Digitization 101: For New Yorkers: Notes from the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, Jan. 12

Thursday, January 12, 2012

For New Yorkers: Notes from the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, Jan. 12

These are my informal notes from today's conference call meeting of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries.

First, here is text that I wanted to share from the minutes of the December RAC meeting:

Update on Funding/Staffing for the State Library. The Cultural Education Fund, a special revenue fund which supports the Office of Cultural Education and the ongoing operations of the State Library, State Archives and State Museum is still in deficit - $12.7 million. Budget restrictions continue to be extremely tight. No staff positions have been filled or backfilled in the State Library since January 2009. The State Library has lost 65 FTE since the Great Recession began in December 2007 (a 36% reduction). The Acquisitions Budget has dropped from $4.27 million to $2.5 million.

2020Vision Process Action Plan and Next Steps - John Hammond

The 2020 Vision will be presented at the April's meeting of the Board of Regents. It is hoped that the Board will vote on them during that meeting. After that, the Council will work with the New York State Library on implementation.

The Council will seek to have time at the NYLA conference to update the library community on the 2020 Vision. The Council will also volunteer to talk to other groups about the plan.

Office of Cultural Education Update - Jeffrey Cannell

This covers four different program areas: The New York State Museum, State Library, State Archives, and the Office of Educational Television and Public Broadcasting.

The office has been looking at its strategic goals for the next three years. The themes for this time period are:

OCE as a Statewide Institution

Partnerships with other USNY institutions

Collections Stewardship and Research

Increase and expand public access to the collections and our programs