Director Briefing - November 20, 2023

State Aid for Library Construction from Suzanne

The FY2025 State Aid for Library Construction Info Session will be held virtually on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 4pm. It is recommended that any libraries considering projects over the next few years should attend. We’ll review eligible projects, the procedure to apply, updates from the NYS Division of Library Development, and the approximate timeline of the FY2025 grant cycle. Click here for more information and to register . Trustees who attend this session can count the time toward their annual Trustee Training requirement.

The Construction Aid page on OWWL Docs has been updated with the approximate FY2025 timeline and additional resources from DLD.

As a reminder, for questions regarding State Aid for Library Construction, including current projects (FY2019 - FY2024), please contact Suzanne and not DLD directly. Additionally, when referring to New York State Construction Aid, be sure to refer to it as "State Aid for Library Construction" or "New York State Construction Aid" and not as a "grant" or "construction grant." This distinction is important for advocacy, recognizing the effort our legislators put into getting the money passed each year, and understanding that the money is bonded through the Dormitory Authority. The funds for Construction Aid are public dollars and are not available as a "grant."

Zimbra Upgrade Sunday, Nov 26th

On Sunday November 26th Zimbra will be upgraded to version 10. Our current version is reaching its end of life in December. Email will be down starting at 10am on the 26th and will remain down until the upgrade is complete.

After the upgrade a majority of users will see no significant difference in their email experience. New functionality will be evaluated and announced once this new version is deemed stable.

There is bad news for those using the Carbonio phone app or the Zextras theme. The maker of those products does not support this new version of Zimbra and likely never will. If you are using one of those technologies you will receive a separate email outlining your next steps.

A very small number of Zimbra users (4 or 5) are still using the old HTML version of Zimbra. Those users will be migrated to the "Classic" interface during the upgrade.

Please be vigilant leading up to the Zimbra upgrade. Hackers are pushing hard to trick users of OWWL mail. During this upgrade phase I will not be expiring accounts, cancelling accounts or otherwise forcing users to enter passwords in sketchy login forms. If your inbox is getting full you can email support@owwl.org to have your quota increased.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Upcoming OWWL Library System Databases and Resources

We're looking at trying out a few more databases/resources for patrons in 2024. The plan is to evaluate them after one to three years to see if our patrons use them then determine if we will review them.

Our current list of resources can be found at https://owwl.org/resources/. The list includes:

• Kanopy
• Libby/!OverDrive
• OverDrive Magazines
• Mango Languages
• Consumer Reports
• Ancestry Library Edition

We plan to add:

• ASL Inside (American Sign Language course, partnership with Mango Languages) - Estimated Launch Date: Early January 2024
• GroundNews (in the Libby App) - Estimated Launch Date: Early-Mid December 2023
• LawDepot (in the Libby App) - Estimated Launch Date: Early-Mid December 2023
• Universal Class (in the Libby App) - Estimated Launch Date: Early-Mid December 2023

The System budget will pay for all these additional databases/resources. I'll keep you updated with the expected release date. After launch, we'll post individual ads to the System's Facebook page so your libraries can share. We'll also link to the support pages, but most patrons should be able to figure out how to use these services.

Computer Orders from Bob

This morning I tried to place a Dell order and found that the NYS contract has expired and is in the process of being renewed. At this time we are unable to place new orders while the system is being updated.

Any orders placed prior to last week are already in progress and are not affected by the change.

This Week in OSC Audits

Audit	Key Findings	Takeaways
Corning City School District – Claims Auditing (2023M-105)	The claims auditor, who is an employee of the Greater Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Educational Services (GST BOCES), inappropriately audited 43 claims totaling approximately $16.1 million paid to GST BOCES. This compromised the claims auditor’s objectivity and independence. The Board of Education (Board) should have audited these claims. The Treasurer paid 18 claims for health insurance reimbursements and credit card purchases totaling approximately $1.7 million prior to audit. 49 travel-related credit card charges totaling $28,555 did not include a conference request pre-approval form or other supporting documentation.	Ensure claims are paid after audit and contain adequate supporting documentation such as invoices, receipts and conference approval forms. Ensure all claims for GST BOCES service charges are independently audited. District officials generally agreed with our findings and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.
Brentwood Union Free School District – Information Technology (2023M-83)	The Board and District officials did not adequately monitor nonstudent network user accounts, provide IT security awareness training as required by a Board-adopted policy or implement an IT contingency plan. As a result, the District’s computerized data was not adequately safeguarded. In addition, the District has an increased risk that the network may be accessed by unauthorized individuals, data will be lost and the District may not be able to recover from a network disruption or disaster. In addition to sensitive IT control weaknesses that we communicated confidentially to District officials, we also found that officials did not: Disable 486 of the 3,525 enabled nonstudent network user accounts (14 percent) that we reviewed and determined were not needed. Establish written procedures for granting, changing and disabling network user account access.	Periodically review network user accounts and disable accounts that are not needed. Provide the Board-required IT security awareness training. Develop a comprehensive IT contingency plan.
North Tonawanda City School District – Information Technology (2023M-102)	District officials properly managed user account permissions in the financial application but did not properly secure user account access to the network or manage user account permissions in the student information application. As a result, there is a significant risk that network resources and student information could be inappropriately altered, accessed or used. In addition to sensitive information technology (IT) control weaknesses that were communicated confidentially to officials, we found that District officials did not: Disable 246 unnecessary network user accounts. Properly manage permissions for 517 user accounts in the student information application by ensuring accounts were locked or disabled when an employee separated from the District. Educate users on data privacy and security awareness. Develop an IT contingency plan and as a result, District officials lacked preparedness for a cyberattack.	Ensure that unnecessary network user accounts are disabled as soon as they are no longer needed. Ensure user accounts in the student information application are locked or disabled when the employee separates from the District.

Estimated Exempt Salary Level Increases

For libraries that follow the exempt salary threshold, here is what is estimated for 2024-2026:

Year	Salary Level (Administrative and Executive Exemptions)
Current	$1,064.25 per week ($55,341 per year) (remainder of New York State)
2024	$1,125 per week ($58,500 per year) (remainder of New York State)
2025	$1,162.50 per week ($60,450 per year) (remainder of New York State)
2026	$1,200 per week ($62,400 per year) (remainder of New York State)

Question of the Week: Required Policies

Q: What policies are required to fulfill Minimum Standards?

A: The Division of Library Development provides the following policies on their Helpful Information for Meeting Minimum Standards page:

• Open Meeting Policy: All public and association libraries are subject to open meetings law (Education Law, §260-a).
• Confidentiality of Library Records: All public and association libraries are required to keep library records confidential according to Civil Practice Laws and Rules, §4509.
• Conflict of Interest Policy: All public and association libraries are subject to Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, §715-a.
• Whistle Blower Policy: All public and association libraries with twenty or more employees AND an annual revenue in excess of one million dollars in the previous fiscal year are subject to Not-for-Profit Law, §715-b. (Note that this is required only for certain libraries.)
• Disaster Response Policy: A board-approved disaster response policy in the event of a natural or man-made disaster that affects the library facilities, holdings, or staff and library users.
• Collection Development Policy
• Meeting Space Policy (exception: if the library does not have a meeting room)
• Internet Use Policy
• Code of Ethics
• Personnel Policy
• Financial Controls: Purchasing/Procurement Policy and Petty Cash Policy.

These are the ones that will be required to confirm on the Annual Report. However, your library will most likely need other policies related to operation, personnel, and governance. The full list can be found by viewing the recommended policy checklist in the Trustee Handbook .