SENYLRC Receives Joseph F. Shubert Library Excellence Award 2006

The Southeastern New York Library Resources Council was selected as the recipient of the Joseph F. Shubert Library Excellence Award 2006 for the Council's Hudson River Valley Heritage (www.HRVH.org) service.

Highland, NY (PRWEB) December 14, 2006 -- The Southeastern New York Library Resources Council was selected as the recipient of the Joseph F. Shubert Library Excellence Award 2006 for the Council's Hudson River Valley Heritage (www.HRVH.org) service. The purpose of this award is to recognize the effort of an individual library or library system in the State of New York that has initiated an innovative and/or exemplary program aimed towards enhancing library services for its constituents. This competitive award is sponsored by the New York State Regents Advisory Council on Libraries and EBSCO Information Services, a company that provides services to libraries worldwide. The award is named after the former New York State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries from 1977-1997.

Through HRVH, artifacts and historical documents are made accessible and searchable through the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week for researchers -- academics, history teachers, students and the casual browser. These digitized artifacts and documents are contributed from the collections of libraries and cultural heritage organizations from the region, including museums, historical societies and archives.

The award will be presented to SENYLRC representatives on December 14th, 2006, during a meeting of the HRVH Digital Advisory Committee. Two Regents Advisory Council members, Dr. Karen Patricia Smith, Chair of the 2006 Award Committee and Professor at Queens College, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, and Sam Simon, a retired Public Library Director in the Ramapo Catskill Library System, will present the award, which includes $1,000, generously funded by EBSCO Information Services.

John Shaloiko, Executive Director of SENYLRC, said the following about the award, "Congratulations to all who have made this possible - my staff, members of the Digital Advisory Committee, chairs Ron Patkus (Vassar College) and Helen McLallen (Columbia County Historical Society), the HRVH contributing organizations and the SENYLRC Board of Trustees for their support for this ever-growing new service."

Muriel Verdibello, President of the Board of the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council and Library Director at the Newburgh Free Library: "To me this project demonstrates two impressive elements resulting in a truly collaborative project that benefits the public. First, the participation of small, local organizations to contribute their collections is made possible through Southeastern's organizing and training efforts. And second, the participation of large, well-known academic institutions such as Bard College and Vassar College."

According to Karen P. Smith, Chair of the Shubert Award Committee, SENYLRC has generated a powerful collaborative model that will give users access to a fascinating array of significant materials about the Hudson River Valley.

Hudson River Valley Heritage (HRVH) is a collaborative, digital access initiative between the Southeastern New York Library Resource Council (SENYLRC) and libraries, historical societies, museums and other cultural organizations of the Hudson Valley Region - Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Ulster, Sullivan, Rockland, Orange and Putnam Counties of New York State. At www.HRVH.org, researchers, students, instructors and website voyageurs are granted unlimited online access to the repository of digitized historic materials - photos, postcards, letters, newspapers, diaries, scrapbooks, manuscripts, memorabilia, maps, ephemera, and audio and video clips - about the Hudson Valley Region. The online digital repository is administered and hosted by SENYLRC, one of nine reference and research library resources councils in the state. HRVH funding comes from federal funds, New York State funding for library systems, special grants and annual membership dues. For complete details, visit the website www.HRVH.org or call 845-883-9065.

The Southeastern NY Library Resources Council (SENYLRC), chartered by the NY State Board of Regents in 1967, is one of nine state-funded regional library consortia. SENYLRC's mission is to support its members in the Mid-Hudson Valley in order to enrich their services and
enhance access to information for their users. Located in Highland, NY, SENYLRC targets services to over 70 governing member libraries of all types - college, special, business, hospital, law and large public -- to help them improve their library services to medical, technical, scholarly and professional library users. Through recent initiatives like HRVH, SENYLRC now touches over 500 cultural heritage organizations and public and school libraries and library systems in the region.    Visit SENYLRC at www.senylrc.org.

John Shaloiko, Executive Director, SENYLRC
Tessa Killian, Manager of Technology and Administrative Services, SENYLRC
Southeastern New York Library Resources Council (SENYLRC)
21 S. Elting Corners Rd.
Highland, NY 12528
Phone: 845-883-9065
Fax: 845-883-9483