Public Testimony Submitted for Spring 2000 Hearings by the Regents Commission on Library Services

Fashion Institution of Technology, New York City, April 25, 2000

Rochester Public Library, April 7, 2000
Brentwood Public Library, April 13, 2000
Albany Public Library, April 26, 2000
Vestal Public Library, May 5, 2000

Additional Comments submitted to the Commission

Priscilla Balch, Librarian-in-Charge, Library, Midwood High School at Brooklyn College

The public schools in New York City suffer from the same disparities in library service as do the state's libraries as discussed on page 3 of your summary. Unfortunately, however, as you indicate on page 6, more of our schools, especially elementary schools where certified school library media specialists are not mandated by state education law, provide poorer rather than better library services.

The reasons for this situation include:

  1. Not enough money for materials. Most elementary schools and many middle schools receive only state funding - $6.00 per capita - for print and non-print materials. In the high schools, the state funding is enhanced by an additional $ 4.00 per capita from city tax levy monies as well as an added amount of $1000.00 per school. Small high schools, however, find themselves in dire straits as their per capita funding makes it difficult for them to purchase expensive reference materials and electronic databases.
  2. Most school libraries are understaffed. There is little if any clerical assistance provided. The formula of 1 school library media specialist per 1000 students causes schools with as many as 1500 - 1600 students to have only one librarian, while larger schools, following multiple sessions, have larger staffs that are seldom working together throughout the longer school day.
  3. The facilities of our school libraries are woefully inadequate as the physical plants of their schools lack wiring to support technological innovation. One or two computers are all that many libraries possess for use by the students they serve.
  4. The lack of flexible programming in many elementary schools makes it difficult for all the students in the school to have access to the library and its resources.

On page 4 of your summary, you speak of ensuring "that all New York's public school students are information-literate by providing strong library media programs that include appropriately certified professional staff, adequate resources and technology."

On pages 5 and 6 you recommend the creation of NOVEL - the New York Online Virtual Electronic Library to meet the need for quality library service to all New Yorkers.

We applaud NOVEL -- Schools like mine have benefited from the "electronic resources purchased on a statewide basis" thus providing "tremendous economies of scale."

We believe that you are correct when you say that libraries - our school libraries - have the ability to "help close the digital divide for all residents" - our students -- "by making high-quality electronic and digital information accessible to library users." We are doing that now in Midwood. But, even we, who are unusual as compared to many other high schools in the city, with 8 terminals in the library and 25 more across the hall in another room which we call the "media center" cannot serve the needs of all 4000+ students in our building.

We concur with enthusiasm with Recommendation 2 on page 6 - "' That the Board of Regents require a strong school library media program for all K-12 public school students -in New York State."

We support your embrace of "the Regents proposal to provide School Library Media Program Support Aid to public schools."

We support your recommendation for "encouraging teachers, public librarians, and others who are interested in becoming school library media specialists to become appropriately certified."

But, we have two suggestions:

  1. Boards of education should be required to match funds for school libraries from tax levy monies so that any funds that are now allocated for libraries will not be removed because additional state funds are anticipated. In the past, whenever possible, many of the city's local community school districts withdrew tax levy funds from the support of libraries and relied totally on state funding. Since state funding, though helpful, was not entirely adequate to fund necessary materials, the libraries in the community school districts often could not purchase important resources.
  2. The position of school library media specialist should be mandated by law in elementary schools as is the position in secondary schools. In middle schools and high schools where the position has been mandated, library programs have been relatively stable and the collections more carefully selected and maintained than in the elementary schools. The absence of a mandate in the elementary schools contributes to the lack of adequate professional staffing because there is uncertainty about the permanence of the position. The lack of a mandate also contributes to the reliance by school administrations on the library position as a means of providing five period coverage for classroom teachers. This inhibits flexible programming of classes in the library and is also responsible to some degree for the view that the library program is not an integral part of the learning process.

Janet L. Barr, Ph.D., Director, Eastern Suffolk BOCES School Library System, Bellport

I would like to thank you, the Commission members and your families, for the dedication and commitment to the purpose and process of the Commission. All citizens of the State of New York will benefit from your deliberations as the quality and efficiency of library service reaches higher levels and information is made accessible to everyone.

Recommendation 1: Create NOVEL, the New York Online Virtual Electronic library, to deliver high-quality, reliable digital information and provide access for all New Yorkers.

