SCHOAM! for October 2026

Special Collections, Historical Organizations, Archives & Museums

in short: News | Grants | Ideas | Events | Webinars | Jobs

News from SCRLC

ICYMI: SCRLC Annual Meeting in Corning

Our 60th annual meeting will be at the Corning Museum of Glass on Oct. 20 from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm, and you're invited! Join us for a keynote from Claire Wardle, who will talk about the role of libraries in these unpleasantly-unprecedented times of rampant misinformation, plus a brief talk from the state librarian and lightning talks from peers in the region. There will be a delicious lunch, a quick business meeting, and then a presentation and tour of the museum.

Seriously, you don't want to miss this! Register by Monday.

New Collection: Eisenhower College Yearbooks

Eisenhower College was a small, short-lived liberal arts college in Seneca Falls. It was named for Dwight D. Eisenhower and supported by the unusual Eisenhower dollar coin, which only existed in the 1970s. The school closed in 1982 and in 1989, the New York Chiropractic College bought the campus, now the Northeast College of Health Sciences.

Grants & Assistance

DHPSNY Planning & Assessment Services

Apply for free professional help from DHPSNY staff including Preservation Surveys, Condition Surveys, Archival Needs Assessments, or Strategic Planning Assistance. Due Nov. 20.

IMLS Inspire Grants for Small Museums

These grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services can fund many types of museum projects including preservation planning, conservation treatment, and digitization. They are specifically for museums (rather than libraries or archives). Due Nov. 13.

IMLS Museums for America

Grants can range from $5,000 to $350,000, but they require matching funds. This award can be used for "project-based efforts to serve the public through educational programs and exhibits, community partnerships, and collections stewardship activities."  Due Nov. 13.

IMLS Museums Empowered

This is a special offshoot of Museums of America that can be used to train museum staff in digital technology, evaluation, and/or organizational management. Due Nov. 13.

Art Preservation Fund Conservation Grant

Art Preservation Fund (APF) provides funding to small and mid-sized collections across the US to support conservation treatment and assessments, prioritizing organizations with demonstrated need and limited access to existing resources. Grants will support the preservation of individual items or closely associated groups of items. Due Oct. 30.

Ideas & Inspiration

Historic Preservation Protections Under Threat

Historic Ithaca is sounding the alarm about sweeping changes to Section 106. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act forces federal agencies to review possible effects on historic properties. It gives communities the opportunity for public comment before historic properties are affected by federal projects (Urban Renewal PTSD, anyone?).

Library Freedom Project Updates

LFP has a Critical AI group that meets every Friday at noon and another online group about Higher Ed that meets bimonthly on Fridays at 1:30 pm. Email info@libraryfreedom.org to get the link and join either group. They've also recently published updated resources about data privacy (https://libraryfreedom.org/resources/) that you can post and use with patrons, too.

It's American Archives Month!

NYSED created an Action Guide for Archives Month back in 2000, and while it lacks reference to things like social media, you might still get some inspiration by skimming through the 20 pages of advice about engaging with local media. For a more up-to-date list of ideas, check out the Society of American Archivists' page: American Archives Month. The New York State Archives is hosting an open "Ask Us Anything" forum with the State Archivist, the Director of Archival Services, and the Director of Government Records Services on Oct. 22.

Path Through History Weekend

Make sure your events are added to the I Love NY calendar and check out the other things happening in your neighborhood. Email paththroughhistory@esd.ny.gov for more info.

NY History Conference 2027

The 2027 New York History Conference will be held in Rochester in June with the theme of Enslavement, Abolition, and Freedom in New York: 1627-1827-2027. Proposals for presentations are due in January.

Mellon Foundation Report on Community Based Archives (CBAs)

CBAs are independent organizations that preserve historical records and narratives rarely collected or maintained by mainstream institutions. Examples of CBAs would include those early LGBT+ archives and collections based on ethnic urban neighborhoods. This report includes recommendations on how established institutions could work with CBAs.

Program for Cooperative Cataloging Survey

This survey aims to understand the needs, interests, and preferred learning methods of catalogers and metadata creators when it comes to Indigenous peoples.

