Monday, July 20, 2009

3rd Annual Central New York Library Assistants Day

Save the date! The 3rd annual Library Assistants Day will be held November 3, 2009 at the Holiday Inn Carrier Circle in Syracuse.

The conference brochure is attached. For those who like to plan ahead, registration is already open at http://www.clrc.org/wrf/

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Political winners and sinners of the year

From Library Hotline -

Library Journal is looking for political good guys and bad guys in your area.
Every locale has it's angels and demons, and Library Journal wants to hear about the political good guys and bad guys in your area (local/statewide/national) ; the ones who savvily worked to preempt cuts, helped with budget woes, defended challenged materials, or assisted any library initiatives, and those villains who fought you at every turn, seized your finances, or hamstrung your ability to serve the community.

We want to hear about both the Winners and the Sinners in your area. Please send nominations, including a description of the political issue and the actions taken by the key individual or group that either helped or hindered libraries, by August 5 to Rebecca Miller via email at miller@reedbusiness.com or by post to

Library Journal
360 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10010
or by FAX at 646-746-6734.

Deadline is August 5.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Job Opportunity

Part-Time Clerk
Part Time Job Opportunity in Geneseo

$8/hour
18.5 hours per week

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays 5:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Saturdays 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Applicants must enjoy working with the public.
Duties include: check-in and check-out of library materials, answer phone, assist patrons, issue library cards, other duties as assigned.
Send cover letter, resume, and list of three references to:
Anna Grace, Library Director
Wadsworth Library
24 Center Street
Geneseo, NY 14454

ALA Virtual Conference

This year ALA is offering a Virtual Conference, 10 interactive web sessions that will take place July 13–14 at the end of ALA Annual Conference. The programs were selected from offerings at Annual and are among the most interesting and relevant to libraries of all types. All full registrants to Annual Conference will have access to these sessions; those not attending in person can register for the Virtual Conference online through the ALA website.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Preserving photographs and documents

~2009 NYSLAA conference report~
written by: Heidi Jensen, PLSHQ

Preserving Photographs and Documents
Presented by: Amy P. Rupert



Ms. Rupert taught Social Studies at the middle school level in central New York before pursuing graduate study in archival administration. She has been the Assistant Archivist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute since 2002.

First I’m going to talk about photographs.

This class was interesting in the fact that it was about preserving the photographs and documents – not on restoring them.
Pictures that were taken before 1880 used something called long fibers to print the pictures on. It gives the picture a different texture. After 1890 – prints were made from pulp which contained acid.

Storing photos is important in trying to keep them for any length of time. Here are a few tips to remember –

  • Photographs should never be laminated.
  • They should not be stored in magnetic pages (remember the old photo albums that you pull the thin sheet of plastic up and the pictures just magically stay put). If you can’t get your pictures back off a magnetic page – try running dental floss between the picture and the album.
  • Light is not good for photographs.
  • Store photos in a photo safe box.
  • Don’t store in a basement (too damp)
  • Don’t store in an attic (too much heat)
  • Oils from your hands will damage the photos
  • Store photos on a metal shelf. Wood shelves give off chemical that can damage the photos.
  • Prints from the 60’s & 70’s will fade to nothing over time. Duplicate them to an acid free paper.
  • Don’t store in a PVC sleeve (the albums that have a plastic sleeve to slide your photo into)
  • Store photos that you wish to view between Millar that is acceptable for photographs.
  • Label all photos with names and dates. You do need to use a photo safe pen. Most inks do contain acid which will deteriorate your photograph.

This is a lot to remember when storing photos but your co-workers/ family will be thankful someday when they have beautiful quality photograph to look at.

The other part of this class was about preserving documents.

News print was never made to be saved. It was/is a temporary media. Don’t save newspaper clippings. If you wish to keep the information from the newspaper article – copies should be made. Another suggestion is to have the newspapers you are saving scanned and stored on microfilm.

Most of the tips used for photographs also apply to documents.


The last few minutes of the class were used to talk about digital files.
Everything needs a backup. You can use CD or DVD but even those don’t last forever. Another form of digital back up is – print. Print the items you need to keep long term.


Over all, I would say this was a great class. I will never look at photographs the same!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

New York State Library and You

~2009 NYSLAA Conference Report~
Written by - Heidi Jensen, PLSHQ

New York State Library & You
Presented by - Sheldon Wein

Mr. Wein is the Senior Reference Librarian at the New York State Library and is in charge of Public Programming.

This workshop was very interesting. I didn’t realize that the New York State Library housed different artifacts.
Did you know that in 1911 there was a huge fire in the New York State Library? The Librarian, at the time, ran into the fire and grabbed as many historical items as he could.
Some of the items he took out and are STILL part of the New York Library Collection are - a hand gun used by George Washington and the original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation written in Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting. A copy of this draft can be viewed on-line from the NYS library website, http://www.nysl.nysed.gov. In the search field, type in Emancipation Proclamation and a copy of the draft comes up. It’s very interesting to look at.

We also learned about different reference items available on-line at the state library.
Some of which include, Old Regents exams - this gives students an opportunity to see the types of things that will be on a regent’s exam.

The State library has more to offer than I realized. I’m glad I decided to take this class and I’m excited to be able to use the State library more often.

Message from Dorothy Morgan

This is a message from Dorothy Morgan who is the NYSLAA Certificate of Achievement Chairperson AND on the President of the Library Assistants Round Table at ALA.


Do you want to be recognized for all of your accomplishments?

Do you want to feel even more valuable to the library you work at, as
well as most importantly to yourself?

How would you feel receiving a nationally acclaimed Certificate Of
Achievement from the New York State Library Assistants' Association
(NYSLAA), endorsed by the New York Library Association (NYLA), and
the State Librarian's Office? How about receiving congratulatory
letters from the Executive Director of NYLA, and the State Librarian
himself? How about knowing that your Director will get notification
that you accomplished this great program?

I could go on and on, but I believe you know how strongly I feel
about all the reasons why this is so critical for you to do and NOW
is the best time.

I'm pleased to report that I have been receiving several phone calls
with questions specific to the Certificate of Achievement Program and
feel that the Review Board will be put to the test in reviewing
several packets.

The CAP Review Board will be meeting in October. Will I receive
packets now that I can put on our Agenda?

Thank you and thank you for your dedication and commitment to this
most prestigious award.