Friday Night Films Celebrates Pixar Animation; July 16-August 13!
Super Cold Science with the Boston Science Museum's Traveling Program; Thursday, July 15; 3pm
Glue and Go Costumes with Holly Cleeland; Tuesday, July 20; 4pm
Animal Behaviors with Rachel Roberts; Wednesday, July 21; 3:30pm
Writing Poems from Nature: Workshop for Adults with Jeannine Atkins; Tuesday, July 27; 6:30pm
Life2Poetry: Workshop for Teens with Jeannine Atkins; Thursday, July 29; 3pm
Rock Band for Teens; Tuesday, August 3; 2-4:30pm
Rock Band for Adults; Tuesday, August 3; 5:30-8pm
For more information on any of these programs, check our website at greenfieldpubliclibrary.org
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Regional Services in the Short Term
Dear Western MA Library Community:
On July 1, 2010, WMRLS will cease to operate as a Regional Library System as it joins with the other regions in forming the new Massachusetts Library System (MLS). Please be aware that, for FY11, our headquarters in Whately is still available for you to visit for many of the services you have been accustomed to using. We expect MLS will use the building to provide continuing education workshops, meetings and computer lab trainings. Delivery will continue for FY11 as you’ve always known it, performed by the same wonderful drivers and trucks you are familiar with. Advisory services will also continue, but at reduced levels. Access to the Springfield Republican online, as well as the statewide Gale and ProQuest databases, will continue. Interlibrary loan for items not available through C/W MARS will be handled through the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy. Training sessions have been offered to introduce member libraries to new procedures.
The Whately building, for now, will be very sparsely staffed and the doors will be locked for security purposes. We ask you to call ahead to schedule a visit if you want to access some of the other services available at the Whately facility, such as:
- Materials remaining from the WMRLS collection are available for you to select for your own needs through July 9.
- The “Got Books” container is still located in the parking lot for you to recycle library materials you would like to discard.
- The self-service CD / DVD disc cleaner is here for you to use to repair and refresh items needing attention.
For now, the toll free phone number remains (800) 282-7755. The extensions to use are 117 for Mary King (mking@wmrls.org), 130 for Shirley MacLean (smaclean@wmrls.org), and 105 for Wes Hamilton (wes@wmrls.org). Contact information will likely change in the future. MLS will keep you informed.
From all of us at WMRLS, we wish you all the best. It has been deeply gratifying to have served Western MA libraries for almost 50 years. Please get involved with the Massachusetts Library System (www.masslibsystem.org) and make sure it is aware of your needs for support and services.
Sincerely,
John Ramsay
Regional Administrator
SURVEY FROM THE FRIENDS OF WMRLS
The Executive Board of the Friends of WMRLS has been talking about how the Friends might continue in its role of advocacy. We won’t be able to advocate for WMRLS anymore, but we believe our libraries in the 4 counties of Western Mass. will need a voice. Before we put lots of energy into reorganizing and refocusing, we’d like to get some sense from library staff and library users in Western Mass. as to how much support we could count on. To that end, we have created a brief survey.
Western Massachusetts Library Advocacy Survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZZBHJKZ
Please take a couple of minutes to respond to the survey so that we can know how to proceed. Your thoughts are valuable to us. Thank you.
Questions can be emailed to Lynn Coakley at Lcoakley@stcc.edu
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
More Photos of WMRLS Staff Appreciation Day ~ June 15, 2010
Thank you to Karen Stinchfield, Director of the Cushman Library in Bernardston, for sharing her pictures of our recent WMRLS Staff Appreciation Day.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Massachusetts Library System (MLS) Update
The following message was posted to the WMRLS email discussion list on July 18, 2010
On July 1st the Massachusetts Library System (MLS) will begin operations. All regional library services will be delivered by this new organization. Members of the six former regions will automatically become members of MLS as a result of the merger that has been taking place over the past several months.
This is a sad time as we wish the best to many of our regional colleagues who will not be continuing with the new organization due to budget constraints. We will miss them. They deserve our thanks for the stellar work they have done to allow member libraries to be successful and thrive. And those of us in the regional library systems appreciate the support of our members during this difficult time.
Now it is time to look to the future. We will be developing MLS to continue this important work for all libraries in Massachusetts. Granted our budget and staffing levels are smaller. We will need to take advantage of the streamlined administration designed by the Regional Transition Planning Team and the MLS Executive Board to build an efficient service center and fulfill the MLS mission:
The Massachusetts Library System, a state-supported collaborative, fosters cooperation, communication, innovation, and sharing among member libraries of all types. The MLS promotes equitable access to excellent library services and resources for all who live, work, or study in Massachusetts.