The 233 school library media centers in Eastern Suffolk BOCES appreciate the two current databases that have been made accessible through NOVEL. However most of our subscribers are at the secondary level. In the future we would appreciate a focus on K-12 materials so that elementary schools will recognize the value of NOVEL for their students as well.

Recommendation 2: Ensure that all New York's public school students are information-literate by providing strong school library media programs that include appropriately certified professional staff, adequate resources, and technology.

I strongly support this recommendation. Certified library media specialists are needed in every school library media center if every student is going to meet the New York State Standards and Information Literacy Standards (American Association of School Librarians). Although Long Island is considered a wealthy area, in June of 1999 only 87 of our 217 public school library media centers had full time certified library media specialists; 47 had part-time library media specialists and 5 had no library media specialists. Quality teaching in the library, especially at the elementary level, is not happening due to lack of certified professionals. Your recommendation will alleviate the problem in many needy districts but it will not completely solve the problem on Long Island.

Recommendation 4: Promote equitable library services for all New Yorkers by using a need-based formula to reduce disparities in library funding, and promote service excellence through enabling and incentive aid tied to community-based performance measures.

I commend you on developing the New York's Excellent Library Service (NY EXCELS) Program and making it available to all types of libraries. I have noticed that school districts like to keep up with the neighboring school districts. Once standards of excellence are designed and publicized, school districts will try to meet them. Also innovative programs and partnerships among libraries and library systems will develop.

Conclusion: I look forward to meeting with you again to discuss the other six "supporting" recommendations, especially number 9: Strengthen New York's library systems by promoting greater system cooperation, clarification of system roles, incentives for system consolidation where appropriate, increased accountability, and enhanced funding that will enable systems to provide the critical support and leadership necessary for delivery of quality library services to all New Yorkers.

Howard Dillon, Director of Library and Media Services, The Fashion Institute of Technology

New York is about business, culture and style. You are meeting today in the Chelsea district famous for its fashion industries and, more recently, Silicon Alley. This institution, FIT, is at the heart of education, research and training workers for those important industries. (You may recall that when last I testified before you, I had just come from an MIT-FIT discussion of wearable computers here at our college.)

It is my understanding that the last commission to chart the path for library support in New York State reported two decades ago. The recommendations of this commission, if accepted by the Board of Regents, will presumably be our guide and rallying point for a good many years. I regard your work to recommend to the Regents "a vision . . . and a plan" as extremely important for this state and of considerable consequence for colleges and universities, and it is about them that I make my remarks to you today.

There is widespread dissatisfaction among academic libraries that the reports does not present a vision that includes them in "a plan to ensure the widest access to information for all New Yorkers." You have, I know, an interest in all libraries in the state, but as one not close to your deliberations, on reading the Preliminary Policy Recommendations I did not find words and ideas that express that inclusiveness strongly enough. (My word processor finds the phrase all libraries twice in the present document; college or university not at all; academic 5 times, special 13, school 40 and public 78.)
The Preliminary Policy Recommendations to the Board of Regents address:

  1. $12 million for "NOVEL, a virtual library that will be accessible by the public."
  2. The requirement of "a strong school library media program for all K-12 public school students in New York State."
  3. An aid program for "[T]he voluntary formation of Public Library Districts throughout the state, with the exception of New York City…"
  4. "[A] new formula for allocating future state aid to libraries and library systems."
  5. $90 million "…for public library construction, expansion, and renovation…", and
  6. An "urban libraries initiative to provide resources to meet the unique needs of diverse communities."


Last May 20th when I spoke to you in Brooklyn as the past president of the METRO board of trustees, I testified on behalf of the 3-Rs of the state, urging support for these cooperative organizations in helping libraries share information and resources for their users. I came to assure you that this institution's library, The Fashion Institute of Technology, and the other college and university libraries I know in New York, wanted to continue to participate in sharing, and therefore welcomed strong and effective multi-type library cooperatives. I tucked the following paragraph into that testimony:

Turning to another area of cooperation, the State University of New York, of which FIT is one of the campuses, is in the process of building SUNYConnect, a project that will bring a shared integrated library management system, a web-based sharing of access to catalogs, and the shared purchase and licensing of databases across the spectrum of academic fields represented in SUNY. FIT students and faculty receive tangible benefits from affiliation with both METRO and SUNY. I look forward to the goals and objectives this commission will set for us in the 21st century and a course of action that will build on those solid foundations to make New York State attractive and competitive for commerce, industry, education, and human services organizations to do business and make our state truly information rich.

