We appreciate our members’ flexibility as we continue to move through many changes within the organization. The next year is all about trial and error with the new system, so please feel free to email [email protected] with any thoughts, ideas, edits, updates, etc. We will do our best to accommodate!

HAVE YOU JOINED THE NEW WEBSITE AND DATABASE YET?

As we enter the first few months of the 2024-2025 membership year, anyone who has an active account in our past database but has not joined the new system will not be able to take advantage of all their member benefits unless they rejoin.

This includes:

Voting in our Elections – Elections are going on NOW until June 15^th. Join to participate.

Receiving Member Rate for Conference – Registration will launch at the end of July and member rates will only be made available to those who have an active membership.

Member Communications – As our new database has a communications center, we will begin phasing our previous MailChimp platform to send all NYLA communications to active members.

If you have yet to join, it’s not too late! The Join Form available on the NYLA homepage should be used to complete this. As in our past database, organizational members should make sure that the past rep (Key Contact in the new system) on their account completes the Join form of their organizational account. This should not be completed by any members that are included in the organizational account. 

Just a reminder, the office did not transfer any past member data into the new database. If you have not entered the new system and created any login credentials, you should be entering as a new user.  

The Join Form will be creating your new account for the 2024-2025 year and a member fee is required even if you were a previous active member. Members with previous memberships expiring after July 2024, would receive a prorate for the months they will not be receiving membership. All forms are being placed in a “pending” status for the office to review and provide any proration available. We kindly request 1 - 2 business days for the office to review your form and for your account to be made active. The organizational account included members will be sent a welcome email with their new username and instructions to create a password.

JOINED THE WEBSITE AND WANT TO KNOW MORE?

The office has developed a Membership and Website Guide available in the Quick Links Menu and in the Form and Gude Center.  We strongly recommend reviewing this guide as it provides information about new features of the website and how to use the new Join Form. This guide will continue to be updated as changes are made to the website.

We also recommend you review the new Calendar . Stay up to date on all events, webinars, office announcements, and more using this new feature.

Keep an eye out for all things New NYLA Database in your inbox and on the website!

2024 NYLA OPEN HOUSE

NYLA will be holding its annual open house on August 1, 2024. We encourage members of the organization to come to the office, and meet the staff and council members. Refreshments and beverages will be provided. We are currently organizing an evening event that anyone can participate in. More information will be provided.

2024 CONFERENCE NEWS

Leadership at Every Level: Fund-Protect-Empower

This year's conference will be in person at the Oncenter in Syracuse, New York on November 6-9.

The time is now to recognize that all library workers are leaders! Let's work together across our sections and roundtables as we strive towards sustainable funding; empowering library workers to advocate for their libraries and the communities they serve; and protecting our workers and institutions from continued assaults on intellectual freedom. Our academic, public, school, and special libraries, and the people who work and volunteer in them, are the mentors and protectors of the core values of our profession.

Let's come together during our 2024 Annual Conference to not only network, but to support each other and continue growing and learning as leaders who show our communities that libraries are welcoming places for everyone, and that every story deserves to be heard!

Who’s ready to go to Syracuse!? Planning is well underway for our 2024 Conference. The staff visited the OnCenter to meet with our planning team and see some of the renovations that have been completed since the last time NYLA was there over the summer. We are very happy to note, that not only have they added some new meeting space with AV technology included, but they also have upgraded their larger spaces to include new features such as multicolor lighting. The general aesthetic has been refreshed with paint and new flooring, so we are excited to plan a great event in this space.  

Proposal Submissions have been accepted and the final slate of programming is almost finalized.

Thank you to those who submitted a proposal for this year’s event. There were many great proposal topics submitted, and we cannot wait to finalize our schedule. Accepted presentations have until June 24^th to get their signed agreements into the office.

Hotel Accommodations

Conference hotel accommodation information is now available on the conference website. We have contracted with several properties that range from $146- $149 a night. We strongly suggest booking your room accommodation as soon as possible to be included in one of our blocks.

Registration

The 2024 NYLA Conference registration will open at the end of July. Please note, that to take advantage of member rates, you must have active membership in the system. We strongly encourage everyone to review their profile before registration is made available to confirm membership is active.

Know an organization, business, or someone looking to be a sponsor at our event? Sponsorship Opportunities are now available on the conference website!

NYLA YSS 2024 Conference

The 2024 YSS Conference, The Roaring Twenties: Finding Your Voice in a Loud Decade, was held on April 19^th, 2024, in Clayton, NY. Thank you to those who attended. If you still have an outstanding invoice for your registration, we kindly ask you to finalize payment as soon as possible. 

YSS CE Certificates have been distributed by email to those who submitted the required Evaluation Form and CE Request Form by the May 20^th deadline. This CE information was also uploaded to your NYLA profile.  