MLS headquarters will be located at 135 Beaver Street in Waltham. We will also maintain an office at 4 Sandy Lane, Whately. You may know these locations as the current headquarters of the Metrowest and Western Massachusetts Library Systems. The other regional offices will be closed in order to reduce operating costs.
MLS Contact Information as of July 1, 2010:
781-398-1819 – We will establish a toll free number too.
www.masslibsystem.org - This site is live and already includes some information about MLS
MLS will use a new email broadcast tool. Official statewide announcements from MLS will be sent from
mls-announcements@mblc.state.ma.us. This mailing list is broadcast only. Recipients can respond to the sender but not to the entire list. We will provide sign up information. If you are currently subscribed to a regional listserv, this new list will include your email address.
The "allregions" listserv will remain available for communications among members.
We will be posting additional phone numbers and email addresses as they are established.
MLS Core Services will include:
Delivery
Mediated Interlibrary Loan and Journal Article Document Delivery
Continuing Education
Advisory and Consulting Services
Online Content, e.g., databases
Purchasing Cooperatives
Summer Reading Program
MassCat
Delivery Services will be provided in a familiar way. Former WMRLS members will continue to be served by the same delivery personnel and a small amount of contract work. The current provider, Eastern Carrier, will serve the central region. Eastern Connection will continue to serve both the metrowest and northeast regions. The southeastern and Boston regions will be served by Optima. This will be a change for the Boston region.
Mediated interlibrary loan will be provided by the Thomas Crane Memorial Library in Quincy and the Wellesley Free Library. Libraries will be served by their current provider. The Boston Public Library will continue to provide journal article document delivery service.
MLS staff will begin planning continuing education programs, advisory services, and next year's summer reading program in July. Watch our web site for announcements.
Some of the six regions are renewing their licenses for online content for fy2011. While MLS will not be directly involved in these services, we need to know if you face any issues.
Purchasing cooperative information is being issued by the six regions. MLS will later consolidate this information on our site.
MassCat, a shared integrated library system with about 80 members, will continue as a service of MLS.
MLS will provide many opportunities for members to participate in governance and in providing advice and feedback to assist us in meeting your libraries' needs. I encourage you to participate and to stay in touch with us and let us know your thoughts about our services.
By Greg Pronevitz, MLS Executive Director designee
greg@nmrls.org - 888-326-7772 – until June 30th
greg@masslibsystem.org - 781-398-1819 on July 1st
On July 1st the Massachusetts Library System (MLS) will begin operations. All regional library services will be delivered by this new organization. Members of the six former regions will automatically become members of MLS as a result of the merger that has been taking place over the past several months.
This is a sad time as we wish the best to many of our regional colleagues who will not be continuing with the new organization due to budget constraints. We will miss them. They deserve our thanks for the stellar work they have done to allow member libraries to be successful and thrive. And those of us in the regional library systems appreciate the support of our members during this difficult time.
Now it is time to look to the future. We will be developing MLS to continue this important work for all libraries in Massachusetts. Granted our budget and staffing levels are smaller. We will need to take advantage of the streamlined administration designed by the Regional Transition Planning Team and the MLS Executive Board to build an efficient service center and fulfill the MLS mission:
The Massachusetts Library System, a state-supported collaborative, fosters cooperation, communication, innovation, and sharing among member libraries of all types. The MLS promotes equitable access to excellent library services and resources for all who live, work, or study in Massachusetts.
MLS headquarters will be located at 135 Beaver Street in Waltham. We will also maintain an office at 4 Sandy Lane, Whately. You may know these locations as the current headquarters of the Metrowest and Western Massachusetts Library Systems. The other regional offices will be closed in order to reduce operating costs.
MLS Contact Information as of July 1, 2010:
781-398-1819 – We will establish a toll free number too.
www.masslibsystem.org - This site is live and already includes some information about MLS
MLS will use a new email broadcast tool. Official statewide announcements from MLS will be sent from
mls-announcements@mblc.state.ma.us. This mailing list is broadcast only. Recipients can respond to the sender but not to the entire list. We will provide sign up information. If you are currently subscribed to a regional listserv, this new list will include your email address.
The "allregions" listserv will remain available for communications among members.
We will be posting additional phone numbers and email addresses as they are established.
MLS Core Services will include:
Delivery
Mediated Interlibrary Loan and Journal Article Document Delivery
Continuing Education
Advisory and Consulting Services
Online Content, e.g., databases
Purchasing Cooperatives
Summer Reading Program
MassCat
Delivery Services will be provided in a familiar way. Former WMRLS members will continue to be served by the same delivery personnel and a small amount of contract work. The current provider, Eastern Carrier, will serve the central region. Eastern Connection will continue to serve both the metrowest and northeast regions. The southeastern and Boston regions will be served by Optima. This will be a change for the Boston region.
