalize, Organize, Operationalize" framework from the Government Alliance on Race & Equity as presented by MHLS Executive Director, Rebekkah Smith Aldrich. As a first step, all MHLS Board members will be doing some personal reflection by reading one of the following titles for a group discussion to be held after their next board meeting in September: How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi; White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo; or So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olou.
In addition to this action at the board meeting, the trustees also:
- Reviewed and accepted the independent audit conducted by RBT CPAs after a presentation by the audit staff who issued a "clean opinion," and found no issues or problems with the system's financial practices.
- Discussed the efforts of MHLS staff in response to the challenges faced by our member libraries over the past several months due to COVID-19 as well as the resulting financial crisis the staff are working to manage. The board unanimously approved the following statement: "The Board of Trustees recognizes and congratulates the MHLS staff, and particularly Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, for their exemplary response to the COVID-19 crisis with compassion, knowledge, timeliness and respectful guidance for the member libraries and patrons, for maintaining financial and operational sustainability of the library system and providing leadership for advocacy to recognize the critical standing of libraries in the health and wellness of our community."
- Thanked the MHLS Directors Association for their strong collaborative partnership and support for MHLS during the financial disruption. As DA liaison and Brewster Public Library director Gina Loprinzo shared during the meeting, "We're all in this together."
- Approved 2020 Election Procedures that take into account the likelihood of an online annual meeting for 2020.
- Approved an adjusted 2020 Action Plan as proposed by staff to address the need for the redesign and re-prioritization of efforts in light of COVID-19, the related financial crisis and the need to focus on racial equity work.
- Approved an amendment to the CSEA Contract in an effort to address financial concerns.
- Received an orientation to the executive director evaluation process and the system's role in the State Aid for Library Construction Program.
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MHLS Announcements
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 Casey Conlin, MHLS Library Sustainability Coordinator
, is now the chair of the American Library Association's
Sustainability Round Table
, a position he was elected to over a year ago. Casey is the first public library representative to hold this position which leads the fastest growing round table in the national Association.
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Thanks to the support of the Kingston Equitable Internet Initiative (KEII), Kingston Library's Wi-Fi signal has been boosted
to allow for a strong signal that covers the entire block surrounding the library. The Kingston Equitable Internet Initiative is offered as a collaboration between
Radio Kingston
, residents of the
City of Kingston
, community partner organizations such as Kingston Library, the
Allied Media Projects
and its Community Technology Collective affiliates:
Detroit Community Technology Project
and
Community Tech New York
. The initial goal of KEII is to offer Kingstonians the opportunity to build a community-created wireless network together. "The Kingston Equitable Internet Initiative is rooted in the principles of community access and learning," said Kale Kaposhilin, technical director at Radio Kingston. "What better place to begin this project than by extending the wireless network of the Kingston Library to be of deeper service to the community. Even in the most challenging of times the library is here to support us - so too can we support each other with the community collaboration and connection that is embodied in KEII."
 The Marlboro Free Library is excited to announce the release of its new app, Discover Marlboro, which will take users on a historical walking tour of Marlboro! This free app, created in partnership with OnCell, is now available for download at the Apple Store and Google Play Store, and features historical photos and write-ups from the Library's Local History Collection, an easily navigable map, and even audio playback for each site. Discover Marlboro is location-aware, which will show a user's location in regard to nearby points of interest, so they can easily learn about locations as they visit them.
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Professional Development
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 Registration for #ARSL2020 Online is now open!
The 2020 Association for Rural & Small Libraries Conference will present a full schedule of professional development, networking, and socializing online September 28th-October 2nd, 2020. Moving the conference online creates an opportunity for library staff that are unable to travel to access the events of this conference safely. Visit the
conference website
for information about registering individuals and groups-including a new group rate discount.
Registration
is now open for the Virtual Urban Librarians Conference.
The Urban Librarians Conference on September 11th, 2020 has gone virtual for the health and safety of participants. Organizer's promise "it's gonna be a different conference than we usually have but you can bet it will be every bit as scrappy, kinetic, and fun as ULCON always is." Registrants can also purchase a Solidarity Ticket to assist colleagues going through financial hardship right now due to job loss or a furlough so they can attend the Urban Librarians Conference. If you are facing financial hardship, whether reduction in hours or loss of work, they are able to offer a limited number of free registrations to help defray the cost of registration with a priority for traditionally underserved communities. If you are not able to afford the $35 registration fee, please fill out
this form
briefly stating your financial need along with your current or previous title. Any information you disclose will be kept confidential.
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Resource Sharing & Sierra
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Join MHLS ILP Operations Supervisor, Thomas O'Connell for the latest series of Sierra Lunchtime Webinars.
All events begin at noon.
Please register for any of these events through the
MHLS Calendar
.
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 The Community Connect: Digital Access at Home initiative
is encouraging public libraries to apply for grants and resources to help support digital access and financial capability in rural communities nationwide. Interested libraries can learn more about the program and apply for the grant through the
Community Connect webpage
. Twenty rural public libraries will receive five Wi-Fi hotspots (including service contract) for lending to patrons, a $2,000 stipend to support implementing financial capability programs, curated book lists, and more. Public libraries are eligible if they serve a legal service area population of 25,000 or less and are in a rural community at least five miles from an urbanized area. The deadline for applications is August 26th, 2020.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is waiving the customer cost share for energy assessments
through the
Green Jobs Green New York Energy Studies
for small businesses and not-for-profits. These energy audits help libraries and organizations identify and analyze opportunities to make buildings more efficient, which lowers associated energy costs and reduces an organization's carbon footprint. Recommendations from energy studies done through this program can be used in applying for eligible projects in the State Aid for Library Construction Program.
Green Jobs Green New York Energy Studies include:
- A comprehensive walk through of the facility
- Site staff interviews
- Utility bill analysis
- Fuel-neutral, unbiased evaluation of potential low-cost/no-cost and capital improvement energy efficiency upgrades
- Energy study report that outlines potential energy and cost savings opportunities for your facility.
Once the study is complete, NYSERDA will assist you in identifying potential utility incentives and low-cost financing options to help take the next steps toward implementing energy saving projects. To move forward with a study the library needs to send in the
completed application form
with 12 months of utility history for the building. Libraries that have received a study in the past must wait 3 years before receiving another study.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many publishers granted permissions for libraries and educators to share their titles through online readings and storytimes with some limitations. Some of these permissions include guidelines on where and for how long recordings of readings could be posted. If your library posted any videos sharing titles or content under copyright, please be sure to observe the guidelines set out for sharing this content. Many publishers granted permission for their content to be posted through June 30th. You can check
this list of publisher guidelines
or contact the publisher directly to find out more about permissions for sharing their content.
 The next Big Library Read
from OverDrive has been rescheduled for August 3rd-17th. During that time, The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason will be available in eBook and audiobook format, for simultaneous use, at no cost to your library.
Marketing materials
have been updated to help spread the word in your community.
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Administration & Management
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Did you miss the recent Workplace Racial Equity Symposium produced by the Denver Public Library? No worries! Recordings of sessions such as Preparing and Planning for Organizational Change; Promoting and Sustaining An Inclusive Work Environment and Support Staff of Color; and EDI & HR: Promising Practices for Embedding EDI Values into HR Practices and Procedures are now available on demand.
The American Library Association (ALA) launched its COVID-19 Recovery website
to help guide communities, library workers, and library supporters as they plan for reopening and recovery. This collection of tools, developed and updated by units across the ALA, provides information on funding opportunities for recovery efforts, the latest research on the impacts of COVID-19 on libraries and library staff, and up-to-date safety guidance and protocols.
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