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New York State Library News & Events
September 2025
| | The New York State Library’s services, programs, and collections are made possible by federal Library Service and Technology Act funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. | | |
Connect with Knowledge You Trust!
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Expand your library offerings and expertise with Continuing Education for Library Workers!
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DHPSNY provides Preservation Practices for Every Library, a service available to cultural institutions around the state to support the preservation of community collections and history.
| | Currently on Display in the Cultural Education Center | | |
Embark on an adventure into the realm of board games, card games, and tabletop roleplaying games! In celebration of the history of games and the universality of play, we have dug deep within the New York State Library’s vast collection to feature hidden gems relating to games and gaming.
Don't miss your chance to view this exhibit! Changing the Game will be on view on the 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center through September 2025.
Plan your visit to the Changing the Game exhibit today! If you can’t make it to the Cultural Education Center in Albany, you can still explore some exciting items from this exhibit on the NYS Library blog. Venture into the world of tabletop RPGs or test your skills with a surprising chess puzzle.
| | Featured Event: MLB & NYC: A Love Story | | |
Baseball and New York City (NYC) have shared a love affair like no other—full of big players, big deals, big heartbreaks, and big comebacks. John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball (MLB), will bring this epic romance to life at 6 PM on Monday, October 6. From the city's early courtship with the game to their dramatic breakups and joyful reunions, Thorn will reveal how NYC and MLB shaped each other's history—and captured the hearts of millions.
Join us for a reception at 5 PM when attendees can explore baseball treasures from the collections of the New York State Library, New York State Museum, and New York State Archives. State Librarian Lauren Moore will deliver opening remarks at 6 PM, followed by Thorn’s talk covering the history of baseball in NYC from its earliest days to 1962, when, via the Mets, NYC again became a two-horse town. Afterward, New York State Museum history curator Steve Loughman will take the mic to lead a lively conversation and audience Q&A with Thorn.
Register for MLB & NYC: A Love Story, then plan your visit to the NYS Library!
| | Continuing Education for Library Workers | |
Prepared to Help: Library of Things and Emergency Response
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
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How can your library be a resource in times of crisis?
Join us for a 90-minute virtual webinar exploring how Library of Things collections can support community resilience and disaster readiness.
Hear from library leaders at Curtis Memorial Library (ME), Brazoria County Library System (TX), and the Central Florida Tool Library (FL) as they share how they’ve developed collections that go beyond books—lending emergency tools, preparedness kits, and more.
Featuring Keynote Speaker Hazel Onsrud of Curtis Memorial Library.
Whether you're just beginning or already lending non-traditional items, this session will offer inspiration, practical tips, and collection development strategies to help your library better serve patrons before and after disaster strikes.
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Creating Literacy Solutions for All Readers: Successful Models for Supporting Emergent, Dyslexic, and Other Striving Readers at Your Library
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
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This fall, New York’s structured literacy requirement goes into effect for all PreK–3rd grade classrooms. As schools adapt, libraries have a powerful opportunity to support children who learn differently—especially emergent, dyslexic, and striving readers—with evidence-based tools and inclusive programming.
In this dynamic session, you’ll explore library-based models that make literacy more accessible to all readers. Hear from librarians and educators leading innovative initiatives across New York and beyond. You’ll leave with practical strategies and free resources to help your library become a literacy hub for the entire community.
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Gale in 15: Use NOVELny’s Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep to Support Fall SAT and ACT Exams
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM - 3:15 PM
| SAT and ACT exams are right around the corner and your NOVELny resources, Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep can help! Join this short, virtual training session to learn more about these resources and discover exam prep courses, practice exams, and more! | |
Beyond Access: Inclusive Programming in Libraries
Date: Friday, September 19, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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This presentation will highlight key considerations when developing, marketing and presenting library programming, so that all members of a community can engage, learn, connect and thrive at the library.
