As 2023 draws to a close, it's tempting to hibernate as we reflect on the past year and begin planning for the next. Moving forward, let's commit to continue:

• Sharing generously
• Sparkling brightly
• Sleeping deeply
• Abundant creativity
• Flexible bodies & minds
• Restorative practices
• Endless curiousity

See you in the New Year!

The Stillwater Library opened its new location in a former mill building. Be sure to stop by for a visit!

Congratulations to the Crandall Library! Thanks to their excellent work, a community member donated $500,000!

This summer, the Easton Library celebrated the "All Together Now" summer reading program by creating a community mural with JOIN local artist Kendra Farstad. Library Director Jennifer DeCarlo shared picture books with the community to choose what images and stories they wanted to see on the walls. She worked with Kendra to ensure diversity of place and people.

"Our children's area has been brightened," wrote DeCarlo. "I have even removed a bookshelf because I didn't want to cover the wall back over!"

The mural was unveiled during a ribbon cutting ceremony on August 9, when participants came together to celebrate the finished artwork.

Corinth residents can stay connected thanks to the library's new WiFi-enabled shelter. The covered space lets people sit and surf the Internet regardless of the weather.

All library trustees must complete two hours of training each year and the state-mandated sexual harassment prevention training. If you have not had a chance to do so, there's still time.

Contact Sara or Pamela to catch up on any training needs.

Public libraries play a critical role in community health. As the opioid epidemic devastates our communities, we partner with the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports to distribute free fentanyl testing strips through our libraries.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50-100x more potent than other opioids like heroin or morphine. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), overdose deaths involving fentanyl have quadrupled in recent years. By making these strips available to the public, we hope to help alleviate opioid deaths in our region.

If your library is interested in sharing these fentanyl testing strips, don't hesitate to contact Erica or Pamela, and we'll send some out to your library!

The NOVELny program and its online resources will end June 30, 2024.

The program, which has provided a variety of databases since 1999, is no longer sustainable with the NYS Library’s current funding sources. NOVELny is supported with Federal Library Service and Technology funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The NOVELny e-resources cost $2,654,778 for 2022-2023 and are supported fully with IMLS funds.

The State Library will continue working with our library partners to establish relationships with NOVELny vendors so they may continue this service at a regional or local level.

As of September 2023, all job postings in New York State must include a salary or salary range as part of the Pay Transparency Law to give women and people of color a tool to advocate for equal pay for equal work. The law applies to employers with four or more workers.

The law, signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, includes remote employees who work outside New York but report to a supervisor, office, or worksite-based in the state.

Governor Kathy Hochul's FY 2024 Budget agreement includes a plan to help low-wage New Yorkers keep up with the rising cost of living by increasing New York's minimum wage for three years and then tying future increases to inflation. On January 1, 2024, the minimum wage will increase to $15 in our region. In 2025 and 2026, the minimum wage will increase by an additional $0.50 in each year, after which the State's minimum wage would increase at a rate determined by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Northeast Region — the best regional measure of inflation.

The minimum wage is just that -- the minimum a worker should be paid to perform a job. The best way to attract and retain excellent people is to pay a living wage, with an average of $25.02 per hour.

Assemblyman Charles Lavine, D-Glens Cove, Assemblywoman Dr. Anna Kelles, D-Ithaca, and Assenblyman Brian Cunningham, D-Brooklyn, have introduced legislation protecting the right to read.

Each ties library funding to the adoption of the American Library Association's Bill of Rights, or libraries adopting anti-book banning policies.

“Censorship and book banning are counter to the values we hold dear in New York state,” wrote Cunningham in his legislative justification “Through these practices, history, culture, and identities are erased. Learning from others who may have differing viewpoints from us is crucial to a healthy democracy. This bill would prohibit the banning of books by withholding state funding from any library or system that seeks to do so. Libraries must either adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights or develop their own statements against banning books.”

The bills will come before the legislature when it reconvenes in January 2024.

As efforts to restrict access to information evolve, some intellectual freedom opponents are pursuing a strategy of imposing a rating system on books, similar to that used on movies. Librarians and others continue to advocate for free speech, and resist suggestions that the government should rate materials. Others borrow controversial items indefinitely, or work with school boards to remove allegedly offensive titles.

This fall, Penguin Random House, in partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation, PEN America, and Little Free Library, is launching The Banned Wagon Tour of the South. This vehicle of change will travel to communities affected by censorship and bring books for those communities to enjoy.

Missouri State Senator Bill Eigel has his eye on that state's Governor's Mansion. He celebrated his campaign with a symbolic book burning event, where he used a flamethrower to torch empty boxes.

The Digital Public Library of America has launched a Banned Book Club to make digital copies (ebooks) of banned books available to anyone interested.

Utilizing GPS-based geo-targeting, DPLA has established virtual libraries in communities across the United States where books have been banned. When a reader is within a community served by a library that has been forced to ban a book, they can visit TheBannedBookClub.info to see the exact books have been banned in their area. Books can be downloaded for free on any handheld device via the free Palace e-reader app.

After individuals attempted to ban LGBTQIA books from a San Diego library by checking them out and refusing to return them, the community responded by purchasing copies of the missing titles and sending dozens of boxes of replacements. The incident prompted $15,000 in donations to the library, which was matched by the city, to expand its LGBTQIA collection.

When the Concerned Citizens of Meridian, Idaho, published a list of books that should be removed from libraries, two women -- one the owner of some vending machines, and the other a book club organizer, created a couple of Banned Book vending machines.

“These are books that touch on things that are integral to being a human: trauma, sexuality, understanding yourself, understanding your body, understanding differences across race and gender,” Chelsea Major [banned book club organizer] said. “All of these are just ways we walk within the world. When we try to hide or act like these things don’t happen, we aren’t fixing the problem, we’re skirting around it.”

All of the books in the machine are available for purchase in popular locations in Meridian.

A power outage in the English countryside left 100 visitors trapped in Agatha Christie's house. Despite the dramatic set-up, there were zero murders.

Art Resources Transfer's Library Program provides free books on art and culture to public libraries, schools, and incarcerated readers nationwide.

The book catalog offers 300+ titles published by leading museums, galleries, and independent presses nationwide. Books are free and shipped free of charge. To get started, sign up through the website here.

Email: efreudenberger@sals.edu
Website: www.sals.edu
Location: 22 Whitney Place, Saratoga Springs, NY, United States
Phone: 518 584 7300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouthernAdirondackLibrarySystem