More Mid-Hudson Library System News

Rebekkah Smith Aldrich of the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS), who has frequently assisted the Pleasant Valley Library in the past, is now the Coordinator for Library Growth and Sustainability (previously she was Coordinator of Member Information). The idea is for Rebekkah to help libraries in the system improve

• management
• governance
• funding
• marketing, and
• facilities

These are the main areas of interest for this blog, so we look forward to Rebekkah's help. Her portfolio includes sustainable funding, space planning, construction projects, and fundraising.

We on the Library Board sometimes complain about the fees we pay to the Mid-Hudson System, fees which are going to rise because of less State Funding and other changes. But we also receive a lot of service from Rebekkah and the other staff members of MHLS. In addition to coordinating the services of the libraries in the system (so that you can order a book that is only available in Red Hook to be delivered to you in Pleasant Valley, for instance), MHLS will provide about a dozen workshops during the year, many aimed at improving the knowledge of library Directors, but some for Trustees or for Friends groups. A new program at MHLS is based on the idea of promoting one service or idea throughout the system each month. The first of these, for January, will be devoted to Hudson Valley Reads, which is described in my post of December 16 (or you can find it by clicking on the Hudson Valley Reads entry using the index on the left).