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Cheery Friday Greetings,
I hope that you are staying safe and comfortable in the haze and smoke of the summer wildfires. There a several items to send along today:
Annual Membership Survey. It's mentioned below, but I can't help including here, too, it is so important. Please complete our annual membership survey. Your time and input are so much appreciated.
SUNY Undergraduate Internship Opportunity – Seeking Expressions of Interest.
The Empire State Library Network (ESLN) directors have been approached by the SUNY Research Foundation about placing paid undergraduate interns from SUNY campuses in member organizations including libraries, museums, and archives. All intern wages and eligible related costs would be reimbursed by this program.
If you are part of a SUNY library, you may already be familiar with this internship program, and perhaps participating in it.
I need to know if there is wider interest among SCRLC members in hosting interns through this opportunity, so after reading through this information, if it sounds like a good fit for your organization, please let me know what type(s) of internship experiences are of interest to you. Truly, at this stage, I'm only looking for a general sense of interest—not a commitment.
If possible, please respond by July 31 (earlier is always appreciated).
Program Caveats:
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Internships are expected to take place primarily during summer 2027, with the possibility of extending this program into fall/spring of 2027/2028.
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Interns need to complete at least 135 hours during the internship.
- Internship wages must meet at least minimum wage standards. SCRLC would encourage hosts to pay their area’s living wage. Reimbursable costs include wages, payroll taxes, fringe benefits, transportation stipends, and certain other eligible expenses.
- Organizations may host more than one intern if they have the capacity to provide meaningful supervision and coaching.
- Host organizations would develop the internship experience, recruit in partnership with SUNY, interview and select candidates, provide orientation, supervise and coach interns, and offer regular feedback and professional development.
- Internship opportunities could include areas such as marketing, information technology, cybersecurity, human resources, legal services, education, community engagement, and more. The focus is on providing students with meaningful applied learning experiences.
Host Responsibilities:
- Create a position description and meaningful work assignments that support your organization's mission and community engagement.
- Hire interns as employees (not independent contractors), i.e., on your payroll not as 1099s.
- Ensure required employee training is completed.
- Provide regular supervision, mentoring, and performance feedback.
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Offer an internship that is primarily in person; hybrid arrangements are permitted, but fully remote internships are not.
- Host only currently enrolled SUNY undergraduate students through this program.
- Complete the required internship evaluation at the conclusion of the program. If an intern's work falls outside your technical expertise, SUNY can provide technical support while you focus on evaluating workplace skills and professional growth.
This is the information we have so far, and additional details will be available as the program develops. For now, I'm simply trying to determine whether there is sufficient interest among SCRLC members to move forward. If I am understanding this correctly (and maybe I’m not!), SCRLC would submit a proposal to SUNY that includes the locations/sites, internship job descriptions, and $$ amount needed for each internship. You would submit requests for payment to SCRLC, rather than to SUNY.
If you think your organization might be interested in hosting one or more interns—or if you have questions—please let me know. I'll share additional information as it becomes available. Interested? Email me by July 31!
SCRLC’s Mailing Lists. You are receiving this mailing because you are on the Constant Contact mailing list. In addition to the SCRLC News, we use Constant Contact for official communications including learning opportunities, SCRLC grants, and member spotlights.
There is also SCRLC-L, a separate mailing list, that we use to refer important announcements from the NY State Library, the New York Library Association, advocacy alerts, non-SCRLC grant opportunities, and other miscellaneous items of interest. Of course, we try to include some of those pieces in the SCRLC News, but this is bi-weekly and some of the messages are pretty long. We can now add new subscribers to Constant Contact to SCRLC-L (note that it is a google group), but for quite some time we couldn't, which means that some of you receiving this mailing may not be on SCRLC-L. If you did not receive the following forward from ALA's regarding AI Guidance, it means that you are not on SCRLC-L. We hope as an engaged member, that you will reach out to us to subscribe. The easiest way is to email Diane Capalongo to be added.
For a complete list of our mailing lists, visit our website section.
American Library Association’s Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Libraries One my recent “forwards” to SCRLC-L concerned the new Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Libraries, a new resource “to help libraries develop and revise policies for the ethical, human-centered use of AI.” It was official adopted at the 2026 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. “Developed by ALA’s Artificial Intelligence Policy Working Group, the adopted guidance affirms ALA’s role in supporting libraries as they navigate emerging technologies while maintaining a humanistic approach to library service. It also recognizes that AI is becoming an increasingly important part of library operations and that libraries need adaptable policies to guide implementation now and in the future. Learn more about the process of developing the guidelines.”
They also indicated that they’re planning a virtual learning session to provide an overview of the guidance and discuss key considerations for libraries.
Yours in partnership,
Mary-Carol
Mary-Carol Lindbloom
Executive Director
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