I encourage the Commission to address the roles colleges and universities have in supporting education, research, and the economic development of New York State. I ask you to review your findings and add to your report in order to present a more complete picture of the cooperative library environment of which those academic libraries are an important part. I would welcome any support your report could offer in support of SUNYConnect as another valuable research resource that deserves the attention and support of the regents and state government.

SUNY's program is SUNYConnect,

[a] SUNY-wide electronic library initiative . . . [the goal of which is] to allow students, faculty, and staff on any campus or at any location - and at any time of the day - access to a set of core digital library services. The fully implemented SUNYConnect includes: easy, integrated access to all SUNY library catalogs; networked access to basic online reference tools and fulltext databases; and the ability to receive library instruction, reference assistance, and document delivery services from a remote location.

The SUNY libraries have selected a common automated library management system. The contract has been negotiated and is in the final states of state approval and signoff. The colleges and universities of City University of New York (CUNY) have chosen to implement the same system. Both SUNY and CUNY have created digital library programs for the shared purchase and use of research databases -- SUNYConnect and the CUNY Digital Library. When the new library management system is in place it will support SUNYConnect to provide

  • a core set of electronic databases broadly useful to students throughout the University
  • a common library software system to facilitate searching and circulation of all SUNY library materials
  • additional electronic research/reference tools
  • document delivery/courier services
  • online information literacy instruction
  • shared, remote storage facilities, and
  • image databases and digital collections

My request to this commission is to enhance your final report by mentioning the importance of strong college and university libraries, and research databases, to New York State and, in whatever way possible, to encourage appropriate investment in their support. Specifically, I ask that the final report acknowledge the successful new initiative of the SUNY colleges and universities to acquire a common library management system and to create an electronic information system for shared purchase of digital information and databases -- SUNYConnect. I see SUNYConnect as a gateway to essential research resources that complement the initiatives you have ably presented in your report.

Phyllis D. Fisher, Professional Librarian, New York City Schools (Resident of Copiague)

My compliments to the Regents Commission on Library Services. The recommendations reflect many hours of serious study, vision, commitment to service, and enlightenment in both public policy and information transfer.

Recommendation 1 -- Create NOVEL (New York Online Virtual Electronic Library)

  • Would improve efforts toward information equity
  • Reduce costs
  • Move more resources into digital format
  • Improve options for continuing education

Recommendation 2 -- Advocate Strong School Library Media Programs

  • Support for exemplary Library and Information Science Programs Articulation between Library Ed and Practitioners
  • Recruitment efforts to attract strong candidates to the field
  • Financial incentives for both full and part-time study
  • Continuing Education opportunities
  • Career ladders for school library administrators
  • Adequate funding for library resources
  • Access to NOVEL would be invaluable

Recommendation 3 -- Formation of Public Library Districts
Recommendation 4 -- Need-Based Formula
The above recommendations are exceedingly important contributions to literacy initiatives in New York State. As a Westchester County resident during the seventies, my Westchester Library System card afforded access to member libraries throughout the county. I am unaware of similar access options on Long Island.

The creation of library districts should provide options for less painful support for libraries in hamlets and villages that may be "undeserved". On the other hand, many communities with relatively generous library allocations may realize that library support is appropriate and equitably distributed statewide, and redefine the parameters of access to their library resources.

The promotion of need-based formulae correlated to community-based performance measures provides a framework for gathering baseline data and applying the information base to the problem at hand. The work of the Commission goes a long way in mapping a plan for premier library services for all, in improving learning, upgrading literacy and standing with educators to produce a more learned and democratic citizenry.

Anne Hofmann, President, New York Library Association

My Name is Anne Hofmann and I am the President of the New York Library Association. I want to thank the Commission for its hard work over the past two years. As a commission, you took time to learn about libraries and their users, to explore service needs and delivery models. As individuals, you committed the professional and personal time to listen, to evaluate, and to develop proposals that will meet the information needs and accessibility of library service for all New Yorkers. On behalf of the Library Community, I thank each of you for the countless hours and many, many days spent away from home and family, Your commitment to excellence will benefit library service to New Yorkers well into the next century.

Mary Berman, Chairman of the NYLA Legislative Committee, is submitting written testimony on library funding needs. She will point out how well your recommendations meet the needs of New York libraries in certain areas. She will also share with you the NYLA "Books, Bricks and Bytes" comprehensive legislative program that compliments many of your recommendations, but goes further to fully meet the information needs of all library users and potential users in New York State.

I would like to talk to you about an area not addressed in your report, but crucial to the future of New York libraries. Under the jurisdiction of the New York State Board of Regents, library funding needs have been inadequately presented to the legislature for many years. Full attention is paid to funding for schools and education, which is appropriate. What is not acceptable is failure to support full funding needs for libraries.

This year, for the first time in many years, the Regents spoke out individually on many levels in support of the Libraries 2001 legislative program. Their strong advocacy was welcome, but would have been more valuable to library service in New York State had they been supporting the full range of needs for all our libraries.

When the library community questions the Regents about reasons for only recommending a small legislative financial program for libraries, the response is "we are asking for what we think is reasonable." Why are library needs minimized? The full education needs are always presented and actively advocated. This is as it should be. Library needs deserve the same advocacy and full support by the New York State Board of Regents.

The fine work of this Commission on Library Services will be wasted if the Board of Regents fails again to promote a legislative program that includes all library funding needs. I urge this commission to strongly recommend and to convince the Board of Regents that libraries in New York State deserve their full support. Libraries are no longer willing to express public gratitude, accompanied by private discontent, with the historically minimum level of support for funding needs.

It was the hope and expectation that establishing this Commission on Library Services meant that the New York State Board of Regents finally recognized the increasingly greater library needs in New York State. The legislative proposal for Libraries 2001 fell far short of recognizing all library needs, yet it was fully supported by the library community. NYLA and library advocates throughout the state expect that future Regents recommendations will represent the vision for libraries put forward by this Commission and detailed in NYLA's "Books Bricks and Bytes." Please include in your report the expectation that the full funding needs of libraries in New York will be supported by the Board of Regents. New Yorkers deserve excellent library service and New York State must accept its responsibility to fund libraries at levels to make them once again national leaders in library service.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

Anne Hofmann, Chief Librarian of the Donnell Library Center, The New York Public Library

Good afternoon.

My name is Anne Hofmann and I am the Chief Librarian of the Donnell Library Center. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to testify before you again today and to present the views of The New York Public Library. Before I begin, please allow me to thank you on behalf of the 16 million people who use our services annually and the millions more who access our collections electronically, for your tremendous commitment of time and energy toward this effort. The work that you are doing is critically important to the future of library service in New York State.

At The New York Public Library, while use of traditional library resources, particularly books, is soaring, the introduction of information technology has led to revolutionary change in the field of library services. Technology has allowed libraries to provide levels of both on-site and offsite access to information that could not have been imaged just a few years ago. Recent statistics show that The New York Public Library's web site gets over 17 million hits per month from all areas of New York State, around the country, and across the globe. The New York Public Library is very pleased with the Commission's recommendation for NOVEL. The electronic resources purchased on a statewide basis will provide great financial relief to libraries throughout the state. Opportunities to digitized unique collections are welcome.

Librarians are, and always have been, information navigators -- trained specialists who can assist users in their quest for information. With the development of new technologies, the role of librarian is continually transforming to one that relies heavily on electronic tools to assist in this navigation. Training librarians who, in turn, can train users to effectively search and locate material using new technologies has become a major focus for The New York Public Library. Last year, more than 1,200 classes were offered in the Branches to assist the public in the use of electronic information. In the Research Libraries, the classrooms at the Science, Industry and Business Library have become a national model for training the public in the use of electronic resources. But technology changes very quickly and staff must be able to maintain their skills to help the public. The success of libraries in New York State in the future will hinge in large measure on their ability to train their staff and the public. The Commission should consider this critical need in their NOVEL recommendations as well.

The New York Public Library applauds the Regent's Commission recommendation to improve the capacity of New York's urban public libraries to meet the unique needs of their diverse, densely populated communities. As you know, The New York Public Library has long been a leader in providing literacy programs, English for Speakers of Other Language programs, and materials collections in over 80 languages other than English throughout our Branch Libraries. Special emphasis had been placed on the need to immediately respond to needs of new immigrant populations in our neighborhoods in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. The Donnell World Language Collection has both the flexibility and materials to meet these changing needs. The immigrant population in New York City continues to explode and additional resources are needed to welcome and serve these newest New Yorkers.