Mediated interlibrary loan will be provided by the Thomas Crane Memorial Library in Quincy and the Wellesley Free Library. Libraries will be served by their current provider. The Boston Public Library will continue to provide journal article document delivery service.
MLS staff will begin planning continuing education programs, advisory services, and next year's summer reading program in July. Watch our web site for announcements.
Some of the six regions are renewing their licenses for online content for fy2011. While MLS will not be directly involved in these services, we need to know if you face any issues.
Purchasing cooperative information is being issued by the six regions. MLS will later consolidate this information on our site.
MassCat, a shared integrated library system with about 80 members, will continue as a service of MLS.
MLS will provide many opportunities for members to participate in governance and in providing advice and feedback to assist us in meeting your libraries' needs. I encourage you to participate and to stay in touch with us and let us know your thoughts about our services.
By Greg Pronevitz, MLS Executive Director designee
greg@nmrls.org - 888-326-7772 – until June 30th
greg@masslibsystem.org - 781-398-1819 on July 1st
Thursday, June 17, 2010
WMRLS Staff Appreciation Party
To all the Friends and Supporters of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System:
Thank you so very much for attending the WMRLS Staff Appreciation Party yesterday afternoon and showing the WMRLS staff just how much we library people in Western Mass. appreciate their decades of professionalism, dedication and friendship in supporting our efforts to bring the best in library services to the Western Massachusetts community. For those of you that could not attend, we felt that you were there in spirit, and please know that we who were there did our best to express your appreciation as well.
It was my honor as Vice President of the Friends of Western Massachusetts Regional Library System, on behalf of our President Antonia (Toni) Golinski-Foisy, to present to WMRLS Administrator John Ramsay a second check from the Friends in the amount of $10,000 to assist with the transistion.
I wish to thank publicly Eric Poulin, former President of the WMRLS Executive Board, and the WMRLS Friends Executive Board members who worked so hard to make this party truly a success: Lynn Kleindienst, Lynn Coakley, Dick Floyd, Linda Wentworth, and Louise Kanus. Thank you, especially, to all who brought such wonderful finger foods and beverages. It was truly an amazing, and thankfully very positive experience for all involved.
We wish our colleagues at the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System all the very best as most of them begin a new "chapter" in their lives. We will miss you. Please visit our libraries and keep in touch.
Debbie
Deborah G. Bruneau, Director
Adams Free Library
92 Park Street
Adams, Ma 01220-2096
Tel. 413-743-8345
Fax 413-743-8344
dbruneau@town.adams.ma.us
Friday, June 11, 2010
WMRLS Merger Voting Completed / Open House June 15
Dear Western Massachusetts Library Community:
Yesterday morning, June 9, the final votes were tallied on the proposed merger of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS), with the other regions, into the new Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The required 2/3 of the voting representatives to the Council of Members voted to proceed with the merger. The WMRLS Executive Board confirmed the vote yesterday afternoon, and signed the necessary documents.
We know there were many concerns about the loss of WMRLS and fear that Western libraries might be overlooked by a statewide organization located far away. The grass roots advocacy and support of all of you, including the Friends of WMRLS, the We Love Western Mass Libraries FaceBook page, the media and library users throughout the 4 county area certainly made a difference and ensured that the voice of Western Massachusetts would be heard. We also deeply appreciate the help and responsiveness of Western Representatives and Senators. In the end, however, there was to be no restoration of the 29% State budget cut to Board of Library Commissioner regional account (7000-9401). This cut, following earlier reductions, would have made it extremely difficult for WMRLS to continue offering all the services required that our libraries have relied on for almost 50 years.
It is expected that final language in the FY11 State budget will call for the new MLS organization to continue operating the WMRLS headquarters in Whately, at least through June of 2011. We hope member libraries will continue to enjoy workshops and meetings at this state-of-the art facility. It is also planned that our excellent delivery service provided by our drivers will continue at least for the next year. Remember, you are now part of the Massachusetts Library System. It is important that you stay involved, and make sure the new organization is aware of your needs.
It has been an honor and a privilege for all of us at WMRLS to serve you over the years. We hope as many of you as possible can try to join us at WMRLS in Whately on Tuesday, June 15, for an Open House between 2 and 5 p.m. arranged by the Friends of WMRLS, whose advocacy, fundraising and public awareness efforts have meant so much to us.
Sincerely,
John Ramsay
Regional Administrator
Western Massachusetts Regional Library System