Attendees who would like to receive CE past the deadline, should complete all required forms and submit a request by email to [email protected]. There will be a $10 administrative fee required.  

NYLA SSL 2024 Conference

The 2024 SSL Conference, Stories Link Our Past, Present & Future was held on May 16 – 18, 2024 in Lake Placid, NY. Thank you to those who attended. If you still have an outstanding invoice for your registration, we kindly ask you to finalize payment as soon as possible.  

Attendance certificates have been provided to those who requested that information. Anyone else requiring documentation of attending the event can complete a Request Form. As we are now past the deadline for attendance forms, please email [email protected] once you submit your request for your certificate to be processed.  

CE Evaluations and Request Forms can be submitted up until the June 19^th deadline. Once that deadline is passed the office will begin distributing certificates by email. Please note these will be emailed to the address provided in your request form. This information will also be uploaded to attendee profiles.

Attendees who would like to receive CE past the deadline, should complete all required forms and submit a request by email to [email protected]. There will be a $10 administrative fee required. 

Just a reminder for all membership, finance, and general association inquiries to [email protected] and all event and continuing education inquiries to [email protected].

As always, we appreciate your continued membership with NYLA, and stay tuned for more operational updates in the August edition of The NYLA Voice!

Budget: After a statewide advocacy push, libraries won significant increases in State Aid for Libraries, State Aid for Library Construction, and a new allocation of $3 million to continue the operation of the NOVELny program for FY 2025. While the fight continues to increase the per-pupil rate that determines school Library Materials Aid, libraries have established a new foothold in the state budget process and will seek to build off this year’s success in the coming year. A breakdown of major library provisions in the FY 2025 budget can be found below:

Major Funding Categories:

• State Aid for Libraries (Operating Aid):                                                                                                                               $103.852 million
  • +$4.252 million from FY 2024

• State Aid for Library Construction:                                                                                                                                          $44 million
  • +$10 million from FY 2024

• Library Materials Aid:                                                                                                                                                                 $6.25/Pupil
  • Flat to FY 2024
• NOVELny:                                                                                                                                                                                         $3M
  • New allocation for FY 2025

Additional Programs & Spending

• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture:                                                                                                                     $500,000
  • +$125,000 from FY 2024

• Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center of Queens Library:                                                                           $167,500
  • +$55,000 from FY 2024
• Love Your Library Fund:                                                                                                                                                                  $100,000
  • Disbursement from existing account
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library:                                                                                                                                                $500,000
  • New allocation for FY 2025.
  • According to the bill text: “Grants shall be available on competitive basis based on need and children served. Grants shall be awarded in amounts not to exceed $50,000 to provide up to fifty percent of an eligible entity’s required matching funds to participate in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program. Funding shall be available to libraries, library systems, non-profits, school districts, and boards of cooperative educational services to participate in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program.”

Policy Changes

• Adjustments to Open Meetings Law:
  • As outlined in Part KK of this year’s TEDE Article VII legislation (Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2024), the expiration of the current videoconferencing provisions of the Open Meetings Law has been extended from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2026.
• Tier 6:
  • As outlined in Part QQ of this year’s ELFA Article VII Legislation (Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2024), Tier 6 has been adjusted by lowering the Final Average Salary calculation from 5 to 3 years for Tier 6 members.

Legislation:

 In 2024, NYLA pushed a legislative agenda representing interests as diverse as the public, school, academic, and special libraries, systems, and librarians that comprise our membership.

 After laying the groundwork for success in 2023, this year NYLA successfully advanced through the legislature a broad update of the State Aid for Library Construction program. Sponsored by our Senate and Assembly Library Committee Chairs, Senator Iwen Chu and Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, this legislation now heads to the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul. If signed, it will enact the following changes:

• Remove the 50% cap on system allocation of construction aid funds to projects eligible for matches above 50%
• Remove the distinction between libraries located in “economically disadvantaged” and “economically distressed” areas, consolidating both under the “economically disadvantaged” designation
• Provide state aid for up to 90% of total project approved costs for library buildings located in the new consolidated “economically disadvantaged” community category
• Increase the threshold requiring additional documentation to demonstrate eligibility for a reduced match from projects that request above 50% state aid to those that request above 75% state aid
• Allow coordinated projects to be eligible for reduced match
• Make certain provisions permanent to avoid the need for periodic reauthorization and consolidate chapters of laws to address current issues with the clarity of the law as currently written

The legislature also passed three bills making individual libraries eligible for DASNY support, including the Mattituck-Laurel Library, Parma Public Library, and the Ogden Farmers’ Library, as well as two pieces of legislation with potential impacts on civil service, the first of which would “provide that the state civil service department shall review and update the questions contained within examinations, as deemed appropriate by the department, no less than every five years,” and the second of which would “provide for crediting of time spent as a provisional appointee for promotional examinations and eligibility for appointment from the resulting eligible lists.” All of the above bills will go to Governor Hochul for review before the end of 2024.