🌳Sustainability Idea: E-Waste Recycling

A friend of mine in Auburn just signed up to bring his household e-waste (think: printers, cables, old computers, monitors, etc.) out to Newark in Wayne County for an event with Sunnking. Sunnking Sustainable Solutions is a company headquartered in Brockport, NY, that refurbishes and recycles e-waste for consumers and for corporations. They provide a client reporting tool so that organizations can quantify their own sustainability achievements. Their website contains a ton of information about their process, their carbon footprint, their refurbished electronics for sale, and more. You could lean on them as a consumer or you could run an event as an organization.

Happening in the Neighborhood

Allegany

• Alfred University Libraries is running a sticker design contest for their students. A few weeks ago, they hosted an open panel with students, faculty and local authors about why they love to read.
• Congratulations to Houghton University's David Stevick, who was the Association of Christian Librarian's Member of the Month recently! They published a nice interview.

Broome

• SUNY Broome library is lending laptops out to students, and it's such a popular program that they have a waitlist. They're teaching students how to do concept mapping and how to use NotebookLLM this month, too.
• Binghamton University Libraries is hosting our Urban Renewal exhibit, which they've put on display at their Downtown Center Library.

Cayuga

• The City of Auburn Historic and Cultural Sites Commission is hosting a "State of the Sites" presentation on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 8:30 am, in which they'll talk about a dozen cultural and historical organizations in Auburn and their positive impacts on the city.
• The Seward House Museum and Seymour Library are partnering to host a community read and lecture at Cayuga Museum's Carriage House Theater on Nov. 13 with author Carl Bon Tempo called Immigration: An American History.
• This weekend, Cayuga Museum is celebrating their 90th anniversary. Next Friday, they'll unveil the enormous Theodore Case mural downtown. On Oct. 17, artist Vanessa Johnson will present "Freedom Aprons," a live spoken word performance about abolitionism. On Halloween, the museum is hosting a fundraiser based on the cult-classic, the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
• This Sunday, Shirley Egan will present about David Thomas, an early white settler of Ledyard, at the Howland Stone Store Museum.
• On Oct. 23, Brian Chappell will present at the Patrick Tavern about the evolution of artificial lighting from 1780 to 1860 for the Aurora Ledyard Historical Society.
• The Canal Society of New York State has just received a physical collection of postcards that were digitized by Queens College library students literal decades ago. It's a great collection and I'm very excited we now have the authority to improve the metadata and make it more accessible!
• The Seward House Museum has several specialty tours planned this month: Vineyards and Vaults, inspired by William Seward's travels through Italy; Death Rites and Victorian Mourning Culture; and Haunted History Tours of Auburn. In November, SHM will host another free lunchtime lecture called “The Irish Immigrant Experience in an Expanding United States, 1780s-1850s,” which dovetails with the Carl Bon Tempo talk.
• SUNY Cayuga libraries have made some great banned book displays!

Chemung

• Chemung County Historical Society is running their twentieth annual Ghostwalks. CCHS also hold a program at the historical society where they'll answer questions about the script for the ghostwalks. Curator Erin recently wrote a fun blog post about saloons that she named "Patooie."
• The Chemung County Library has some great upcoming events from their local history and genealogy department: Unique African American Records with Ari Wilkins (virtual), Second St. Cemetery Talk & Tour, and the Elmira Civil War Prison Camp Presentation and Q&A. Anyone who checks out an item or attends a program at the West Elmira branch will be entered into a raffle for two free tickets of the historical society's incredibly popular Ghostwalks.

Chenango

• Chenango County Historical Society will refresh their "Chenango County in Fifty Stories" exhibit in time for the Path Through History weekend. They're preparing for National Author's Day on Nov. 1.
• Guernsey Memorial Library in Norwich is hosting a lecture Monday, Oct. 12 about conspiracy theories in American History with Dr. Ed Erickson.

Cortland

• Cortland County Historical Society is running their 4th annual photo scavenger hunt this month. Sophie Welburn will present about HistoryForge on Oct. 15. On Oct. 22, the Lunch & Learn topic will be elocution, which sounds super interesting! On Oct. 22, the topic will be the National Register of Historic Places.

Delaware

• Delaware County Historical Association is holding a special Twilight Lantern Tour of the historic Gideon Frisbee House. WSKG gives a brief preview of the event here. DCHA's annual meeting will be Sunday, Nov. 8 with a special presentation by Assistant Executive Director Samantha Misa on America250. On Nov. 14, they'll host a leather stamping workshop.
• Hanford Mills Museum's last day of the season is Oct. 15, although they have the historic cooking workshop for kids on Oct. 24. HMM recently contributed hemlock boards for a new trail at Hanford Mills.

