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Cheery Friday Greetings and Happy Women’s History Month!
Women's History. A reminder that one of our traveling exhibits is for Women’s Suffrage. The exhibit highlights a range of perspectives, including the voices of African American women and Haudenosaunee women, as well as the anti-suffrage movement. We have two circulating copies available, and you can also explore the exhibit online: Recognizing Women’s Right to Vote in New York State. To request the exhibit, contact Diane Capalongo or visit our website.
Advocacy. The one-house budgets were released in the final minutes of Monday.
Assembly One-House Budget:
- State Aid for Libraries: $109.3M
- Library Construction Aid: $70M
- NOVELny: $3M
- School Library Materials Aid per pupil: Does not include
- Office of Cultural Education Fee: $12M (NOTE: These funds support the State Library, State Archives, State Museum, Public Broadcasting Program, and the Summer School of the Arts.)
Senate One-House Budget:
- State Aid for Libraries: $114.67M
- Library Construction Aid: $54M
- NOVELny: $3.1M
- School Library Materials Aid per pupil: $11.33
- Office of Cultural Education Fee: $12M
Proposed Executive Budget:
- State Aid for Libraries: $104.7M
- Library Construction Aid: $34M
- NOVELny: $3M
- School Library Materials Aid per pupil: Unknown
- Office of Cultural Education Fee: $12M
A reminder of the current Year’s (2026) Enacted Budget:
- State Aid for Libraries: $106.325M
- Library Construction Aid: $44M
- NOVELny: $3M
- School Library Materials Aid per pupil: $6.25
- Office of Cultural Education Fee: Not included
Here is the link to the New York Library Association’s Take Action page, which includes a letter to send “as is” or to personalize. Opinions have often been mixed on whether to advocate for NYLA’s $$ amounts or for the larger figures in either the Senate or Assembly budgets. If you decide to support the Assembly and Senate budgets, best to go for the larger amounts, i.e., the Senate’s state aid figure, the Assembly’s construction aid, plus $11.33 for school library materials, $3.1M for NOVELny, and $12M for the OCE fee.
This past Tuesday, the perspective changes to the Minimum Standards for Public Libraries went back to the Regents for consideration after the public comment period. The changes were indeed approved. If you missed the NYLINE message, here is the information: “The NYS Board of Regents has approved an amendment to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of section 90.2 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education relating to New York Public and Association Library Minimum Standard #4 Board-approved written policies. The standard now includes specific policies which must be reviewed and updated at least once every five years or earlier if required by law:
- The selection of library materials and reconsideration of such selection
- Public usage of library space and meeting rooms
- Codes of conduct
- Confidentiality of library records
- Internal library policies related to:
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Personnel policies that ensure consistent staff management and fair employment practices
- Disaster preparedness
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Financial control policies that fulfill the legal and fiduciary responsibilities of the governing body and promote fiscal oversight, accountability, and sustainable management”
Public library workers with questions are encouraged to contact their library system.
Wishing you a restful weekend and yours in partnership,
Mary-Carol
Mary-Carol Lindbloom
Executive Director
| | 2026-2027 DIGITIZATION GRANT APPLICATION NOW OPEN | | |
SCRLC is happy to offer another round of digitization grants! Applications are due April 10, 2026. For 2026-2027, applications are especially encouraged for:
● community partnership projects that increase representation of and with communities that have been historically and systematically oppressed;
● geographically underrepresented communities in the SCRLC region;
● creative approaches to availing digitized collections and making them more discoverable, e.g., holding or co-organizing a Wikipedia edit-a-thon to add links to New York Heritage collections, developing walking tours, virtual tours (e.g. participation in the 360-degree Empire State Immersive Experience project), and HistoryForge participation.
Application links: Word | PDF
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"Mary-Carol Lindbloom has worked at libraries all over our very own district 125 and is now the current Executive Director of South Central Regional Library Council. She’s an incredible advocate for libraries!
Mary-Carol’s commitment to community goes beyond the libraries, she also is a dedicated volunteer with Hospicare. Her compassion and approachability shine in all the work she does.
She also is a very active member of the American Association of University Woman and is a member of the Dryden-Groton Belonging Group.
Thank you Mary-Carol for all your hard work and involvement in the community!!"
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Our three public library systems were all awarded Love Your Library funding by the state legislature to support their summer reading programs. This program is funded through tax check offs or by library patrons purchasing Love Your Library license plates.
The Four County Library System is hosting two upcoming Adult Mental Health Trainings and two upcoming Youth Mental Health Trainings and library staff outside of their system are welcome! These trainings are free and refreshments and lunch will be provided. You can register here.
Dundee Library (part of the Southern Tier Library System) gets programming grants.
Durland Alternatives Library (affiliate of Finger Lakes Library System and Cornell University Library) builds community, drives transformative action through their Prisoner Express Program.
