Director Briefing - September 13, 2022

Consumer Reports Database

We've been looking at testing out an online database, and a few libraries have suggested Consumer Reports. Could you hit reply and let me know if your library would be interested in a System-wide subscription to Consumer Reports through EBSCO? We would pay for it out of the System budget for one to two years and evaluate usage then determine if we move it to the Central Budget. Patrons could log in at the library and their homes.

If you're interested in a different database, let me know, and we can take a look.

Homeland Security Visit to Library

An interesting conversation between System Directors at the moment is that the Department of Homeland Security has been visiting libraries and directly or indirectly testing policies relating to 3D printing. In one System, undercover agents inquired about the ability to 3D print weapons in the library. In another instance, an agent presented identification and directly asked about the policies and procedures around 3D printing and the production of firearm-related objects. ALA has a resource page on 3-D Printing in Libraries: Policies & Best Practices . If your library has a 3D printer, I would suggest looking at your policy in case this is something that comes to our area.

Minimum Wage Legislation

A Director and I were discussing the minimum wage recently and they shared this helpful link - Proposed New York state minimum wage increases would lift wages for more than 2 million workers through 2026 . The corresponding legislation, Senate Bill S3062 , aims to amend the labor law in relation to raising the minimum wage annually by a percentage based on inflation. For Minimum Wage advocates, this is positive legislation, but it is also something to keep in mind for libraries when considering budget projections.

Chart from EPI website:

Public Access to Research Papers

For those interested in public access to research, here is a significant action President Biden took on publications recently.

A decadeslong battle over how best to provide public access to the fruits of research funded by the U.S. government has taken a major turn.

President Joe Biden’s administration announced yesterday that, by the end of 2025, federal agencies must make papers that describe taxpayer-funded work freely available to the public as soon as the final peer-reviewed manuscript is published. Data underlying those publications must also be made freely available “without delay.”

Source: https://www.science.org/content/article/white-house-requires-immediate-public-access-all-u-s--funded-research-papers-2025

Phishing Emails from Kelsy

I've received multiple reports about phishing emails today.

If you receive any emails saying…

• Your Zimbra account will be deleted or marked inactive, or that emails will be blocked
• Your Zimbra account password is going to expire, or asking you to confirm your current password
• Anything about a "security key"

…these are all phishing attempts.

I know it's tempting to just delete these emails, but please mark them as spam/junk. Zimbra spam filters need multiple reports in order to start filtering these emails, so you're doing everyone a favor when you mark as spam instead of deleting!

As always, if you're unsure about an email, forward it to support@pls-net.org . We'll take a look and let you know if it's legitimate or not.

RRLC Grant Opportunities from RRLC

The RRLC Action & Innovation and the Collections & Access grants are two new grants being offered this year. Both will require a preliminary proposal as part of the application process.

• Action & Innovation Grant - Preliminary proposals due October 14, 2022
  This grant supports projects that take action on issues impacting the community served by your organization. Projects that take action in an innovative way are preferred.
• Collections & Access Grant - Preliminary proposals due October 14, 2022
  This grant supports member projects that improve access to collections. Projects must make collections more accessible and freely available to end users, preferably through one of the ongoing statewide projects.

RRLC is also able to offer the Internship as well as the Special Project grant this year. Both are accepting applications at this time.

• Internship Grant - Applications due September 16, 2022
  RRLC is able to support two paid internships for the Spring or Summer 2023 semester. Internships should introduce undergraduate or graduate students to the variety of career opportunities in libraries, archives, and cultural institutions, and provide valuable professional experience.
• Special Project Grant - Applications due September 30, 2022
  RRLC offers special project grants to members who want to undertake a project that will help their organization fulfill its mission; projects with a potential impact on the larger RRLC community are given first priority.

Please view each grant for additional contact information, requirements, and deadlines.

Source: https://rrlc.org/services/grant-opportunities/