State support is needed to extend our hours of operation. Additional weekend and evening hours are needed to meet the needs of all users, but especially those new to our city who often work long hours and find their library closed when they are available to visit. Please strengthen your recommendation to include state funding for these additional public service hours.

Finally, The New York Public Library requests that the Regents Commission recognizes and addresses the critical problem of inadequate librarian salaries in the City of New York. Attached is a copy of President Dr. Paul LeClerc's testimony before the New York City Council describing the critical situation the three Public Library Systems face. Fifty percent of The New York Public Library's librarians leave within the first three years of service for higher paying jobs in other libraries. Twenty-five percent of the librarians hired in the last year have already departed. Of the 34 libraries in the Bronx, nine, or 25% are now without children's librarians. At the time of their departure, many of these librarians were clearly on the way to becoming top librarians in our system or to taking on significant roles as managers. The cost of turnover -- including lost experience, lost training dollars, and lower morale -- is a pressing problem for The New York Public Library, the City, and for the large number of New Yorkers who depend on library services. The Regent's Commission needs to address this issue and recommend support on the state level for adequately paid professional librarian staff. Incentives need to be explored and advocated to assure that urban libraries can attract and retain the best and brightest librarians to work in our libraries and meet the information needs of New Yorkers.

Thank you for the fine work you have done. Through your leadership, New York State will become a model in the provision of 21st century library service.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Testimony of Dr. Paul LeClerc, President, The New York Public Library, Before The Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs and Intergroup Relations Committee of The New York City Council, December 10, 1999

Good afternoon Chairman Foster and Members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on librarian salaries. I am pleased to have joining me Norman Holman, Senior Vice President and Director of the Branch Libraries.

The Council, working with the Mayor, has helped pass budgets in recent years that have taken the City's libraries to six days of service, restocked the collections, and introduced broad access to information technology and to important new programs like Summer Reading and CLASP. As a result, libraries are being used in record numbers, circulation is up, and children are getting better support in developing their reading skills.

At the same time, the Library has experienced tremendous productivity gains. From FY1995 through FY1998, use of the Library has grown by 33%. In the last four years, the Branch Libraries have added an average of 4.3 hours a week to each of the 85 branches while increasing circulation by 18% and reference inquiries by 26%. Over this same period, the Library has put into service over 1000 public access computer terminals and established a web site with electronic resources that are used by the public millions of times a year. All of achieved with no increase in staff. In the Research Libraries, over $2 million has operating costs through reengineering while at the same time a major new facility, the Science, Industry and Business Library, was opened with no increase in overall staffing.

This is the good news. The bad news is that the Library faces a very serious issue with noncompetitive salaries for its librarians, the public servants who provide high quality library service to the millions of people who come through our doors every year.

By any measure, New York City public librarians are underpaid. Other urban systems and other comparable institutions pay librarians better in absolute and relative terms. Indeed, school librarians with the same qualifications as public librarians in New York City are far better paid. A librarian starts at a public school with a salary of $36,000 compared to a New York Public librarian who starts at $31,000 and works a longer year and less desirable hours that include evenings and weekends. The gap widens over time. After ten years, the school librarian is earning $49,000 while the public librarian is at $40,000. Among other public libraries, The New York Public Library librarian salaries start lower and increase slower than they do for librarians in major cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, or Philadelphia.

Based on the lack of competitive salaries and the productivity gains of the 1990's, that were achieved despite these non-competitive salaries, in mid-year 1998 the three library systems proposed that the City fund a catch-up increase of 15% for librarian salaries. This increase would cost $9.5 million for all librarian positions in the three library systems, including $1.6 million for The New York Public Library's Research Libraries and $3.2 million for the Branch Libraries. A 15% increase is modest in that it would have only lifted librarian pay to a competitive, not leading, level. The response we received was that the City's preference was not to break pattern bargaining.

Because of noncompetitive salaries, The New York Public Library is losing large numbers of librarians in whom we have invested a great deal of training and support. Here are some of the facts:

  • 50% of The New York Public's librarians leave within the first three years of service for higher paying jobs in other libraries.
  • 25% of the librarians hired in the last year have already departed.
  • Of the 34 libraries on the Bronx, nine, or 25%, are now without children's librarian.