In case you missed it, Pam Becker from the Seneca County Historian Office was our most recent Member Spotlight.
| | SUNY Delhi Library Director Carrie Fishner, is pictured above with the Urban Renewal Exhibit, on display at the Resnick Library through March. | |  | |
Delaware County Historical Association
March 4
| Claire met with DCHA Executive Director Tim Duerden. In the photo above DCHA Archivist Ray LaFever (retired from NYSL) is showing off their new shelving). | | | |
National History Day @Alfred University
March 10
| | Claire participated as the regional coordinator for the Southern Tier for the National History Day contest, held at Alfred University. NHD always needs judges. The statewide contest is held in Oneonta. It's a perfect activity for librarians of all types and historians. Details at https://www.nyshistoryday.com/. | | |
Cornell University Libraries
March 11
| | Claire and Jessica had a tour of the Cornell University Library Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) space to find out more about the digitization equipment they use and which collections they've digitized might be a good fit for the NYH Digital Collections. | | | Tabitha Cary, Cornell's Copyright Librarian (and recent Digital Projects Assistant), gave Claire and Jessica a tour of the vault and some of the treasures within, including these cuneiform tablets! | | | |
Durland Alternatives Library
March 11
| Claire and Jessica also visited the Durland Alternatives Library, located on Cornell's campus. Pictured above is librarian Jen Graney showing off a piece of soap art sculpted by a person who participates in their Prisoner Express program. | |
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ON
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility
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The Corning Museum of Glass has two exciting upcoming exhibits:
Glass in the Hodi:nohšö:nih (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy
Opening in mid-March
The Corning Museum of Glass and the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center of the Seneca Nation of Indians are pleased to announce the opening of a new permanent gallery installation at CMoG. While glass beads play an important role in the art, culture, and history of the Seneca and other peoples of the Hodi:nohšö:nih (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy, that story has never been told at CMoG: until now.
Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio
May 16 2026 - January 10, 2027
Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio is the first survey exhibition of work by exceptional women artists working in glass in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s—the breakthrough decades of the American Studio Glass Movement.
| | Events produced by the eight other library councils in the Empire State Library Network are open for SCRLC members to attend. | | |
Unleashing Your Power to Improve Your Library for Everyone (iREAL / CLIR)
March 17, 1pm
We're Getting Evaluated (CLRC)
March 18, 10am
Connections and Reflections: Identify and Support Patrons' Psychosocial Needs in the Library (NYS Library)
March 18, 12pm
An Introduction to NYS Historic Newspapers (NNYLN)
March 19, 2pm
Found Sound, A Novel with Authors Meg Wolitzer and Charlie Panek (LILRC)
March 19, 2pm
The Handbook of Black Librarianship - Representation While Leading (NYS Library)
March 20, 2pm
Digital Accessibility & Your Library: Practical First Steps (ESLN)
March 25, 2pm
Connections and Reflections: Identify and Support Patrons' Psychosocial Needs in the Library (NYS Library)
March 27, 10am
NNY Manga Interest Group (NNYLN)
April 7, 3:30pm
Practical AI in Public Libraries (CLRC)
April 8, 2pm
All Aboard! Practical Approaches to Effective Library Onboarding (ESLN)
April 9, 1pm
Digital Accessibility for Everyone: An Overview of Accessibility Tools (ESLN)
April 16, 2pm
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Save the date for the annual NYSLAA Conference- May 27-29
Radisson Hotel in Corning
NYSLAA: Celebrating 45 Years
Empowering Library Workers to Lead, Learn, and Excel
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On February 19, we offered one of three Bibliographic and Referral Center BARC Trainings. If you missed out or would like to review, the recording is available.
For more information, you can take a look at the BARC Guide.
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New Collection: Lehman Alternative Community School Yearbooks
This 6-12 school in Ithaca is part of the public school district, but is remarkable in its mission, community, and governance. These yearbooks reflect the diversity and uniqueness of the student body since its founding in 1978. Recent yearbooks were not uploaded but will be rolled out in years to come. This was a SCRLC Digitization Grant project, with the yearbooks digitized by SCRLC staff.
New Collection: Dutton Scrapbooks
This collection of local clippings from Waverly, Nichols and Owego were compiled by Nellie Dutton in the 1940s and 1950s. They were digitized by Erica Detz, Nichols Town Historian and Library Director.
New Collection: Photographs of China's Civil War from the
Roy Rowan Manuscript Collection
Hartwick College professor Tim Vatovec worked to get these already-scanned photographs taken by Roy Rowan from the Hartwick archives into NY Heritage. These images are incredibly interesting; Rowan had visited the Henan Province around 1946, during the Chinese Civil War, and photographed what he saw. Some of these photographs became internationally famous thanks to publication in Life magazine. Rowan led a fascinating career and received an honorary degree from Hartwick College in 1995.
Read about his life and the collection in the Hartwick College finding aid.
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