Unfortunately, after initial momentum, high-profile priorities like the Freedom to Read in public and school libraries and eBook licensing regulation hit late-in-session obstacles that prevented passage this year. Nevertheless, we have spent the last year building partnerships and coalitions of support around these and other NYLA priorities that will set us up for new success in the 2025 session.

Today NYLA’s legislative committee will meet to review the past year and begin discussions about budget and legislative priorities for the coming year. If you have any thoughts, requests, or questions about next year or the session that has just concluded, please do not hesitate to contact me don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for your advocacy efforts session. Successful advocacy takes a large-scale cooperative effort of entities scattered in all corners of our state, and I truly appreciate all of the work each of you has put in to secure our gains this year.  Without you, we could not have accomplished what we did. Thank you and I look forward to working with you this summer and fall as we prepare for 2025!

Brian Schwartz is currently the head of Teen Services at the Patchogue-Medford Library. He grew up on Long Island, spending the first 10 years of his life in Elmont and the rest in the town of Holbrook. He attended Stony Brook University with a Bachelor's degree focused on English Literature before going on to LIU: CW Post for his Masters. He has worked in libraries for over 25 years, having started as a page at the age of 15. Through various part-time jobs, he has worked in Children's Services and Reference as well. His favorite part of his job is interacting with the teens as well as his coworkers.

His hobbies include aspiring to read 100 books a year, walking 8 miles a day, and gaming. His favorite board game is a game called Suburbia, in which you build your own neighborhood. His favorite video game genre is JRPGS (Japanese Role Playing Games). His favorite color is yellow and he enjoys the music of Tori Amos, Aimee Mann, the Beatles, and almost any artist from the 80's or 90's.

I have a question for you. Where is the bathroom?

I’ve worked in public libraries for over 35 years, from Page to Director, and this is the question I’m sure I’ve been asked more than any other. This is followed closely by “What time is it?” (especially fun when the service desk is next to a giant clock), and “How do I make a copy?”

When you are starting out, it’s easy to become frustrated by these questions. I know I was. I was educated! I had skills! I could Lexis-Nexis with the best of them and advise readers all day long! And yet…"Where is the bathroom?"

But when you think about it, this question gives us a lot to unpack.

Some time ago, I was lucky enough to take part in Disney Institute training. The facilitator said that the question their cast members got from guests more than any other was, “What time is the three o’clock parade?” Umm...at three o’clock?

He then posited that the question often wasn’t about the parade at all. The guests usually had different questions they wanted to ask, such as “Where is the best place to stand for the parade?,” “Where does the parade start and finish?,” or perhaps, if you were me, “Is there a churro stand near the parade?”

“What time is the three o’clock parade?” became an opening to other questions and a better relationship between the guest and the company if the cast member took the question seriously instead of dismissively.

It is just too easy to point to the bathroom with a sigh, barely lifting your head, because this is the tenth time someone has asked you this, and it’s only 11am. It’s too easy to tell people to push the giant green button that says “COPY” when they aren’t sure how to make a copy. It’s easy to assume that people know how to tell time or that they can see the clock.

When you take these simple questions seriously and answer them patiently, you are taking a step toward developing trust and a better relationship between the guest and the library. As one of my earliest library mentors told me, “Point with your feet, not with your finger.”

So if you are new around here, I’ll break it to you - you will get asked where the bathroom is approximately one million times. Remember that for the person asking, it may be the first time, and show them where it is.

Elizabeth Olesh has served as Director of the Baldwin Public Library since 2014. She holds a B.A. in English from Columbia and a second B.A. in Fine Arts / Photography from Empire State College, as well as an MLS from Queens College, CUNY, and an Executive MPA from Baruch College. When she isn’t getting degrees or working, Elizabeth enjoys staring deeply into her dog’s eyes, working out, drinking coffee, watching movies, and reading - often all at the same time. She is a fan of Disney trips, napping, and the Oxford comma.

Valentine Murder by Leslie Meier is the only novel I have ever read that features public library trustees as characters. It is a “cozy murder mystery” set in Maine that features protagonist Lucy Stone who, in addition to being a library trustee, has fantastic criminal investigative skills. Beyond sheer entertainment, this book led to three big questions for me: What do library trustees do? Why does it appeal to people? And what is life in Maine like? (That last question comes from me having a kid in college in Maine). While this book posed those questions for me, it couldn’t answer them (except for maybe giving me some insight into Maine since the author is a native of that state). It opened a big library door for me, though.

I now find myself in the position of being a library trustee, which is an incredibly interesting place for me to be. I am thrilled to have a space in NYLA Voice to share my thoughts about it here (and thus inflict them on you too!).