Each year The New York Public hires wonderful new librarians fresh out of graduate school. They help us to provide six-day service and implement important programs like CLASP. After receiving intensive on-site training with us -- our training program is nationally known for its quality -- these librarians tend to stay with us for only two to three years before leaving to make significantly more money working for other library systems. At the time of their departure, many of these librarians were clearly on the way to becoming top librarians in our system or to taking on significant roles as managers. We have, in other words, invested substantial resources in our young staff members, only to lose them within a relatively brief period of time.

In July 1998, The New York Public had 388 union librarians in its branches. By November 1999, only sixteen months later, we had lost 97, or 25%, of them, mostly to other jobs as librarians. We did recruit to fill all these vacancies, but only succeeded in hiring 57 new librarians, leaving us with a net loss of 40 librarians' positions unfilled, or 10% of all the union library positions in our branches. During the same period of time, we also lost 26 librarian trainees, out of a total of 110. Turnover is manageable so long as qualified replacements arrive at the same rate as those departing. But the strain is now becoming apparent.

The New York Public is finding it very difficult to recruit librarians for one reason alone and that is low salaries. Candidates increasingly are not even bothering to talk to Library recruiters because the word is out that starting salaries are so unattractive -- even given the contractual increases from the June 1998 level of $29,000 per year to $31,300 now. Moreover, technology skills learned in library schools are broadening the job market for librarians. The Library Journal recently reported in its most recent nationwide salary survey that librarian salaries jumped 5.4% for 1998 library school graduates over 1997 graduates -to an average starting salary in the Northeast of $33,511. Based on data from several sources, the three City library systems are at a 20% to 25% salary disadvantage in the recruitment process.

The cost of turnover -- including lost experience, lost training dollars, and lower morale -- is a pressing problem for The New York Public Library, the City, and for the large number of New Yorkers who depend on library services. Our Library is committed to doing whatever it can to address this issue, including exploring additional reclassifications and restructuring schemes to best utilize librarians and support staff. However, higher salaries that make our libraries competitive in the hiring and retaining staff will not be reached without a positive outcome of collective bargaining between the City and DC37.

The greatness of The New York Public Library rests in large measure on the quality of this institution's front line public servants. Librarians are at the center of our operation. They open up the world of reading to children in their neighborhood branch, they help patrons navigate the complex new universe of information technology, and they support the intellectual and economic vitality that characterizes this great city.

I want to thank the Council for their advocacy on this issue and would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

Rocco A. Staino, Director, Keefe Library & Adult Education, North Salem Central School District

I would like to begin by thanking the members of the commission for their months of work in drafting a comprehensive set of statewide policy recommendations. As a career librarian with twenty-five years of experience in school libraries, I am pleased that your second recommendation addresses the need for strong school library programs. Twenty-five years ago students were taught the skills needed to locate information. With the proliferation of print, visual and electronic information people are drowning with information. The school library media professional now needs to teach students how to be information literate and an educated user of information. Students, without the services of a professional library media specialist, are at a disadvantage. As recently as March 22, Education Week reported the results of studies in Alaska, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, which showed those students in schools with appropriate and sufficient library collections and qualified library personnel, tend to perform better on standardized tests. The report goes on to say that test scores increase as school librarians spend more time collaborating with and providing training to teachers, providing input into curricula, and managing information technology for the school.

As the New York State delegate to the American Associations of School Librarians, my colleagues from other parts of the nation are often surprised that New York State does not require certified school librarians on the elementary level. I must admit that I was surprised to find that your recommendation does not ask the Board of Regents to consider such a mandate.

A mere ten years ago, New York State did not require library materials be included in a school budget if residents did not support a budget. Despite cries of lack of funds and no further mandates, the state legislature took the initiative with a little prodding from the library community to require such funding from the local districts. Such legislation was passed and school library materials are included as an important part of a school budget. I ask this commission to be farsighted in its work and recommend such a mandate to the Board of Regents. Every year during this period of time, elementary school librarians are on the endangered list as school districts faced with increased remedial staffing look at nonmandated areas. School library media programs have been decimated in districts which had wholesale layoffs of school librarians for a period of years. When the financial picture improved for these districts, replacing those individuals became a difficult task.

