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Written by Gail Madziar, MLA Executive Director   

Executive Director's Desk - November 8, 2018

Gail Madziar headshot

We Survived Mid-Term Elections

Elections are over, finally! It's been a contentious election cycle once again, but we are looking forward to some collaboration and teamwork on the part of our newly elected lawmakers. Granted, that may be optimistic, but there is certainly an opportunity for each library to connect with their elected officials. Don't wait until after the new year. Invite those folks to your library today. If they are new to the office, remind them you have space available for office hours. Host a coffee hour and invite the community to meet them. Encourage them to join you for a story time, after school program or community event. If you are planning a celebration such as a ribbon cutting, invite them to participate. It's important to have a relationship with your elected leaders. Remind them of the library's role in the community and that you can be counted on as a resource. Make them a partner in your goal to engage and serve the community.

It's possible we could be looking at the introduction of well over 100 new bills in lame duck this year. That means that the last four weeks of this two-year session could be intensely busy. We are watching closely for any legislation impacting libraries.

Lynda.com Reaching Out to Michigan Libraries

MLA is working with Lynda.com in an effort to provide this learning program to libraries across the state at a more affordable price. The more information the folks at Lynda.com have, the easier it will be for them to offer this new option. MLA is working with Michigan-wide Lynda.com program, to combine the public library collective power to increase the number of libraries offering Lynda.com to patrons, while giving participating libraries preferable (discounted) pricing. This program is a great way for our state to provide citizens access to this valuable resource, but as you might imagine, the discount available and program viability is dependent on the number of libraries that participate.

If this program gains enough interest to move forward it will cover both new and existing Lynda.com subscribers (for that reason any existing library subscribers will not be contacted as interest will be assumed).

As we continue to see states across the country rally behind Lynda.com's offerings, we believe this is a great opportunity for Michigan to join in. Kate Ovington from Lynda.com will be reaching out to each library to gather interest and share more details on the program. If you'd like to reach out to her directly though, please email [email protected] or call 416-545-6627.

We will keep you updated on this opportunity.

Thank you for Joining us at MLA 2018

Thank you to everyone who attended, presented and volunteered at MLA's annual conference this year. We had a tremendous turnout with close to 700 attending. The education and networking opportunities were motivating and helped us all to check out and renew. Congratulations go the MLA Annual Conference work group and work group chair Tanya Davidson for putting together a creative and engaging conference. If you missed some of the sessions, many handouts are available on the MLA Website.

The Style in the Stacks fashion show was great fun and raised nearly $1,000 for the MLA Scholarship fund.

We'll see you in Novi again next year October 16-18, 2019.

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