First, though, I should share what this column is not: it is not intended in any way, shape, or form to replicate any of the fabulous work currently being done by the NYLA Library Trustees Association Section. Their mission is to share expert knowledge, advice, and encouragement with those of us currently serving as library trustees.

My goal in this column is to instead share some personal reflections on public library trusteeship. I hope to share these thoughts with you not as a bridge from one trustee to another, but as a way to open communication between trustees and other library folks.

As to what library trustees officially do, I have found that the 2023 edition of The Handbook for Library Trustees of New York State offers a good summary:

Your key role and responsibility as a library trustee is to work with your library director (and hire that great director!) to create the mission, develop and implement long and short-range plans to meet that mission, and to ensure adequate funding to carry out those plans. You also have other responsibilities including legal oversight of the library finances, ensuring up-to-date policies and procedures, maintaining a safe and appealing facility, and promoting the library. And all of this must be based on your community and its needs.

This sounds scary, but I am happy to offer some personal thoughts on this role. So here they are: For me, being a public library trustee is about action. I chose the title “Trusteeing” for this column because I wanted it to reflect action, and not just a state of being. To me, “trusteeing” does not mean just fulfilling a role. It means acting as the voice of the community when the library director makes decisions, but also acting as the voice of the library when advocating outside of it. (I will look at those two voices in the next two columns).

As to why being a library trustee might appeal to someone, Kimberly Parry’s April 2024 NYLA column “Behind the Stacks” opens the door to this question through an interview with a library trustee. I can add a few personal thoughts here too. I find being a public library trustee very appealing because it offers a way to serve your community in a very meaningful way. By “meaningful” I mean that it helps others. It offers opportunities to support people in your community in finding information, furthering their learning, and engaging in leisure and recreation at or through the library.

Finding my voice as a public library trustee in this column comes from my journey of becoming one. I came to public library trusteeship from academic librarianship. I spent a career as a librarian in higher education because I enjoyed its combination of scholarship and service. The community I was part of in that role was the university and its users were the students and faculty. The public library was a part of my life but mostly in a fuzzy, background kind of way, mostly as a place to borrow books from that I didn’t want to buy.

I had a chance to experience more of what the public library had to offer when I became aware of a library trustee opening right around the time when I was getting ready for early retirement. I was lucky enough to apply for and be granted a seven-month term that could not be finished by a current library trustee. It let me dip my toe in the water before jumping in. But jump in I did when I put in for the full five-year term of my own. Little did I know that a pandemic would begin in a couple of months, and my joining the board then would open my eyes to many different ways of seeing the worth of the public library.

Karen is a librarian emeritus from Brock University (Canada) who retired from a career in academic librarianship in 2020. A few months prior to leaving Brock, she became a library trustee at her local hometown public library in the City of Tonawanda, NY, a position she still holds and relishes.

When the average library user thinks of a public library, one of the first things to cross their mind is likely the Circulation Desk. The Circulation Department is essential to the public’s use of the library for the most basic function of the library, borrowing materials. For many patrons, the Circulation Desk is the source of their first and often most frequent interactions with library staff. The employees and volunteers who operate this department are the “frontline” of public service in libraries.

I conducted the following interview with Emmie Greene, Circulation Department Head at East Hampton Library on the eastern end of Long Island. What does a typical day at the library look like in your position? At the Circulation Desk of our library, we are responsible for checking items in and out, issuing cards to new patrons, making phone calls (directing calls, renewing cards and items over the phone), as well as troubleshooting card problems ("Why isn't my card working?"), and generally helping people to the best of our ability. It's a very social place to work. As Department Head and Library Coordinator, I'm also responsible for managing the Circulation staff schedule and making sure that the desk is always staffed, running lots of reports: checking the codes for new patrons/items, expiring/expired library cards, overdue, reports for other departments when they need them, and monthly and yearly statistical reports. I am also on the committee of our annual fundraiser, so I work on that during the spring and summer months reaching out to publishers to see if they will donate books, inventorying the books, and making sure everything is ready to go by August.

What is one of your favorite things about working in a library? One of the best parts of working at a library is the people you meet.

If you could hold a different position in a library than the one you currently have, what would it be and why? While we get to experience a little bit of everything here at the main desk, I would also enjoy processing books and/or working in the interlibrary loan department.

Did you grow up using libraries? I grew up using the very library I work at today. My mom introduced me to the wonderful world of books when I was small. Every week or so we would check out a laundry basket full of books. While we are a tourist town in the summer, we really are a small town. Over the years, I've worked alongside the same staff who watched me come to the library as a kid and grow. Now I'm watching our smallest patrons grow up which is pretty special.

