A New State LibrarianWhen Bernard A. Margolis was appointed by the Board of Regents as the New York State Librarian in January, he took charge of the New York State Research Library and the Division of Library Development and would be responsible for disbursing nearly $100 million in state and federal aid to the state's 7,000 libraries. The job came with some hard economic realities. There were mounting challenges from serious cuts in State funding to deal with the state budget deficit, a deepening national recession, and a declining revenue stream from real estate closing fees hard hit by the sub prime mortgage crisis and a drop in home sales that directly impact State Library funding. But Bernie was accustomed to hitting the ground running – or maybe roller skating. He's the first New York State Librarian to begin his career on roller skates, skating along 13 miles of stacks, re-shelving books in the subterranean vaults of the Denver Public Library as a student. As former President of Boston Public Library, he was well prepared to manage a large and complex library. The State Library is now looking at a new beginning with the discussion of Saturday public service hours and participation in the Opportunity Online pilot program with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help libraries increase broadband capacity. While State funding issues remain, NOVELNY continues to grow and serve New Yorkers, and the Library’s New Netherland Project received both national and international recognition and funding. All the while, New York’s legislators enjoy regular visits from Bernie during which they continue to learn the vital importance of libraries to New York’s economic future. No doubt 2010 will bring more challenges that might seem daunting to most, but the New York State Library has just the leader to take them on. |
Appointed New York State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries in 2009, Bernard A. Margolis brought a wealth of successes from his previous post as President of the Boston Public Library, including expansion of branch library hours, a children’s librarian in every branch, and growth of BPL’s trust funds from $37 million to $55 million, to mention only a few. He earned his bachelor's degree in political science and master's degree in librarianship from the University of Denver. He served previously as Director/CEO of the Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado Springs. |
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An increasingly digital environment means that a full range of resources, both print and electronic, must be accessible to users around the state wherever and whenever they prefer to work— information resources must be accessible all 168 hours of the week. The State Research Library is more than a place, and staff work hard to ensure that New Yorkers have access to the information resources they need whether at the library, school, office, or home, whenever they need them. The Library adapts every day to an ever-changing information landscape that demands new thinking on how to continue to support print and more traditional formats of information resources to users while also providing access electronically. Working in partnership with the statewide library community, the State Research Library expanded the electronic resources available through its statewide Internet library NOVELNY. |
NOVELNY is available 24/7 from home, school, office, or from the local library at www.novelnewyork.org. New products including ProQuest Platinum, which provides access to over 2000 magazine and journal titles in a broad scope of subject areas, and Grolier Online, which includes the Encyclopedia Americana, the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and the New Book of Knowledge, are now available. If users can't get to the State Research Library, the Library will go to them. Thanks to the Library’s recent upgrade to ILLiad, an automated Interlibrary Loan system, and to participation in the statewide Information Delivery Service (IDS) that was newly implemented in 2009, the State Research Library was able to meet the demands of New Yorkers across the state. The Library |
filled 23,235 Interlibrary loan requests, including books, articles, and other materials from the State Research Library’s collections. Staff also responded to 6,667 e-mail requests for information. The Library developed a new webpage that highlights and links to publications of its sister agency the New York State Museum that have been digitized by the Library. The page can be found at www.nysl.nysed.gov/scandocs/ The new webpage also includes full view images taken from several of the Museum publications. |