Today is Library Advocacy Day! (MHLS Bulletin) 2.28.23

Vol.23-09 | 2.28.23

Today is Library Advocacy Day!

Today is Library Advocacy Day! Unfortunately, due to the snowstorm, all in-person meetings with legislators in Albany have been cancelled. We are working to book online meetings with all legislators and will post the schedule to the MHLS Calendar and MHLS Notice List as it is confirmed.

In the meantime, please help keep up the pressure to ensure legislators don't forget about libraries in the state budget:

A phone call may be one of the most effective things you can do. A list of all legislators and which libraries are in their districts is available on the MHLS website.

The New York Library Association (NYLA) has fired up the NYLA Online Advocacy Center, in less than two minutes you can use their draft message, make it your own and send it to your legislators and key leaders in the legislature.

This effort takes all of us and we so appreciate all who had planned to take a day out of their lives to come to Albany with us. We are sorry not to see you in person but hope to see you at our upcoming online meetings!

MHLS Announcements

A reminder from the MHLS Delivery Department:

Please help delivery run as smoothly and efficiently as possible by providing a clear path to your library’s incoming and outgoing bin location, notify us of any lock and key changes in advance, and provide any feedback on the service and drivers.

For questions regarding MHLS delivery operations please contact Tom Finnigan, Delivery Operations Manager.

MHLS Libraries

The Highland Public Library is excited to announce their new museum passes! Their new passes include the Motorcyclepedia in Newburgh to see a collection of motorcycles, bicycles and memorabilia as well as the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum for an exciting day full of animals and fun.

Professional Development

Register today for REFRESH: G.O.A.T. 2023 Multi-State Teen Librarian Meetup on Tuesday, April 18th from 10:00 am - 3:30 pm at East Greenbush Community Library, East Greenbush, NY.

The Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) Teen Service meetup is back! It has been a hard four years since G.O.A.T last met. After some very stressful years, it is time to Refresh. Join your teen-serving library colleagues from five states for a free day of energizing ideas, problem hacks, and go-to colleagues.

To keep it free, please BYOL (Bring Your Own Lunch). Drinks, dessert, thoughtful content, an outside speaker, fun surprises, and CE credit (5 CEU hours) will be provided.

Sponsored by Mohawk Valley Library System, Southern Adirondack Library System (SALS), and Upper Hudson Library System (UHLS). Questions? Contact Jack Scott (SALS) jscott@sals.edu, or Mary Fellows (UHLS) mary@uhls.lib.ny.us.

Be a Fall Into Books Discussion Leader! The 24th annual Fall into Books Children’s and Teen’s Literature Conference is scheduled to take place in-person on Thursday, October 26, 2023. This conference is for library staff serving youth to read and discuss titles with their peers around the Hudson Valley.

The planning committee is looking for volunteers to lead discussions for picture books, elementary, middle, or teen level books. If you are interested, please fill out the Discussion Leader Application Form by March 17th. Applicants will need to provide the title (what’s your topic!) of their discussion group and all titles that they want to discuss.

Conference registration and lunch will be complimentary for discussion leaders. A mandatory practice session for the discussion leaders will be held in-person from 3:30 -5:00 p.m. on Monday, June 12, 2023, at the Ramapo Catskill Library System in Middletown, NY.

Sustainable Libraries

Library 2.023 invites you to Mental Health and Wellness: Library Workers Thriving in Uncertain Times mini conference. This free online event will be held on Tuesday, April 4th from 12:00 - 3:00 pm US-Pacific Time.

Libraries have the power to help transform lives, both for staff and patrons, through efforts that promote mental health and wellness. This Library 2.0 mini conference will focus specifically on helping library workers thrive in our current uncertain and complex times. We will also explore the “opportunity to reimagine our futures, to renew and adapt our institutions and to craft new stories about who we are and what we value” (United Nations' Human Development Report 2021/2022). The special conference chair is Loida Garcia-Febo who, as past president of the American Library Association, focused on workplace wellness areas including continuing education, creating a positive work environment, unions, gender equity, pay equity, and other activities designed to improve the salaries and status of library professionals.

Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) invites you to 027 to 612.662: Libraries and Menstrual Literacy on March 7 at 4:00 pm.

What makes libraries the perfect place for period advocacy? Brooklyn Public Library’s Young Adult Librarian Rakisha Kearns-White will share how she became a period advocate and why she decided the public library was the perfect place for her advocacy. She'll discuss the different positive outcomes of starting this initiative and the many ways menstrual literacy can look in a library. Library workers in public, school, and academic libraries will learn how they can be centers for menstrual literacy and help challenge period poverty. Attendees can also expect to:

Understand what menstrual literacy is, and how it differs from sex and reproduction education
Learn how to bring stakeholders on board
Know how to locate funding to support menstrual initiatives

This one-hour online event is free to attend but registration is required.

Programming

The 2023 Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) summer reading theme is available for import into your READsquared site. READsquared is an online registration tool provided by the NYS Library for free to public libraries to support Summer Reading Programs statewide.

For each age group the import includes the following, and you can add/remove as needed:

1 Banner
1 Completion Certificate
1 Board Game with 10 levels
11 Badges (Registration, Level 1-9, Completion)
1 Mission
1 Book List
New Mini Games

How to import the full programs: In the administrative control room site (yoursitename.readsquared/controlroom) go to Programs > Program Theme > Import Programs. Instructions are also available in the knowledge base.

Be sure to run all necessary reports and wrap up your summer programs. This allows participants to use their previous accounts and have a clean slate with no old points or badges. Wrap-up instructions can be found here.

In the News

Local

Rosendale Library needs more space for programs, parking. It's asking the public for ideas | Times Union | 2.18.23

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