As a genealogy researcher I am sure you would love to be able to utilize the wonderful research material available at the New York State Library in Albany during the weekend. This would make it so much easier for out of state travelers and especially for those local researchers who work full time. Please read the following two items that deal with an effort to have weekend hours at the library and if you see fit, please write a letter, email or fax as requested below. As a presentation to the Regents on this topic is being made on January 8, time is of the utmost importance. If this proposal for weekend hours interest you, send an email or fax before January 8 to have your voice heard. Thanks, Bill McGrath TIGS Project Coordinator Clifton Park, NY Email From Jeanne Keefe - Troy Irish Genealogy Webmaster Hello Everyone: On Friday I received this email from Loretta Ebert, Director, New York State Library and I am asking for your help. Loretta, who was previously my Director of Libraries at RPI, moved on to the NYS Library last summer and before she left Rensselaer I asked her to look into the possibility of keeping the NYS library open for one day over the weekend. Since most of us work 9-5, M-F, we are unable to do any research at our State Library because we can't get there when its open during the week. I also mentioned that many genealogists travel to the Albany-Troy-Schenectady area to do family research and are severely limited by the library's present schedule. Weekend hours, even if only one day, would allow more of us to access the very important resources that are only available at the NYS Library. In September, I met Loretta and she mentioned that she was encountering some resistance to the idea, but felt confident that she would be able to open the library, maybe on Saturdays, at some point late in the Fall. In the following letter you will see that she is asking for some help in convincing the Board of Regents to allow her to open the library on the weekend and has asked for letters (or emails)in support of this move. Please read her letter below and take a few minutes to mail, email or fax a brief letter to Loretta in support of her initiative. I think it is a very important opportunity for genealogists and historians to have their concerns voiced and research needs recognized. This is also a unique opportunity to be involved in a change that has the potential to improve access to these important records and resources, especially for those of us needing to do family research in the New York State Library. For more information about the NYS Research Library's genealogy collections use this link: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/gengen.htm.Thank you all very much, in advance, for taking the time to read this and I hope you can take a few minutes to send Loretta a response by the end of the week. Jeanne Keefe TIGS Webmaster and Visual Resources Librarian Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Architecture Library 100 8th Street, Greene 326 Troy,, NY 12180 tel: 518-276-2727 email: keefej@rpi.edu Email From Director, New York State Library Loretta Ebert Director, New York State Library Cultural Education Center - Rm 10D34 Albany, NY 12230 518-473-1189 LEBERT@mail.nysed.gov Hi Jeanne, Happy New Year! I am preparing a presentation to the Regents in early January (8th) about opening the library on Saturdays. As I recall, you were supportive of this idea. I wonder if you would be willing to send a letter to me advocating extended hours for the library, citing difficulties with the current Monday-Friday 9 to 5 schedule and the lack of access to the "wonderful" resources of the New York State Library. Use whatever perspectives you have: librarian, genealogist, local historian, or all of them! I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you know of others who could provide similar supportive letters, would you ask them to send such to me too, or let me know their names? Thanks so much for your help, I think these kinds of testimonials are most effective with the power structure around here. My contact info: Loretta Ebert Director, New York State Research Library Cultural Education Center Room 10D34 Albany, NY 12230 Email (an email attachment is okay): LEBERT@mail.nysed.gov or FAX: 518-486-6880 Thanks a million! Loretta