In your opinion, why are libraries important? Libraries are important because of everything we have to offer and I think a lot of people don't realize just how much that is. First and foremost, we are a free place to go and everyone who comes in has access to free wifi, computers, scanning/printing, free books, help finding information, and can attend programs, book groups, and author talks. However, the benefits of having a library card include access to: ebooks and e-audiobooks, interlibrary loan, databases (research, homework help, streaming TV & movies), museum passes, a library of things (such as record players, digital converters for VHS tapes & cassettes, Cricut machines, board games, lawn games, video games, etc), and we are also a place for the unhoused to go. Some libraries even offer notaries, passport services, help with taxes and immigration services.

Some special things we offer at our library include a free homebound program (we send pouches via USPS to those who cannot get to and from the library), a renowned local history department, a coffee machine, driver safety courses, a seed library, we participate with our village's mystery and crime festival, we host a free children's fair in August after our annual fundraiser, and every October we transform the library into a Haunted Library attraction. We also accept food donations for our local food pantries, used glasses, donations of books, and we have a coat drive in the winter. We also provide free wifi to our local health center as well as a small, independent library in the next town over.

Libraries are community centers. I know how lucky we are to have the budget we do and a supportive library board. It breaks my heart to see budget cuts for NYPL and the banning of/getting rid of so many important books in schools down south.

Is there a particular library resource, program, display, etc. that you have seen your library or another library offer, that made a lasting impression on you? Free ESL classes were one of the most popular programs I've seen. We had beginner ESL and advanced ESL, as well as citizenship classes.

What are you currently reading? I just finished The Gathering by C.J. Tudor and I'm looking for my next read.

Would you rather have dinner with your favorite author or your favorite character? Favorite author. 

Kimberly Parry is the Head of Adult and Teen Services at Amagansett Library. She started working in libraries as a page in 2015, coinciding with beginning her MSLS online at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Kimberly’s areas of interest include collection development, programming, graphic design, and team building.

Since I began working in libraries, I’ve heard the same thing hundreds of times: Libraries aren’t what they used to be. This is typically said with a negative undertone, one that hints at begrudging the changes that have happened in the last twenty or so years since most libraries began making the switch to the digital sphere. While print materials have not gone out of fashion – I don’t predict that will happen soon – there has been a notable shift in patron behavior, needs, and interests. More patrons are borrowing digital materials, they’re capable of finding their next read on their own (or are peer pressured by BookTok into reading the next viral title), and they want us to offer fun and educational programs for all ages.

Still, every time I talk about my profession with non-library workers, I invariably hear, “I haven’t been to a library in years!” These years-long lapses are not only disheartening, but can exacerbate the outdated understanding of what libraries do for communities. Most people I talk to about libraries still hold this image of a shushing librarian in their heads. Many think everyone who works in a library is a librarian, and they are shocked to learn we often need a master’s degree to become a librarian. Many think all we offer are books and DVDs. Even my husband, who has only known me as a library employee, is surprised when I tell him that our local library could purchase that expensive book he’s on the fence about ordering or has a program for first-time home-buyers, or provides free access to language learning apps. Sometimes I want to shake their shoulders and scream, “Libraries are not what they used to be!” Instead, I tell them about my job, our Library of Things catalog, our video games, our programs, our community puzzles, meeting spaces, laptop loans, and free Wi-Fi. All the things. We are The Everything Place.

In today’s landscape of “nothing is how it used to be,” it can be easy to fall into the bitter side of nostalgia. But the fact that libraries have changed shows that we are never going to lose our usefulness. We will always adapt to the changes in our society and culture, to not just meet the needs of our communities but improve our communities. People who live in a town with a public library do much better than in a town without one, just as students who attend schools with a certified school librarian have better test scores and better literacy skills than those at schools without them. Great things are happening because of the changes we have made and continue to make in the profession. We’re just not always great at marketing ourselves. True: as libraries and librarians, we pride ourselves on our transparency. We post our business transactions in our board packets, we post our budget breakdowns, and our employee salaries are public; we hide nothing. But who wants to sit and read through receipts just to learn what we do? Not many people.

So how do we get better at marketing what we do and what we offer? It might sound silly, but in graduate school I learned about libraries creating TV advertisements for cable and streaming apps. I see ads for local businesses all the time, so why not a local library? Why not reach out to newspapers about upcoming events, or post a satirical ad about how everything’s free! Blowout sale at the library! Everything’s free! (Just be sure to indicate that the materials still need to be checked out!)

We could also do the scary thing and utilize social media better. It’s not easy learning a new technology, but isn’t that what we help our patrons to do? Maybe we need to talk ourselves through the process as we would our patrons. Instagram Reels has easy-to-use templates for those who have no experience making videos, and The NYLA Voice even has a column on using social media! These apps, TikTok in particular, are where teens and young adults are. If you look at Mychal Threets, it’s easy to see the community-building benefits of using social media and how libraries can be a source of positivity – if you can ignore the negativity.

