Find a great introduction to ROI for libraries in wiki form, with tips on conducting an ecoonomic impact study and sharing your analysis of results,  from the Nebraska Library Commission: http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/Wikis/ROI4Libraries/

Illinois’ North Suburban Library System offers an ROI calculator for libraries: http://www.nsls.info/roi/?m=library and for users: http://www.nsls.info/roi/

Patron calculator for determining value for each tax dollar contributed (it’s for Colorado libraries, but still a good illustration of value): http://www.lrs.org/public/roi/usercalculator.php

The National Network of Medical Libraries offers a slightly different calculator to show the retail value of the library: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/roi.html

Changes are afoot for librarians seeking New York State Public Librarian Certification.  Any librarian initially certified on or after January 1, 2010 will have to meet professional development requirements in order to maintain their certificate.  Basically, certified public librarians must complete 60 contact hours of professional development every five years.  Those certified before January 1, 2010 will not have to meet these requirements.  A list of FAQs is available that provides more detailed information about the requirements.  

Nylink, as well as a number of organizations across the state have been approved by the State to provide professional development opportunities that fulfill the new requirements.  More information about NYS Public Librarian Certification can be found at the NYS Education Department.

Yesterday the NEA released the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. This is the NEA’s largest national study of adults’ participation in the arts.

From the Museum Association of New York:  “The new study finds a notable decline in theater, museum and concert attendance and other “benchmark” cultural activities between 2002 and 2008 for adults 18 and older, and a sharper fall from 25 years ago. The drop was for virtually all art forms and for virtually all age groups and levels of education.  Between 2002 and 2008, percentages fell for movie-going from 60 to 53.3, for jazz from 10.8 to 7.8, for museums/galleries from 26.5 to 22.7.  Other categories with lower attendance include ballet, opera, musical and nonmusical theater, and art/crafts fairs and festivals.  Visits to parks/monuments/historical buildings fell from 31.6 percent in 2002 to 24.9 percent last year.

The survey was conducted in partnership with the United States Census Bureau and has been conducted five times since 1982.  The conversation will focus on how these findings should inform the arts community’s work going forward, as well as how the survey should be expanded and refined in the future.”
Related to this, in recent weeks I have read and heard that many museums have found that their visitation actually increased in 2009.  However, many museums and cultural heritage organizations continue to struggle with basic funding.  MANY encourages museums and other cultural heritage organization to contact local media outlets to highlight their recent experiences during current economic crisis.   The Albany Institute of History and Art, located in Albany, NY, recently did just that and a story about their current situation was covered by local TV station WNYT, News Channel 13.

September is Library Card Sign Up month.   ALA has a variety of resources available to help you celebrate with kids and other free resources .

“The Association for Library Service to Children, Public Awareness
Committee (PAC) wants to hear about your success! Share program ideas
and resources by adding content to the Kids! @ your library(r) Campaign
wiki at: http://wikis.ala.org/alsc/index.php/Main_Page . They would  also like to
hear if you have used resources from the Campaign tool kit. Please add
content directly to the wiki or email information to Bethany Lafferty,
PAC Member, at balaff12@yahoo.com .”

Nylink officially welcomes our new board members to the Nylink Advisory Board [formerly Nylink Council]!

We are so pleased to welcome the following new members to the Nylink Advisory Board:

• NJ Wolfe, Fashion Institute of Technology: Representing SUNY campuses
• Robin Petrus, Broome Community College: Representing SUNY community colleges
• John Shaloiko, Southeastern NY Library Resources Council: Representing regional library councils
• Carol Anne Feltes, Rockefeller University: Representing independent higher education
• Madeline Cohen, Newsweek, Inc.: Representing corporate

Additionally, we welcome back returning board members!

• Susan Currie, Binghamton University
• Jane Winland, Columbia University
• Barbara Petruzzelli, Mount Saint Mary College
• Pamela Gillespie, The City College of New York
• Joanne Schneider, Colgate University
• Diana Cunningham, New York Medical College
• Liza Duncan, New York State Library
• Elizabeth O’Keefe, The Morgan Library and Museum

We look forward to a great year with all of you.

Based on Nylink’s 35-year history of serving the libraries of New York State our expert staff has a well-informed understanding of library issues and opportunities that enables Nylink to help you save money and time at your library. The experience and ingenuity of our professional staff lead to creative solutions for technical services, resource sharing, and reference needs. We provide a strong personal touch – you always talk to a person, not a machine, when you face a dilemma or need a helping hand. Every day, Nylink members get unlimited access to Nylink’s advice and counsel for metadata and technical services, resource sharing, digitization, financial services, and electronic resources management. Nylink Professional Solutions are also available to non-members on a quarterly or annual subscription basis.

The Division of Preservation and Access at the National Endowment for the Humanities announces a new preventive conservation grant program, Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections, with a deadline of December 8, 2009. The program offers U.S. nonprofit museums, libraries, and archives, as well as state and local governmental agencies and tribal governments with humanities collections two kinds of awards:

• Planning and Evaluation Grants: Up to $40,000
• Implementation Grants: Up to $400,000

Guidelines for the grants should be available by September.  For more information contact the division at preservation@neh.gov or call 202-606-8570.

Due to a power outage in our building caused by the ice storm on December 12, we did not receive any email from approximately midnight to noon on that day. If you sent us an email during that time and have not received a response, please re-send your email or give us a call. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Check out our beautiful new web page. Wonderfully updated by our web-master Meredith Case.
Find what you need to meet the challenges you face in your Libraries and Cultural Institutions at:
http://nylink.org