Some on the commission may be reluctant to recommend a school staffing mandate because of cost or the suppose lack of qualified individuals. In this situation, the benefits to the children of New York State far outreach the proposed costs. If a lack of qualified professionals is found, I recommend looking at programs such as the one instituted by the City of Baltimore who in partnership with institutions of high learning supported and encouraged teachers in the system to become certified as school librarians.

As a commission charged with recommending a vision for library services in the 21st century, I urge you to strengthen your recommendation in regard to school library media programs to support the mandating of a professional school library media specialist for the elementary schools of New York State.

Lois Weinstein, Executive Director, Medical Library Center of New York, and Member, METRO Board of Trustees

Good morning. I am Lois Weinstein, the Executive Director of Medical Library Center of New York, also known as MLCNY. This is a consortium founded over 40 years ago and dedicated to resource sharing among the medical and research institutions in the New York metropolitan area. As the Executive Director of MLCNY, I am here today representing the hospital, academic medical, medical research and medical association library members of our consortium. As the medical library member of the Board of Trustees of METRO, the Metropolitan New York Library Council, I am also here to represent all of the non-MLCNY hospital and medical library members in the METRO region.

The Preliminary Statewide Policy Recommendations to the Board of Regents supports New Yorkers by planning to improve school libraries and public libraries, a very important direction to take. However, none of the six recommendations that "Meet the Need of Quality Library Service for all New Yorkers" or the six recommendations that "Implement the Vision" address the sector of libraries that benefit New Yorkers the most with relation to their own health.

These are the medical libraries of New York State which include those found in hospitals, medical schools, nursing schools, schools of pharmacy, optometry and others in the field of healthcare. In the metropolitan region, these libraries are also found in organizations such as Planned Parenthood, The New York Blood Center, the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Development, the Maternity Center Association, genetics and cancer research laboratories such as Cold Spring Harbor and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. And they exist in places such as the Harkness Eye Institute, the International Center for the Disabled and all the libraries that support public health departments such as the Public Health Research Institute Library here in the city. These libraries, and those like them in other regions of the state, are critical to the health of our citizens and to the good health of our state.

It is not possible to plan for the future of libraries in New York State and to leave out this critical segment.

  • Not when nearly 50% of all questions public librarians are asked have to do with health related information.
  • Not when public librarians are depending more and more on local hospital and academic medical libraries to help them find answers to these questions.
  • Not when more and more decisions are being delegated to the patient by healthcare professionals.
  • Not when anyone or any group can put unverified or inaccurate medical information on the Internet and make it look like "the real thing".
  • And, especially, not when our population is aging and even more in need of high quality, accessible health related information to maintain or increase the quality of their life.

I agree with previous individuals speaking on behalf of medical libraries at hearings held in other parts of the state, speakers such as Dr. Gerry Flanzraich from Old Westbury, Kathleen Miller of Rochester and Jeanne Galbraith of Stony Brook, that the emphasis of your document focuses on school and public libraries and only mentions medical libraries in a very cursory manner. I, too, wish to go on record as petitioning the Regents Commission to consider taking a more pro-active stand on medical libraries.

I would like to suggest that the Regents Commission consider adding the following in their recommendations.

  1. Improve the capacity of New York's medical libraries to meet the unique needs of the state's diverse, information hungry patrons.
  2. Enable New York State's medical libraries to provide necessary expertise, resources and support to the citizens of the state through enhanced funding and through strengthened standards.
  3. Ensure the availability of and improve support for medical library service to all New Yorkers.
  4. Promote equitable medical library services for all New Yorkers by using an updated, enhanced formula for library subsidies to reduce disparities in funding and promote excellence by returning to standards for hospital libraries that are based on the national standard.

If you would like to see more detail for any of these recommendations, my colleagues and I would be happy to provide it or to work with you in any capacity that you would care to suggest. I hope that we can all look forward to a future where New York State citizens have access to high quality health information made possible through the efforts of highly skilled medical librarians working in medical libraries that are shining examples of excellence in terms of resources and services. Medical librarians in New York State are eager to be an active partner of the Regents Commission on Library Services in seeing this vision become a reality. Thank you for allowing me and my colleagues the opportunity to express our thoughts and ideas.

Updated 9/12/2000 -- asm

 

Last Updated: October 7, 2011