In my own social media feeds, I frequently see TikTokers lamenting how long the wait is for hot new titles on Libby. If our patrons knew how expensive digital titles are, or how we’ve been headlocked into paying premium prices for a short-term license, maybe we could get them on board with legislation that would help us all out. Just over two years ago, legislation about digital media pricing was shot down in our state, even though it had bipartisan support. Our patrons deserve to be informed of recent or upcoming legislation and how it affects them. Maybe local news organizations would like to shine a light on how we’re struggling to keep up with e-book prices.

These are just some examples; not every method will work for every library because each library and its needs and abilities vary. What I’m trying to say is that no one knows what we do because we don’t often flaunt it –we’re just not that type of people. But it’s becoming increasingly necessary to be that type of person. When library services are being threatened, such as they are in NYC, we need to stand up and show everyone what we do and then keep standing up and showing what we do. We are The Everything Place, we are The Everybody Place. Lives are made in libraries, lives are changed in libraries, and lives are safe in libraries, all because libraries continue to not be what they used to be.

What are some of your ideas for promoting what we do?

Rachael Ciancarelli is a Public Services Librarian in the Capital Region. Originally from Long Island, she has worked in school and public libraries in both New York and Washington state, and is passionate about making the world a better place - while also maintaining a healthy work-life balance. She was a dual major in classics and psychology at CUNY Brooklyn College, earned a third BA in German language and literature from CUNY Hunter College, and, finally, an MSLIS from Syracuse University. When she's not talking your ear off about the library world, she's writing, listening to a new mystery audiobook, watching Grey's Anatomy for the hundredth time, or at a local brewery with her husband and dog.

Understanding that libraries remain developmentally in motion is especially true when being nostalgic.  My memories of the lowly call slip and interactions generated by its use were evoked recently as I watched someone handwrite a ticket for a dinner show. It was a slow process observing his handwriting crawl across the paper.  How often these days, do we wait and watch as handwritten ephemera develop?

Time not so long ago, the handwritten call slip was the only way to request books and periodicals inhabiting closed shelves, beyond public display. I remember working as a page in the stacks underneath the NYPL Main Reading Room (now the Rose Reading Room), where a massive reference collection spread throughout seven floors supported by a latticework of iron and marble flooring. 

I am respectfully in awe at how much fun it was to be a library page and have the uncomplicated and straightforward job of delivering reference material to researchers and curious lifelong learners. Just complete the book and periodical requests coming down the pike.

And coming down the pike is a mostly apt metaphor. Books were delivered through trays hoisted via a special book elevator/conveyor. But the cool aspect of working in the stacks was the pneumatic method of communication. We used metal tubes that shot vertically downward, bringing call slip requests to the correct stack, because each stack had its specialty. I remember clearly the clicking scoop sound of the metal shutter closing and the soft rush of compressed air as each tube began its journey. 

I may be romanticizing, but it was a magical time. It was kind of a super-page job to work at the main branch in the stacks. We did believe we were the best of the best.

Atop the stacks, the Main (Rose) Reading Room stretched out in two directions, with our command central directly in the middle. Each side housed either the north or south room, each consistently furnished with rows and rows of tables quietly lit for focused work. Enough room for researchers to pile books and papers and allow themselves a quiet visit to the inner worlds of ideas and possibilities. It was rumored that LeRoy Robert Ripley, originator of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, maintained a routine schedule at the Reading Room to develop leads for his fantastic stories.

Stack Six held the administrator’s desk, where shift assignments were handed out. Also on Stack Six in the corner was the preservation section where I learned some important tactile skills about packaging, measuring, knotting, and the value of clear handwriting.

The 1984 Ghostbusters movie was filmed in the stacks, and a ghostly librarian told Bill Murray to SHHHHHHH! There were never any real ghosts in the stacks, but now, maybe, because they are empty and unused, it all seems very ghostlike. 

Rajene Hardeman, MSLIS, is a committed community and library advocate with experience serving community groups throughout metropolitan NYC and the Hudson Valley. A graduate of Pratt Institute School of Information, Rajene currently works as an independent archivist while continuing to develop programs and raise awareness regarding the need for a balance between digital and non-digital activities. She is a trained mediator for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Rajene has partnered with the Mozilla Foundation and Tactical Technology Collective to bring workshops and supportive dialogue around the issues of online privacy and security, and, as a current trustee for the Mid-Hudson Library System, Rajene enthusiastically supports engagement and sustainability for all libraries and their patrons. She is a Metropolitan Museum of Art Library volunteer.  Rajene serves on the board of Wikimedia New York City and as a member of the Wikimedia and Libraries User Group steering committee. In a non-pandemic world, she coaches in-person Wikipedia edit-a-thons.

Happy Pride, Without the Prejudice. Okay, so I took a page from my library’s Pride tagline this year, but the sentiment holds: June is all about Pride, holding the prejudice. We all know that Pride displays have been under fire more than ever these days; if you’re still able to create Pride displays and host programming, please do: you never know who needs to see themselves in literature and affirmative programming.

