The Board of the Mid-Hudson Library System met on Wednesday, December 6th and:

• At the recommendation of the MHLS Directors Association, approved the new Memo of Understanding between the System and member libraries;
• Endorsed the work of the Path to System Membership Joint Committee;
• Approved the performance appraisal of the Executive Director;
• Approved the 2024 Facilities Plan;
• Approved the 2024 Plan of Service Action Plan;
• Approved the 2024 Budget, noting the critical importance of an increase in state aid to ensure a balanced budget in FY2024;
• Elected the 2024 slate of Board Officers:
• President: Barry Ramage (D)
• Vice President: Rajene Hardeman (D)
• Treasurer: Stuart Auchincloss (U)
• Secretary: Jill Leinung (C)
• Immediate Past President: Richard Swierat (D)
• Received an orientation on the topics of Digital Equity and Digital Inclusion; and
• Unanimously voted to establish the Mid-Hudson Library System as a “Book Haven System”: Whereas the mission of the Mid-Hudson Library System is to “act to uphold the public’s right to free and equitable access to information and library resources; Whereas a core value of the Mid-Hudson Library System is equity, diversity, and inclusion because the staff and board believe in working together to co-create a society that is free from structural inequities; and Whereas the American Library Association reports on unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022, increasing in each of the past three years; now, therefore be it Resolved, that the Mid-Hudson Library System: 

1. declare itself a Book Haven Library System;

2. annually commit to purchasing each title on the American Library Association’s Most Challenged Book list; and 

3. ensure library cardholders in the Mid-Hudson Library System can borrow books from the Book Haven collection through the online catalog.

A message from MHLS Board President, Barry Ramage 



As we reflect on 2023, one of the most notable headlines involving libraries was the intense effort, across the country, to defend the right to read. Building on our work last year to provide member libraries with the tools they need to strengthen collection development policies and request for reconsideration procedures so they are “challenge ready” (check out the Public Library Collection Policy Template and Guide (PDF/Word), we once again prioritized living our values out loud, specifically noting the need to support our member libraries in defending against material and program challenges. This year the MHLS Board:

• Unanimously voted to become an official partner of Unite Against Book Bans [https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/]. This national campaign works to build a coalition of individuals and institutions that believe in protecting access to books as tools for understanding complex issues; ensuring parents should not be making decisions for other parents’ children; and trusting individuals to make their own decisions about what to read. We encourage your library to do the same.
• Brought in the foremost expert in the country on intellectual freedom in libraries, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the Director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, as our Annual Membership Meeting keynote speaker. Ms. Caldwell Stone laid out the basic tenants of the First Amendment, the legal calling that libraries have to defend the right to read and gave us a sobering look at censorship attempts across the country.
• Declared the Mid-Hudson Library System a “Book Haven System,” guaranteeing that any title appearing on the American Library Association’s annual “Most Challenged Books” list will be accessible to every library cardholder in this system.

We thank you for your partnership and stand in solidarity with our member libraries as we confront whatever 2024 may bring.

Emily Chameides, director of the Hudson Area Library presented at the Oral History Association's Annual Meeting in October. The theme for the annual meeting held in Baltimore, Maryland was "Oral History As/And Education: Teaching and Learning in the Classroom and Beyond." The panel (pictured above) included librarians from Queens Public Library, Boston Public Library, DC Public Library, the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, the Carnegie Library for Local History in Boulder, and the Hudson Area Library. Emily discussed their oral history collections, and the library’s partnership with Oral History Summer School, and the value of library/oral historian partnerships. 

As approved by the Directors Association in June 2022, the Mid-Hudson Library System will begin cataloging discrete versions of bibliographic records effective with the pilot launch of the Vega Discover catalog.

Hardcovers, trade paperbacks, mass-market paperbacks, and library bindings are now cataloged separately, instead of sharing a single record. To facilitate this, any library staff responsible for entering new brief bib records in the catalog should create a new record any time they do not find an exact match for the edition that they are adding. All new records for print materials, including Books, Large Print, and Graphic Novels should include a detailed edition field, stating the binding of the book.

For more information, please view the video available on the MHLS Technology Training on Demand Platform. Please note you must have an account for the Technology Training on Demand Platform to access the video.

If you have any questions, please send a message to [email protected]. 

Are you a youth services programmer in the Mid-Hudson Library system? Join the Youth Services Rendezvous! Meet once a month--or as often as works for your schedule--at different libraries to discuss all aspects of working with children and teenagers. Find out what others are doing for programming, outreach, collection development, and more! Ask questions of your peers and share things that have worked for you. For more information, email Christine Pacuk, [email protected] or call 845-246-4317 ext. 5.

Upcoming meetings:

• Thursday, January 25th | 12:00 pm | Kinderhook Memorial Library
• Wednesday, February 21st | 12:00 pm | Woodstock Public Library

The final 2023 session of the Trustee Handbook Book Club is tonight, December 19th from 5:00 – 6:30 pm. The topic is Financing & Managing Construction Projects. Registration is required. This online session is 1.5 credit hours toward the NYS Trustee Education Requirements.