As we enter the seventh month of the COVID-19 pandemic, library operations adapt and move forward, as discussed at the September 29, 2020 meeting of the BPL Trustees.
At the meeting, BPL President David Leonard announced three new appointments: John Craven, a lawyer with significant labor and human resources experience, has been named Head of HR and Labor Relations; Angela Veizaga, formerly the Assistant Manager of Youth Services for the BPL, has been promoted to a new Director of Strategic Partnerships position; and Lina Raciukaitis will serve as the new Youth Education Specialist. Among Raciukaitis’s first priorities will be establishing a mentoring program on Zoom to assist school kids with remote learning.
Leonard reported that the BPL has done a good job of evolving to operate and stay relevant in the current reality, boasting of 40K new e-card registrations, almost 111K books on hold, and 1.9M items borrowed across digital formats (exceeding borrowing for the entirety of last year even though there was a gap between the March 16th closure of the physical libraries and the June 22nd start of TO GO service).
The BPL is currently offering more than 800 programs online with a full sortable calendar on bpl.org, including programs for kids, teens, adults, and seniors. The Dan Rather Arc of History program alone has hosted over 1,000 people.
BPL President David Leonard
Other available services include recommendation lists curated by librarians, personalized shelf service, book groups, suggestions for purchase, BPL TO GO (books on hold), printing TO GO in 24-72 hours, museum passes TO GO, and computer use at the Copley location (8-10 computers). Other branches may be able to offer computer use with advance reservations as required by Health Department protocols. External WIFI has been expanded at nine branches, including the South End – supported by the BPL Fund. Several new Hot Spots have been added with 75 more to come, and Chrome book lending continues. Leonard reported that one of the biggest challenges now is reaching underserved patrons.
As November draws near, BPL will be highlighting the importance of civic engagement by promoting the Census, offering two locations for early voting, designating several branches as polling places, providing ten ballot-box drop off locations, and offering educational programs about voting and democracy.
BPL is also doubling down on efforts to operate as an antiracist organization. The Trustees have approved a Racial Equity Statement, a copy of which is available at BPL.org/racial-equity. Recruiting, hiring, and collection development processes will all be adjusted to align with the Statement. BPL is also engaging YW Boston for an organizational assessment and staff diversity training.
Leonard outlined the following additional near-term priorities:
Youth Engagement
Workforce Development
Equity work – marketing outreach, digital equity, reaching vulnerable and hard to reach patrons
Capital Improvement – on track, back underway
Fiscal Discipline
Progress on capital projects is moving ahead as well. Construction at the Roxbury branch is complete, and Leonard expects a hybrid opening in late October/early November. Adams and Roslindale are on track for completion in the spring or summer of 2021, Hyde Park will be completed by summer 2021, and the design for Faneuil is complete, with construction set to begin in January 2021.
No major financial issues were uncovered in the BPL’s audit. Significant differences in revenue and spending from prior years are a result of changes in operations related to Covid-19. Special event spending is down, contributions and gifts are up, fees and fines are down, there is more spending on books and less on contractual services. The Audit/Finance Committee discussed including racial equity statements in all contracts going forward.
The largest contributors to the BPL last year were:
BPL Fund $1,019,799
The Associates of the BPL $663,004
City Wide Friends $41,030
FOSEL $43,872
FOSEL’s contribution came from its Capital Campaign, and made possible new furnishings and furniture as part of last fall’s “refresh.”
During the public comments portion of the meeting, David Vieira, President of City Wide Friends, acknowledged the South End, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and Eggleston Square branches as significantly expanding patron support. Viera also acknowledged Marleen Nienhuis for her 14 years as the FOSEL leader and thanked her for her dedicated service to the system.
Viera noted the “elephant in the room” – potentially large holes in the coming city and state budgets, and Leonard assured him that BPL is closely monitoring the situation, has imposed a partial hiring freeze (only essential positions), and has been reaching out to donors. The budget will be addressed in greater depth at the November meeting.
Louisa Stephens, Executive Director of The Associates of the Boston Public Library, announced an exciting fundraiser -- an online auction to be held from 10/16-10/25. Items for sale will include Zoom sessions with famous authors, a signed Downton Abbey script, inscribed books, and the opportunity to be named in the next thriller by Bender. You can check out biditbookit.org for more info.
The new Roxbury Branch is expected to have a hybrid opening later this month.
Paula Cove of MLK Blvd and Jamada Smith expressed disappointment about the decision to name the branch library in Roxbury the “Roxbury Branch” rather than the “Nubian Square Library,” and about the lack of community participation in the decision. BPL trustee Linda Dorcena Forry noted that there had been several community meetings held in Roxbury at which people supported both sides. For the record, she stated that the community process did indeed take place before the vote was taken by the Trustees.
Other announcements
Fine forgiveness will continue until December 2020.
There is a new Art & Architecture virtual booklet celebrating 125 years of the McKim Building, paid for in partnership with Bank of America. It is available electronically at apps.bpl.org/tourbooklet/.
Paula Sakey joined the Boston Public Library Fund as its Executive Director in June of 2020 to continue to broaden and enhance private philanthropy toward helping maintain and expand the Library’s free services.
An executive session followed the public meeting for discussion of the Quincy mayoral request for the John Adams Collection to be returned to Quincy. The Adams Collect is currently held in the BPL Rare Books Collection. Actively used by large numbers of historians and scholars, about 3,000 of the 3,500 volumes in the Collection have been digitized.
Upcoming Board of Trustees Meetings
*All meetings for 2020-21 anticipated to be held virtually via Zoom and may be subject to change.
November 17, 2020, 8:30 a.m , Location TBD
January 12, 2021, 8:30 a.m., Location TBD
March 23, 2021, 8:30 a.m., Location TBD
May 18, 2021, 8:30 a.m., Annual Meeting, Location TBD