Director Briefing - May 13, 2024

QuickBooks Phishing Email

Kelsy let us know about a new scam email going around. Thanks, Kelsy.

A director received a pretty convincing phishing email this morning and I wanted to share it in case anyone else receives a similar message.

Note the sending address: notification @ quickbooks.intuit.com. This email address looks pretty legitimate. However, if you take a look at the official Intuit/QuickBooks support site, you'll see that this is not listed as one of the email addresses the company uses. (quickbooks @ notification.intuit.com, however, is! Very tricky.) Additionally, I want to point out that the sender of this email actually spoofed this email address; it was coming from a different address entirely.

Besides the sending address, there are really only two giveaways that this email is phishing:

1. The vague greeting ("Hello, library director" instead of a first name).

2. The "Take action" button links to Cloudflare instead of intuit.com.

If you receive a similar email, you may want to forward it to security@intuit.com before marking it as spam.

System Board Meeting Follow-Up

The May 8, 2024, OWWL Library System Board Meeting was pretty short and straightforward. Outside of the normal financial reports, the System Board approved the Annual Trustee Acknowledgment Statements (Sexual Harassment Prevention Training, Whistleblower, Conflict of Interest, and Ethics Statement), E-Rate documents, Construction Aid Reallocations (from last year's cycle), Personnel Change Report (updating a job title), and approved the 2024 CE Scholarships.

This was Kendyl's last meeting as the OWWLDAC Liaison. She did a wonderful job, and the System Board always appreciates what is happening in Member Libraries.

2024 Continuing Education Scholarships

Congratulations to our 2024 Scholarship recipients for the NYLA Conference!

1. Sara Schlinger, Livonia Public Library
2. Meghan Bailey, Red Jacket Community Library
3. Susan Flick, Geneva Public Library
4. Maggie Fitzgerald, Walworth-Seely Public Library
5. Janelle Speca, Honeoye Public Library
6. Wendy Beman, Newark Public Library

Question of the Week: School Districts and Funding Propositions

Question: Whether a public or association library utilizing a tax levy referendum authorized by Section 259 of the New York Education Law ("Education Law §259") is obligated to submit a proposition to district voters on an annual basis, even if there is no proposed increase in the budget.

Answer: Short answer: No.

Long Answer: Several libraries have inquired about the frequency of annual budget votes in recent years. However, a recent disagreement arose with a School District that maintains an annual vote, even without a budget increase, is necessary. This is incorrect. If your library has encountered a similar situation, the attached report specifically addresses this issue and provides relevant information.

Clarification Regarding Annual Budget Votes for School District Public Library

This Week at the OSC

In the OSC briefing this week, this article on food insecurity across NYS stood out to me. It's good to keep in mind as we serve our communities, as we often don't know the personal circumstances of our patrons.

Food insecurity increased in New York, with one-in-nine households (11.3% or 875,000 families) unable to get enough food at some point during 2020 through 2022 because they lacked money or other resources, according to a follow-up analysis released by State Comptroller DiNapoli. His 2023 report found one-in-10 New York households (800,000 families) experienced food insecurity in 2019 through 2021. Nationally, food insecurity increased for the first time in over a decade to 11.2% during 2020 through 2022.

“As the COVID pandemic ended, so did many of the enhanced federal benefits that helped struggling families put food on the table, and just as food and other household costs started to rise,” State Comptroller DiNapoli said. “These benefits drove down the number of households facing food insecurity and food insufficiency. Higher food costs and rising poverty rates leave far too many New York households with too little to eat. I urge the federal government to expand eligibility for nutrition assistance programs so we can make sure families throughout New York and America don’t go hungry.”

Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau since the start of the pandemic also show general increases in food insufficiency among New York and U.S. households through 2023. Rates rose in 2021 and remained elevated in 2022 and 2023. Households with children experienced the highest rates of food insufficiency over the last few years, as high as 16% in 2022. Data from the first three months of 2024 indicate that while rates are dropping, roughly one-in-nine households with children in New York sometimes or often do not have enough to eat.

Read more here.

HBR: Tip of the Day

Build Work Habits That Support Your Mental Health

When you’re struggling with your mental health, getting through the workday can feel more difficult. Tending to your mental health at work is critical—whether or not you’ve been diagnosed with a specific condition. Here are some ways to make your workday work for your mental health.

First, establish strong habits around deep work. Building a consistent routine for focused work will help you feel a little more in control of your life and schedule. For instance, scheduling deep work from 10 AM to noon daily can help automate your productivity patterns, making them more manageable—even on days when you’re feeling off.

Then, create routines to manage tasks without immediate deadlines. It’s easy to spend your workdays focusing on one urgent task after another. But when you work that way, less-immediate responsibilities slip through the cracks and pile up, causing incremental stress. Setting aside regular times to tackle non-urgent work can help you stay on top of your overall workload.

Finally, schedule unfocused time. It’s not possible to be locked in and undistracted all day, every day. Balancing focused work with periods of unstructured time can enhance your ability to think creatively and problem-solve. After intense work sessions, taking a walk or reading casually can help you clear your mind and recover.

This tip is adapted from “Make Your Workday Work for Your Mental Health,” by Alice Boyes