It's time again for NCLS Annual Meeting! Join us at the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel in Clayton on Wednesday, October 2, for a continuing education day that's equal parts learning and fun.

After welcome remarks and awards presented by NCLS board and staff, we'll dive right into our keynote address, presented by Jervis Public Library Director and HR professional Lisa Matte. A plated lunch will be served, and attendees will have a chance to meet with other library staff and trustees from around the North Country.

After lunch, we'll bring Lisa Matte back for an interactive quiz show-style workshop using the Kahoot app. Will your team bring home the HR prize?

Registration begins at 9:30am.Come early to contribute to the NCLS Great Giveback service project. Details soon!

Please note: Attending the NCLS Annual Meeting counts as two (2) hours toward the trustee training requirement.

Deadline for registration is Tuesday, September 10.

Keynote address: Your Power to Position the Library as an Employer of Choice

Library workers are being asked to do more than ever before and often for less pay and fewer benefits than they could receive at other local employers.  Because the game has changed, the playbook has to change. The things that worked when those of us nearing retirement were hired do not work today.  The good news is that libraries are resilient learning organizations whose trustees and administrators have the power to re-think the library as a workplace that competes for and lands excellent employees, trustees, advocates, volunteers, and funding partners.

To empower every attendee to generate at least one idea that will work in their library, Keynote Speaker Lisa Matte will share her philosophy and provide concrete examples of things a library could choose to do to shift its view of library employment.

About our speaker

Lisa Matte began her library career as the Librarian for Services to Teens at Jervis Public Library in Rome, was briefly the Assistant Director there, and has been the Director for 18 years. 

She earned her MLS from the University at Albany and her MS HRM (Human Resources Management) from Stony Brook in 2018.  In her life before libraries, she was in fast food management in VT for 6 years and retail bookselling in Albany, NY for 4 years, experiences that she values in their application to libraries.

As a librarian, she was recognized as Forty Under Forty in the Mohawk Valley.  As the Library Director, she has been honored to receive the Mayor's Community Excellence Award, the Rome Branch of the NAACP's Shirley Chisolm Freedom Fund Award, Oneida County's COVID-19 Hero Award, and the NYS Assembly Woman of Distinction designation. In 2022, she was enshrined in Rome NY's Arts Hall of Fame.