MLA Connect Coffee Hour: Library Social Services 

Tuesday, September 15
10:00 – 11:00 am

Libraries are often the community’s safety net and provide critical assistance and services to those who need it most. How can your library still fulfill these needs and provide support when community access in your building is limited or unavailable? 

MLA welcomes Tiffany Russell, LMSW, Social Worker at the Niles District Library, to this month’s MLA Connect Coffee Hour to talk about how she supported her community before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as share some ideas about how you can be that resource for your own community whether you have an on-staff social worker or not. 

Please come with questions and ideas to share with the group. How has your library responded during and after the statewide closure? What services are you able to provide and what are you still figuring out? What have you done to strengthen that safety net in your library and community?

REALM Test 3 Complete - Updated Recommendations

August 27, 2020

We continue to learn more every day about the novel coronavirus and what best practices we should adopt to best safeguard against the possible spread of COVID-19.

On August 18, the REopening Archives, Libraries and Museums (REALM) project published the results of the third round of Battelle’s laboratory testing for COVID-19 on five plastic-based materials: talking book USB cassettes, DVD, storage bags, storage containers, and plexiglass.

Letter from Debbie

August 27, 2020

Hard to believe, but here we are…almost 6 months into this global pandemic. There is so much to still take in on a daily basis but I think the waters have calmed enough for us to get another gulp of air. I am hopeful that a second wave is not in our immediate future.

MLA continues to monitor your progress and while some of your libraries have opened your physical doors to limited visitation by patrons, many of you are still in curbside and virtual mode…and that is okay…each community has different challenges and must act according to what is best for them. We commend you, wherever you are in the continuum of your services, on how well you have improvised, adapted and continue to overcome obstacles.

Executive Orders: The Latest Update

August 27, 2020

MLA continues to follow the Governor's Executive Orders to monitor their impact on libraries. Here is the status and a short recap of Executive Orders of note to libraries as of August 27, 2020:

EO 2020-172 - Protecting workers who stay home, stay safe when they or their close contacts are sick

This Executive Order prohibits employers from discharging, disciplining, or retaliating against employees who make the responsible choice to stay home when they or their close contacts are sick. Under this Executive Order, employers must treat employees who stay home when they are sick as if he or she were taking medical leave.

EO 2020-165 - Declaration of the State of Emergency and state of disaster-related to the COVID-19 pandemic effective immediately and continuing through September 4, 2020, at 11:59 pm.

State of Michigan Budget...Better "Bad" News

August 27, 2020

In May 2020, Michigan was staring at a $3.1 billion budget hole in the FY 2020 budget. After a third Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference on Monday, August 24, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 hole is now estimated at approximately a $936 million loss, based on updated state revenue numbers.

In better news comparatively, the FY 2021 revenue hole is approximately $384 million in the General Fund with a $12.4 million hole in the School Aid Fund. But economists are now projecting that the combined FY 2021 and FY 2022 revenue shortage will create a combined $4.2 billion hole that is unlikely to be fixed without federal support.

Letter to Superintendents

August 27, 2020

MLA has urged members of the Board of the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators to support Michigan’s 1.5 million students by maintaining or increasing certified school librarians in all 894 Michigan school districts. We stand united with the Michigan Association for Media in Education (MAME) in our efforts to refocus attention on this critical and essential resource for our children.