That said, remember that Pride is important all year round - you don’t have to dull your sparkle for 11 months out of the year, nor should you wait until June to be an ally or an accomplice.

Readers Advisory: Remember that for every Working Girls: Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Professional Womanhood by Trixie Mattel and Katya, there’s The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History by Marc Stein. We live in an amazing time where there are so many LGBTQ+ books available, but it’s not all glitter and giggles. Pride began with an uprising. Make it fun, and make it meaningful.

YA and middle grade are experiencing a Renaissance of queer-friendly literature and nonfiction. Atia Abawi has a Sally Ride biography available as part of Chelsea Clinton’s She Persisted series; Corrine Grinapol and Gregory Copeland wrote Who Was Harvey Milk? for that big-head Who Was/What Was biography series. Graphic novels are distinguishing themselves as the medium to communicate queer storytelling, with books like Molly Ostertag’s The Deep Dark, Sarah Burgess’s Skip, and Tegan and Sara’s Junior High.

Programming: Make it fun! Add Pride Bingo, Perler bead rainbows, and anti-proms to author talks and film screenings.

You know it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t mention role-playing and tabletop games, so consider your audience and think about introducing some LGBTQ+-friendly RPGs like Be Gay Do Crimes or Lichcraft.

If you aren’t able to publicly support Pride initiatives at your library, it’s time for some subterfuge: zines are a great way to engage your community. Readers Advisory bookmarks and zines, on hand at Reference or discreetly placed in areas you know your folx will find them, provide titles and links to resources that can be life-saving.

In the end, it’s about balance and respect.

Rosemary Kiladitis (she/her) is a native New Yorker (almost – she arrived here at 5 days old, having been born in Hollywood, Florida) and a self-confessed bibliomaniac with fond memories of burning out many an Itty Bitty Book Light as a child, reading under the covers well past her bedtime. She currently reads by her tablet light when everyone else is asleep. The excitement of rediscovering her childhood favorites – and discovering new favorites! – with her kids led her to children’s librarianship after a little over a decade in book publishing. She received her Masters in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University in 2013 and is an Assistant Community Library Manager at the Corona branch of Queens Public Library, where she dreams of world domination through storytime. She lives in Queens, New York, with her husband and an assortment of kids and pets.

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“I don’t want to ‘do my best’ I want to give a comfortable 60% and have time for my shows”

–an Instagram post I screenshot last week

I would not say that I am experiencing burnout. But I am tired. After a hectic later winter/spring, both personally and professionally, I am looking forward to a bit of a lull in my Google calendar this summer. I plan to catch up, clean up, and set up. And yet…

Although I will still be engaging in Outreach activities (including daily and weekly tasks), co-hosting a one-day conference, drafting my 2025 budget, and facilitating the next round of State Aid for Library Construction applications, I feel guilty about entering a period of maintenance. I feel guilty for wanting to have time for my shows.

One-hundred percent at all times is not sustainable. One’s workflow needs hills and valleys to avoid prolonged stress, exhaustion, and disengagement. I know this; I have written and presented about this. And yet…

Often, when contemplating taking time off or scaling back, I cannot get past “But if not me, then who?” This is a consideration those in leadership and administrative roles or those working in smaller libraries and organizations grapple with. Is it ok if the response is “No one”? Can these tasks sit and wait? Can those new ideas or programs cook a bit longer? The answer to all, of course, is yes. And yet…

A lull in the schedule – and being excited about it – also makes me feel lazy and inadequate. Will people feel like I no longer care about my job? Will people think I am no longer good at my job? Will the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s “Nothing New” make me ugly cry in the car?

These feelings are completely self-imposed (inflicted?). I feel no pressure from my boss, coworkers, or peers to relentlessly push forward. I do not know where this compulsion comes from (oldest child? Catholic school? Jessie Spano?), but I have always been this way. I think every Baby-Sitters Club reader who most identified with Kristy Thomas has the same challenges with work-life balance today. I am not alone in this struggle.

So, as a matter of personal growth, I am dubbing the next three months “Sixty Percent Summer.” Not just for me – for all of us, especially those of us who ignore being fatigued or overwhelmed and silently quote, “I’m right on top of that, Rose!” (IYKYK). Together we are going to have time for our shows and not feel remorse or shame. A guilt-free lull will allow us to recharge and refresh and return to a period of 100% better than ever. This is our mission and we need to accept it…but, like, no pressure. 

