Director Briefing - November 6, 2023

2023 Trustee Handbook

It's finally here! The 2023 Handbook for Library Trustees of New York State was released last week during the NYLA Conference. I was able to get my hands on a few boxes of the printed version; I will be getting those to libraries in the coming weeks. The online version will be up on DLD's site soon (I'll send the link as soon as it's live).

A few of the highlights include:

• Integration of issues surrounding equity, diversity and inclusion as well as sustainability more cohesively into the various chapters, the glossary, and the appendices
• Significant upgrades to the Planning and Evaluation and Board Development chapters, including information about the new Trustee Education requirements
• An introduction to Board Committees
• Surfacing of intersections with programming and display policies in the Intellectual Freedom, Censorship and Privacy chapter
• Clarifying reserve fund and fundraising issues
• Intersections with the new Public Library District Toolkit: Strategies to Assure your Library’s Legal and Financial Stability from the New York State Library
• Updated explanation of the current state of the NYS Open Meetings Law
• New appendices on hiring a new director, sustainability as a core value, and PILOT payments
• Upgrades to the sample bylaws and Civil Service 101 appendices
• Updated policies checklist and glossary

Tax Cap Compliance for Libraries

Each library with a public vote needs to file with the Office of the State Comptroller regarding their Tax Cap. It is recommended that libraries that go out for a public vote pass a board resolution indicating that the library will or may exceed the tax cap. This is recommended whether you intend to exceed the tax cap or not due to the potential for reporting errors. Below are some resources that may be helpful.

Visit the OWWL Docs Tax Cap page for more information.

Property Tax Cap

Libraries of all types that have their own Board and have a public vote on their tax levy are subject to the Local Government section of the New York State Property Tax Cap law. This legislation went into effect in 2011 and is designed to limit property tax increases to 2%, or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less. Each year your library must file an online form with the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) to indicate your compliance with the particulars of the law. In the course of the Board’s budget deliberations, you may determine that your library may be justified in asking for more than the tax cap amount. To accomplish this, the Board must pass a tax cap override resolution prior to the public vote on the library’s tax levy. This resolution must receive an affirmative vote by 60% of the library trustees. The public vote must then pass by a simple majority to approve the levy amount. For more information, see: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/local-government/property-tax-cap

- 2023 Trustee Handbook, pg. 83.

Cleaning Supplies from Ontario County

Ontario County reached out with the message below. They have leftover cleaning supplies that they would like to offer to any member library (no matter what county you're in).

If you are interested, contact Kaitlynn.McCumiskey@ontariocountyny.gov. All pickups are in Canandaigua.

Ontario County has a large number of antibacterial and alcohol wipes available for distribution. These supplies are available for a limited time only, until 11/17/2023. They can be used for distribution to the public and/or for use at your facilities or by other organizations. All of the wipes are expired, but our understanding is that this refers to the chance of the packaging degrading overtime and the product drying out. Since the products have a high alcohol content, as long as they are not dry, they should be effective. We have not found the packaging to have degraded on the many cases that we have inspected for use.

We also have a large number of alcohol prep pads, used before giving an injection, that do not expire until 2025. In addition to this we have a limited amount of KN-95 masks, nitrile gloves, and hand sanitizer available.

Closed dates for 2024 from Dan

Please add your 2024 closed dates in Evergreen in the next few weeks. Having them in Evergreen by Friday, 11/17 will give you enough time to make sure that future checkouts aren't impacted.

Your closed dates are mostly holidays when your library won't be open. If you are typically open on Saturdays year-round except for during the summer, you will also have to add closed dates for your summer Saturdays.

Adding closed dates affects future checkouts' due dates and overdue fine accruals.

Please review this OWWL Docs page before adding any closed dates. Please email evergreen@owwl.org if you have any questions or if you would like a walkthrough on how to add your 2024 closed dates.

Aunt Flow Partnership - Year Two from Suzanne

Through the OWWL Library System-Aunt Flow Partnership Program, the System's Coordinated Outreach Services will once again partner with member libraries to provide easily accessible period products to the library community free of charge.

Each partner library will receive an Aunt Flow Model E Wall-Mounted Tampon & Pad Dispenser . For the one-year duration of the program (January 2024-December 2024), the System's Coordinated Outreach Services budget will provide the pads and tampons needed to stock the dispenser (up to a maximum of 1,000 products / 500 pads and 500 tampons).

Click here for more information about the program and the application form . Deadline to apply to for Year Two is Friday, December 15, 2023. Questions can be directed to Suzanne Macaulay at outreach@owwl.org.

