Southeastern NY, Library Resources Council, offers ongoing professional development opportunities. These come in the form of in-person classes, workshops, lectures, and webinars. These classes help to enrich our members’ professional experience and can be used to fulfill some requirements needed to maintain public librarian certificates.
Are you looking for information about a past event? Click here for an archive of recent Southeastern events.
Are you looking for similar events? Click here for a calendar of all Empire State Library Network events.
Southeastern welcomes people of all abilities to programs. If ASL interpreter services, captioning or audio description are needed, contact Carolyn Bennett Glauda – carolyn@senylrc.org or leave a message in the notes field to request those services when you register. Please register as soon as you know you will be attending. Requesting accommodations as early as possible is critical. Requests made at least one week in advance will help to ensure availability.
*******************************************
Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Location: Online via Zoom
Facilitator: TBD
This group meets regularly to discuss digital preservation projects, challenges, and successes. All are welcome to join. The topic for this meeting will be announced soon.
Leadership and Management Skills SIG
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026*
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Facilitator: Laura Wolven, Finkelstein Memorial Library
Location: Southeastern NY Library Resources Council
Topic: Leadership and Trauma Recovery
*Inclement weather date: February 5, 2026
In a new iteration of this group, we will talk about working in post-traumatic situations. Whether a traumatic situation was experienced by the collected staff or individually, on the job, or after hours, we can learn ways to adapt our management style to lead. At a time of turmoil and threats to libraries, leadership can feel lonelier than ever. This meeting is an opportunity to share collective experiences and brainstorm about solutions.
This group is for library workers of all library types who handle administrative tasks and are becoming leaders in the field. If you aspire to or are currently working as, a: director, assistant director, manager, program manager, trustee, or serve in a leadership role within a professional organization, this meeting is for you! Topics we will cover in this meeting may include:
- Supervising other staff, volunteers, and/or interns
- Introducing and running programs and services at the library
- Onboarding new employees
- Getting professional development for management skills
- Doing advocacy work on behalf of the library
- Creating and maintaining a budget
- Work/life balance in the light of growing work responsibilities
- Networking with other library workers who may become future colleagues
- Staying committed to social justice issues
- Working within union structures
- Influencing the culture of the library from within
- Deciding when and if to apply for different positions
The nature of the conversation will be based on the interests of the people who attend and may change from meeting to meeting. You can view the notes from previous meetings here.
Title: E-Accessibility, WCAG 2.1, Title II, and Your Library (in NY)
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Stephanie “Cole” Adams, The Law Offices of Stephanie Adams PLLC
Location: Online Via Zoom
A core function of any library is providing access to content, often through web-based platforms. April 26, 2026, and April 26, 2027, are two deadlines for public institutions to ensure web content and mobile apps comply with the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2024 Final Rule on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires all web content and mobile applications provided or made available by public libraries to be accessible to people with disabilities. This involves complying with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, with limited exceptions for certain kinds of content.
But what if your library has or provides access to content that doesn’t comply? This session will review the legal obligations, techniques for meeting the standards, and mitigating legal risk, while focusing on what’s most important: library access for all.
Registrants will be able to submit questions in advance and during the session.
Who Should Attend: This session is for public libraries, library systems, and archives or museums that are part of a government or public educational institution. Private educational institutions, often held to the same ADA standards in New York State, are also encouraged to attend.
All library staff including directors, librarians, trustees, academic officers responsible for libraries, general counsel, equity and inclusion personnel, IT workers, and anyone concerned about accessibility of digital resources are welcome to join us.
Presenter: Stephanie “Cole” Adams, The Law Offices of Stephanie Adams PLLC
Stephanie “Cole” Adams is an attorney who represents libraries, educators, students, and creative professionals. Cole’s law firm, the Law Office of Stephanie Adams, provides the Empire State Library Network’s Ask the Lawyer service. Cole is a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association and the ALA Lawyers for Libraries faculty. She is a former board member of the Freedom to Read Foundation, a graduate of SUNY Buffalo School of Law, and interned at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund during her undergraduate studies at Hampshire College.
Sponsor: This event is made possible by the Empire State Library Network and the WNYLRC Resource Sharing Committee.
Leadership Transitions of Key Employees
Date: Thursday, March 5, 2026
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Online via Zoom
Organizational stability and sustainability rely in part on effectively preparing for and shepherding leadership transitions for key employees, to smoothly fill critical vacancies, develop staff potential, preserve institutional knowledge, and support long-term success.
Join Kathy Parker and Kate Hall, authors of The Public Library Director’s Toolkit and long-time library directors, for a session exploring effective leadership transitions. Parker and Hall will discuss the role of staffing analyses in assessing and planning for vacancies, staff leadership development, and tools and methods for documentation of knowledge, including special considerations for small or rural institutions.
Supervisors and staff from all types of institutions—museums, archives, academic libraries, public libraries, and more—are welcome to join. The session will NOT be recorded, though slides and handouts will be made available to all who register. Ample time will be provided for Q&A. Please email amy@nnyln.org with questions.
About the presenters:
Kate Hall is the Executive Director of the Northbrook Public Library, a Library Journal 5 Star Library located in northern Illinois, after serving as a teen librarian, youth services manager, and director at various Chicagoland libraries for over 20 years. Kate graduated with her MLIS from Dominican University in 2002 and received her MBA from Marylhurst University in 2010. Kate is the recipient of the 2021 Illinois Library Association Librarian of the Year Award and has just launched Illinois Libraries Present, a new statewide joint programming cooperative.
Kathy Parker was the director of the Glenwood-Lynwood (IL) Public Library District from 2002-2018 after serving as Assistant Director at the Harvey (IL) Public Library. She has worked in public and private libraries for over 40 years and co-founded Director’s University, an intensive training program that has trained over 300 new Illinois Public Library Directors.