Suzanne Macaulay is the Program Director at the OWWL Library System which supports library services in Ontario, Wayne, Wyoming, and Livingston Counties. Her responsibilities include Outreach Coordinator, Youth Services Consultant, State Aid for Library Construction, Continuing Education, and Social Media & Communications. Suzanne is the President of NYLA's Rural Libraries Round Table and a member of the Association of Bookmobile & Outreach Services. She received her BA in English from Molloy University and MLIS from LIU Post. Originally from Long Island where she started as the Children’s Librarian at the Henry Waldinger Library (Hi, Mamie!), Suzanne now lives in Rochester. During non-library time, she runs, officiates lacrosse, plays (terrible) golf, and is a very supportive but very non-shouty sports parent.

Hello NYLA readers! It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you all! My name is Tova Harris (she/they), and I am very much a newbie to the library world, as I have only been working in libraries since 2022. My previous career was in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research and case worker jobs throughout Long Island and NYC. After recognizing the emotional toll such work required, and still wanting to positively support and empower vulnerable communities, I pivoted to library science, and started working as a page at a local library, Emma Clark, out in Suffolk County.

After a few months as a page, I interviewed and was hired as a part-time technical services clerk, where I quickly learned that technical services possessed a series of detail-oriented skills I did not inherently hold within me (aka, I was pretty bad at it). Thankfully, a job posting for a part-time makerspace clerk was announced at Sachem Public Library, and I quickly applied for the position. During the interview, I was asked if I had any experience in makerspaces, and when I responded with a resounding “no,” I also failed to mention that Sachem’s Studio was the first maker space I had ever visited in my life. After a year of makerspace work, I was also hired at Longwood, allowing me the privilege of working at not just one, but two superb maker spaces. Thankfully, at Emma Clark Library, Sachem Public Library, and Longwood Public Library, I am/was blessed to work alongside library staff who are/were patient and kind, and who have allowed me space and time to catch up in all things “library.”

Now, as a BIPOC person, this lack of experience in things technology-focused is not unique in any way. In the 2019 Annual Survey of Makerspaces, the Nation of Makers organization found that African-American (1.54% - 4.95%), Latinx (0.99%-3.09%), Indigenous (0.43%), and Asian (2.74% - 3.96%) makerspace members were startlingly low in comparison to the 80%-81.27% Caucasian makerspace members (Nation of Makers, 2024).

 (Taken from the Nation of Makers website, featuring Figure 1: Question 10 - Nation of Makers’ Annual Survey of Makerspaces 2019 - Your Ethnicity)

Dorothy-Jones Davis, the Executive Director of Nation of Makers, wrote an open letter to the United States makerspace community, where she creatively coined this phenomenon as the “3D Elephant in the room,” an expression that so clearly speaks to the disparities of inclusion that still face public and association libraries. It is a painful finding to come across, in part, because for so many librarians these initial stages of creating makerspace departments and resources are focused (and rightly so) on welcoming and creating a growing community of patrons and offering them a comforting space for innovation and self-empowerment. Unfortunately, in early makerspace growth and development, there is thus little time between the novelty of its existence, as well as the smaller amount of dedicated staff, for makerspace departments, nor their respective libraries to begin looking at these same spaces with the lens of inclusivity. 

Perhaps, before asking libraries to create makerspace inclusivity initiatives, an examination of the lack of diversity within the librarian profession, itself, needs to be addressed on a state or national level. ALA’s “Diversity Counts” study, one of the first (and one of the only) initiatives attempting to record demographics of library professionals, has percentages (albeit from 2009-2010) that, unsurprisingly, do not stray far from the 2019 Annual Survey of Makerspaces.

(Taken from the ALA website focusing on different aspects of the ALA Diversity Counts Initiative, Table 1, Librarian Percentages by Race)

In David Figlio’s 2017 article, The Importance of a Diverse Teaching Force, he speaks of growing public education research findings that show factors such as test scores, suspension rates, and attendance, are all significantly affected by the “demographic matches” between students and their respective teachers (Brookings, 2017). While the public school model works in a very different way than the average public library, particularly in that its funding is based on the standardized scores of its students (vs. attendance and borrowing rates of its patrons), it is essential to reflect on how racial diversity in staffing creates a trajectory of inclusiveness.

Though it may seem rather depressing to begin my NYLA Voice series with some structural and systemic limitations that face most institutions of thought and practice, I think this introductory article and subsequent content relate most thoroughly to the duality and interconnectedness that Charles Dickens writes within A Tale of Two Cities; the story that links oppression with tales of true bravery; the story on which I base the title of my series. The exciting and amazing breakthroughs of the library makerspace movement are not, and in fact  cannot be, removed from the fragmentation of transformation that librarianship, like many other professions, still struggles with to this day.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Tova (she/they) is a BIPOC resident of Long Island. They are currently in the University at Buffalo's MLIS program, and working at the amazing makerspaces of Sachem Public Library and Longwood Public Library. They are looking to eventually create a Librarians of Color Division within Suffolk County Library Association (SCLA), and in their spare time love to read, laugh, and play violin in the Island Symphony Orchestra.