2023 Electronic Recycling Drop-Off Days from the CANS Dept.

The System is currently accepting old electronics for recycling until Friday, December 1st. Old Library computers, monitors, printers, network equipment (routers, firewalls, modems), and accessories (mice, keyboards, cables, etc.) can be dropped off at OWWL HQ Monday through Friday between 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. (Except November 10, 22 and 23 as we are closed.)

Attached is a PDF of acceptable items to recycle.

Please do not send electronic recycling through delivery.

If you need help getting the equipment to our office, or if none of these days/times work for you, please email support@owwl.org

When dropping equipment off at OWWL HQ, please park behind the building next to the garage door and let someone in the CANS office know that you are here.

Some of the computers and monitors that are brought in to be recycled may instead be kept and used for System-wide programs. If you would prefer that your equipment goes straight to e-waste recycling, please let us know by email or during drop-off.

ALA Grants for Small and Rural Communities

Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities will offer more than $7 million in grants to small and rural libraries to increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities.

To be eligible, a library must have a legal area population of 25,000 or less and be located at least five miles from an urbanized area, in keeping with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) definitions of small and rural libraries.

ALA will award two rounds of grants to be distributed over the next three years ranging from $10,000 to $20,000.

Participating libraries will first conduct community input-gathering sessions to assure that their work aligns with local needs. Libraries will be required to identify the primary audience they are hoping to reach (e.g., homebound seniors, children with autism, Deaf community members) and facilitate a community conversation with the impacted populations in order to guide the improvement of the library’s services. Grantees would then use the funds to create services or improve their facilities based on the needs identified by their audience. More information can be found here: https://www.ala.org/tools/librariestransform/libraries-transforming-communities/access

Municipal Ballot Reduction News!

Many of you may have been following the Senate Bill S3594 which "_sets the number of petitioners necessary to call for a vote on increasing the amount of funding of the annual contribution for the operating budget of a registered public or free association library at twenty-five qualified voters of a municipality._" I'm happy to say that the Governor has signed this bill, so 414 libraries can move forward with propositions with only 25 signatures! While this only impacts one library in our System for now, it will have a significant impact on libraries across the state. Thank you to everyone who wrote letters in support of this initiative earlier this year.

Upcoming Workshops and Events

• Ancestry Library Edition (Wednesday, November 15, 2023): Learn about Ancestry Library Edition to be able to help you patrons navigate and use this database.
• !OverDrive/Libby app/Kanopy (Thursday, November 16, 2023): Learn about our digital and new streaming offerings
• Mango Languages & Consumer Reports (Wednesday, November 29, 2023): Learn about these databases to better help your patrons
• OWWL Library System 4th Annual OWWLie Awards (Friday, December 15, 2023): It's time have an end-of-year gathering and give out some fun awards! Join us for good people, mediocre laughs, and (if you attend in-person) some sort of tasty snack.
• Trustee Handbook Book Club: Financing & Managing Construction Projects (Tuesday, December 19, 2023):

Question of the Week: Oath of Office

Q: A Trustee ran for re-election and won! Do they need to take/file a new Oath of Office or will the one they took during their last term suffice?

A: This question comes up each year, so this is a good reminder. Each time a Trustee starts a new term, whether from appointment, re-election, or filling an unexpired term, they must take an Oath of Office, even if they have already taken one during a previous term. Here is some info from the 2023 Trustee Handbook:

Oath of Office

Trustees and officers, including the Library Director, Library Treasurer and Library District Clerk, of municipal, school district, and special/consolidated legislative district public libraries, and trustees of cooperative and federated library systems are required to file the oath of office specified in the New York State Constitution:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of trustee of the ________Library, according to the best of my ability.”

The oath may be given by any officer of the court (judge, attorney, notary public), or the library's Board President or District Clerk, if they have taken an oath of office, and must be filed in the local County Clerk’s office (or with the town clerk for municipal library trustees chartered to serve a town). For a trustee, Treasurer or District Clerk, failure to do so within 30 days of commencing their term of office will vacate the position. The oath must be taken if a sitting trustee starts a consecutive term as well. For more information visit the New York State Library’s website: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/trustees/oath.htm

For libraries with a municipally-appointed or elected board, it is good practice for the Board to request a formal letter or certificate of appointment or election for each new Trustee from the body that made the appointment or conducted the election.

While association libraries are not required to file the oath with a County Clerk, the activity of taking the oath as part of the start of a term of office is good practice. Association Library Trustees are no less responsible for upholding the laws of the land and discharging their duties than public Library Trustees.

2023 Trustee Handbook, pg. 31.