Last Friday, library staff, supporters, trustees and patrons came together over Starbucks coffee and pastries to chat with regional representatives about library funding, and to tell their stories about how important libraries are to their communities.
Thanks to Abigail Smith, library staff and administration at St. Joseph’s College of Nursing for opening their doors to us.
Thank you to Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter and Assemblyman Al Stirpe for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with us. Thank you to the legislative staffers who joined us on behalf of Governor Cuomo (Jessica Decerce), Senator Schumer (Lori Nguyen), Senator DeFrancisco (Deb Cody), Senator Valesky (Tracy Carmen), Assemblyman Will Barclay (Terry Wilbur) and Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli (Craig Swiecki). And thank you to NYLA Director, Jeremy Johannesen, for attending the breakfast and encouraging us all to continue shouting out for increased library funding.
The Onondaga County Public Library is doing some great things with STEM. Deanna McGregor spoke about their mobile robotics lab and demonstrated a few fun creations with “cubelets.” Amanda Travis demonstrated Google Glass and Casey Koons had some one-on-one conversations with the legislators about this new program push.
CLRC’s Matthew Kopel and OCPL’s Jaclyn Mathews had an opportunity to plug the CNYFi partnership and hotspot lending program. All these demos sparked the interest of the legislators and were a great segue for the speed-dating conversations.
Missed last week’s event?
Join us at the Utica Public Library on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11.