Otsego

• SUNY Oneonta's Milne Library will have a showing of The Librarians on Oct. 14, featuring staff from the local school library and public library.
• The Greater Oneonta Historical Society will hold its annual dinner & meeting on Oct. 14, which will include awards. GOHS is partnering with the Carbondale (PA) Historical Society & Museum to tour Oneonta and talk about how the D&H railroad once connected the two cities.
• Fenimore Art Museum has refreshed their American Masterworks Collection with works that were recently added to the permanent collection thanks to a $33.8 million gift.

Schuyler

• Rachel and Joe continue to add great materials to the IMRRC digital collections.

Seneca

• Seneca Falls Historical Society will have a presentation by Autumn Thaggard about SFHS's 130th anniversary on Oct. 17. On Nov. 7, Jonathan Monfiletto will talk about the Becker family to mark the 65th anniversary of SFHS purchasing the Becker mansion. The Becker mansion has been getting some TLC lately, with trim repairs, painting, and more. On Oct. 23, SFHS is hosting an exciting murder mystery dinner!
• Interlaken Public Library is holding a Halloween party on Saturday evening, Oct. 31.
• Northeast College of Health Sciences has new academic programs! The college, which runs on trimesters, has an alumni weekend coming up on Oct. 23-25.
• Waterloo Library & Historical Society held a very cute mop head ghost craft program.
• Seneca Falls Library has a Halloween costume shop all month. On Nov. 14, local author Nancy E. Lynch will talk about female veterans of Vietnam.

Steuben

• Hornell Public Library will also feature Nancy Lynch's presentation on women in Vietnam this month.
• SUNY Corning has a banned books week display including "Book Trapped in a Jar" which is super clever.
• Corning Museum of Glass is preparing for the 40th Rakow Commission, which will feature Ken Williams, Jr., on Nov. 5. They also have their 64th Annual Seminar on Glass coming up on Oct. 20 and 21. And of course, this is a great season to visit the museum for a work function (LIKE OUR ANNUAL MEETING!) and then hang around to look at the beautiful glass pumpkins in the amazing gift shop.

Tompkins

• Historic Ithaca has cemetery tours coming up and a historic window workshop.
• Ithaca College Library has invited by Paws on the Lawn, who will bring Cornellian llamas and dogs to the academic quad on Oct. 13.
• This weekend, Newfield Historical Society is participating in the Covered Bridge Festival.
• Tompkins County Public Library is hosting a presentation by Kurt Jordan, Indigenous Peoples and Languages in the Cayuga Lake Region, on Oct. 15. On Oct. 20, TCPL is hosting Home Archiving 101: Personal Archiving Workshop. On Oct. 29, they'll host Where ASL Lives: Language, Place, and Deaf Community Identity.
• The History Center in Tompkins County is running their Haunted History tours now. Tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 11, they'll have an open house at the 1827 Eight Square Schoolhouse. This month is Silent Movie Month, and THC is doing several events with the Wharton Studio Museum.

Yates

• Yates County History Center is holding its annual meeting in Penn Yan on Nov. 5.

Zooms & Webinars Up Your Alley

[NNYLN] Beyond the Headlines: Advanced Features of NYS Historic Newspapers

Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 10 am

[Choice] Ask the CISO: Navigating Security, Access, and Collaboration in Academic Libraries

Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 11 am

[NYS Archives] Rev250 New York State Freedom Train Revisited

Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 12:30 pm

Creating a Person-Centered Library: Supporting High-Needs Patrons While Caring For Staff

Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 2 pm

[Gaylord] Build Your Own Clamshell Box Workshop

Thursday, Oct. 15 at 2 pm

[NYSED] Black Americans and the American Revolution

Thursday, Oct. 15 at 3 pm

[Choice] Undercounted Impact: Where Collection Development, Scholarly Communications and Real-World Research Impact Meet

Thursday, Oct. 15 at 3 pm

[ACRL] Information Literacy Immersion Program

Oct. 19 through Nov. 13 || $229 - $329

Student Success Beyond the Page: Promoting Wellbeing and Critical Thinking with Libby

Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 2 pm

AI Literacy Made Practical: Ethical & Effective AI Use in Libraries

Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 2 pm

[DHPSNY] The Art of the Ask: Tips for Crafting Compelling Grant Narratives

Thursday, Oct. 22 at 12 pm

[NEDCC] Grant Writing for Collections Preservation

Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 12:30 pm

[SCRLC] The Thanksgiving Play / What Would Crazy Horse Do? Book Discussion

Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 12 pm

ACRL CLS: Fun in the Stacks: Engaging Students Through Non-Traditional Library Events

Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 2 pm

[CCAHA] Salvage Priorites: What's Next?

Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 12 pm

[CLRC] No Such Thing as Work/Life Balance – Sustaining Your Boundaries and Mental Health While Thriving at Work

Thursday, Oct. 29 at 10 am

[Choice] News literacy meets AI literacy: Reconnecting students to sources in an age of generated answers

Thursday, Oct. 29 at 11 am

[CLRC] Planning a Successful Lecture Program – Strategies for Engaging Your Community

Monday, Nov. 2 at 2 pm

[Choice] Developing critical thinking skills with primary sources in the age of AI

Thursday, Nov. 5 at 11 am

[LILRC] Washington Crossing the Delaware in History and in Art

Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 2 pm

[DPOE-N] Digital Preservation in the Cloud: Strategies, Costs, and Good Practices

Wednesday, Nov. 11 and Thursday, Nov. 12 from 11 am to 1 pm

[CDLC] Rising Above Toxicity: Overcoming Workplace Trauma & Rebuilding Trust

Thursday, Nov. 12 at 2 pm

[SCRLC] Data Are Made, Not Found

Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 11 am

[DHPSNY] Metadata Matters: Foundations for Description and Access

Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 12 pm

In-Person Events & Save-the-Dates

• NYG&B's Technology Symposium 2026 || Oct. 23-42 | Online
• GHHN Annual Conference || Oct. 27 | Yonkers
• DigitalTransitions Roundtable || Oct. 29-30 | Online
• NDSA Digital Preservation || Nov. 4-5 | Online
• NYLA || Nov. 4-7 | Saratoga Springs
• Symposium on the 250th Anniversary of the New York State Constitution || April 20

Recordings & Follow-up Resources

• Librarians Are Helping the Public Ditch AI w/ Hannah Cyrus & Alison Macrina
• Using Your Records Inventory Results
• Managing Social Media Records
• Refusal as Instruction: Talking to Patrons about AI
• Matting and Framing Webinar
• AASLH: Creating 21st Century Digital Collections
• Digital Preservation Coalition: N2KH: Building a Digital Asset Register
• Data Bloom 2026: Accessible and Appealing Visualizations
• NNYLN: Competitive Wages and Benefits Survey of North Country Libraries, Archives, and Museums: Findings
• Robert Reich on His Love of Teaching and The Last Class documentary
• NY250: Collaboration Opportunities from New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Openings in the Field

• Instruction & Research Librarian at Keuka College (Yates Co.)
• Corporate Librarian, Scientific and Technical Information at Corning, Inc.
• Director of Information Technology at Southern Tier Library System (Painted Post)
• Library Aide – Part Time at Hornell Public Library (Steuben Co.)
• Program Assistant – Part Time at Hornell Public Library (Steuben Co.)
• IT and Circulation Clerk at Dormann Library (Bath)
• Library Manager at Clyde-Savannah Public Library (Wayne Co.)
• Special Collections Metadata Librarian at the University of Rochester
• Marketing and Adult Services Librarian at Fairport Public Library (Monroe Co.)
• Fiction and Adult Services Librarian at Fairport Public Library (Monroe Co.)
• Library Manager at Bristol Library (Ontario Co.)
• Programming Library Assistant at Ontario Public Library (Wayne Co.)
• Evidence Synthesis and Global Education Liaison Librarian at RIT
• Front Desk and Gift Shop Associate at the Seneca Museum/Seneca Falls Visitor Center (Seneca Falls)
• Collections & Exhibitions Assistant at the Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse)
• Director of Development at the Genesee Country Village & Museum (Monroe Co.)
• Children and Family Services Coordinator at Dansville Public Library (Livingston Co.)
• Library Director I at Dunham Public Library (Oneida Co.)
• Library Assistant at Southworth Library (Tompkins Co.)