Board President Briefing | May 2023

The Devastating Business Impacts of a Cyber Breach

On May 4, 2023, Harvard Business Review published "The Devastating Business Impacts of a Cyber Breach" by Keman Huang, Xiaoqing Wang, William Wei, and Stuart Madnick (link to the article, link to PDF). While the article focuses on large, private-sector companies, a lot of the issues are scalable to potential data breaches that we may face in the future. Our policies and security changes are all part of a broad plan to ensure patron privacy and to protect the incredible amount of information we are entrusted with. Passwords, procedures, and policies are all part of this. Data security will continue to be a driving factor in our System's priority to limit risks and uphold data safety as much as possible.

Cybersecurity should be an organization-wide priority, as employees are always the front line for mitigating cybersecurity risks. Cybersecurity should be part of every employee’s job description.

OWWL Library System would like Member Library Boards to adopt a resolution to uphold the Systems Access and Confidentiality of Patron Records Policy approved back in 2021. Initially, all Library Directors signed an agreement form that went along with the policy, however, the Board and I feel strongly that this should be something reviewed at the governance level. If your board is ready to approve this now, perfect, the resolution form is on the 9th page of the policy (officially page 102 of the System's Policy Manual).

Or, if you need more information, I will be hosting a Trustee Workshop titled Patron Privacy and Access Policies on Monday, August 7, 2023. You are welcome to register and attend in-person or virtually. I'll record this session for later viewing as well.

Follow-Up from Q&A with Ron Kirsop at Wadsworth Library

On April 27, 2023 I met with Trustees at the Wadsworth Library in Geneseo for a Q&A style Trustee Workshop. Here are all the questions we discussed.

I'll be hosting another session with different questions at the Newark Public Library on Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 4:30 PM. You can register to join online or in person. You are also welcome to submit questions ahead of time that I will answer in the session.

Track Trustee Continuing Education

Each Trustee on your Board is required to complete two hours of training this year. Be sure to track when Trustees submit for hours. You will need to report these on the 2023 Annual Report. You should have a policy in place for Trustees to submit self-assurance forms if they are unable to obtain confirmation of completion (for example, if they view a recording).

• Sample Trustee Education Policy.docx
• Trustee Education Activities Record.xlsx

2023 Trustee Workshop Schedule

Workshop	Date	Time	Link
State Aid for Library Construction Info Session	✓ January 31, 2023	4:00 PM	Recording
Roles and Responsibilities for New Trustees	✓ February 6, 2023	5:00 PM	Recording
Trustee Handbook Book Club: Open Meetings Law with Kirsten O’Neill, Committee on Open Government	✓ February 21, 2023	5:00 PM	Recording
Key Laws & Regulations for Libraries	✓ March 9, 2023	5:00 PM	Recording
Trustee Handbook Book Club: The Board-Director Relationship	✓ April 18, 2023	5:00 PM	Recording
Q&A with Ron at Wadsworth Library in Geneseo (Resource Page)	✓ April 27, 2023	6:00 PM	Recording
Q&A with Ron at Newark Public Library (click here to submit questions ahead of time)	June 8, 2023	4:30 PM	Registration
Trustee Handbook Book Club: Financial Planning & Budgeting	June 20, 2023	5:00 PM	Registration
Budgeting Q&A with Ron and Kelly	July 17, 2023	5:00 PM	Registration
Patron Privacy and Access Policies (Hybrid)	August 7, 2023	5:00 PM	Registration
Trustee Handbook Book Club: Strategic Planning	August 15, 2023	5:00 PM	Registration
Trustee Handbook Book Club: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Access & Justice	October 17, 2023	5:00 PM	Registration
Trustee Handbook Book Club: Financing & Managing Construction Projects	December 19, 2023	5:00 PM	Registration

For the updated list visit https://docs.owwl.org/Community/TrusteeEducation You may also visit our Trustee Workshop LibCal Link.

State Aid for Library Construction from Suzanne

Spring/summer is a busy time for Construction Aid, so I wanted to send a few reminders:

• The FY 2024 Intent to Apply with Proof of Available Funds and Contractor Quote(s) is due to OWWL Library System Friday, May 26. This is a hard deadline.
• Libraries with questions regarding closing, current, impending, or potential projects should contact me (Suzanne). The System liaises between member libraries and DLD.
• When you email about a project, please include your library's name and project number in the subject line.
• If you get an estimate that seems too good to be true, it might be. Collecting multiple quotes can help your library submit a project application that will have fewer cost/budget surprises when the actual work begins.
• Be on the lookout for SAM scams, do not respond to emails or phone calls about renewing SAM. It is a free process that you should initiate by visiting sam.gov.

More information regarding State Aid for Library Construction can be found here on OWWL Docs.

State Budget for Libraries

Unfortunately, despite strong Senate and Assembly support, State Aid for Libraries ended up flat this year. This is disappointing and will ultimately impact System-services and LSSA allocations to libraries this year. With costs increasing, this is essentially a cut to Library Operating Aid.

• Library Operating Aid: $99.6M
• Library Construction Aid: $34M