Meaghan E. Doyle, J.D., M.S.I.S., has served as the Community and Digital Equity Consultant at the Ramapo Catskill Library System since 2023. Building on her background in public librarianship, she has spent the past two years collaborating with community partners to advance education around inclusivity and accessibility across the system’s member libraries.
This session is part of our yearlong Room for Everyone series of programs supporting library accessibility. To view all the programs in this series, please view the Accessibility programs on our event calendar.
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Empowering Secondary Learning Throughout the School Year with Gale’s NOVELny
Date: Monday, September 29, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
| Join us for an engaging training session designed to help secondary educators and librarians make the most of Gale’s NOVELny resources. This webinar will explore how to effectively integrate these digital tools into secondary classrooms and libraries to support student research, literacy, and curriculum goals. Participants will learn how to navigate key databases (Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, Gale In Context: Middle School, Gale OneFile News, Gale OneFile: High School Edition), discover age-appropriate content, and utilize built-in features like translation, text-to-speech, and citation tools. This session will equip you with practical strategies to enhance learning and collaboration. | |
Every Child Ready to Read (ECCR) Training Workshop for Public Library System Youth Services Consultants
Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Are young children in your community entering school ready to love learning, reading, and thinking? Are you seeking fresh ways to help libraries support children and their families—while making the most of library staff skills and talents? A training on PLA/ALSC’s Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) initiative may be just what you need to get staff in your member libraries aligned and re-energized.
This two-hour workshop is targeted to Youth Services Consultants in public library systems. The training and workshop will focus on essential methods and knowledge librarians need to transform storytimes, family and community programs, and outreach activities into dynamic opportunities for children and their parents or caregivers to talk, sing, read, write, and play together. An overview of the updated Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) digital toolkit, along with hands-on activities, will help you explore its key components and learn strategies for adapting them to your existing programs as well as sharing this knowledge with your member libraries.
| | Preservation Practices for Every Library | |
DHPSNY Workshops and Webinars
Date: September 16, 18, 22, & 25, 2025
Time: Varies
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DHPSNY offers a variety of educational programs and services to qualifying New York institutions. Presented free of charge throughout the state, DHPSNY’s programs address the needs of professionals and volunteers responsible for the care and handling of historical records. DHPSNY’s workshops and webinars discuss emerging issues and best practices, with content scaled to apply to small- and medium-sized organizations with limited resources.
The following program(s) will be offered this month:
- Welcoming and Inclusive Archive Practices: Experiences of the Formerly Incarcerated, A Case Study
- Stories from the Field: Internships at Bethel Woods
- Preservation Planning
- Stories from the Field: Deaccessioning with New York State’s Bureau of Historic Sites
DHPSNY is a service provided by the NYS Library and NYS Archives to support preservation practices at New York's cultural institutions.
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Library Card Sign Up Month
What if you had a simple, small but powerful piece of plastic that unlocked endless possibilities? What if it were free?
Good news! This September, join your friends and neighbors in celebrating Library Card Sign-Up Month and delight in the infinite opportunities unleashed with a library card. Your library card opens a world of materials, programs, cultural events, streaming media, homework help, free classes, job resources, and databases. This year's theme, "One Card, Endless Possibilities," reminds us that libraries are for everyone—no matter your age, background, or goals.
Whether you're diving into a new hobby, searching for your next great read, brushing up on tech skills, or helping your child succeed in school, it all starts with a free library card. Stop by your local library and get your ticket to a wild adventure, and experience all public libraries have to offer.
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From the Collections: Pack Your Lunch with the NYS Library
Back to school already? This calls for sandwiches!
Pack your lunch with help from the NYS Library blog—we've compiled fascinating items from our collections that help to tell the story of the not-so-humble sandwich and provide some much-needed lunch time inspiration.
Whether you’re looking for the perfect recipe, tracking down tips for better boxed lunches, or trying to win an argument about the origin of the club sandwich, the NYS Library has you covered!
Find your next sandwich idea on the NYS Library blog.
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