Journalist/Author Johnny Diaz Will Read From His Latest, "Take the Lead," Tuesday, October 4, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library

Boston Globe writer and author Johnny Diaz will read from his fourth novel, Take the Lead, tomorrow night, October 4, at 6:30 PM. The Cuban-American media writer for the Boston Globe's Business Section weaves issues facing the latino gay community into the  urban settings he is familiar with, such as Boston or Miami, where he worked for the Miami Herald before moving north. His previous novels include Boston Boys Club (2007), Miami Manhunt (2008) and Beantown Cubans (2009). He currently teaches Journalismat Emerson College. The library is located at 685 Tremont Street, between West Newton Street and Rutland Square Air Blower. The event is free, and sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library as part of its The South End Writes series.

 

Author Lily King Will Read From "Father of the Rain" Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 27 at the South End Library

The Friends of the South End Library are resuming their author's series, The South End Writes, with a reading tomorrow night by author Lily King from her most recent novel, Father of the Rain. Lily King, not a South End resident but with many friends in the neighborhood, grew up in Manchester, MA, and has taught English and Creative Writing at universities here and abroad. Her first novel, The Pleasing Hour, won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a NY Times Notable Book. Her second, The English Teacher, won the Maine Fiction AwardWater Obstacle. Copies of King's novels are available at the SE branch, thanks to head librarian, Anne Smart. The reading starts at 6:30 PM at the South End Library. Refreshments will be available.

BPL's Strategic Plan Is Better Than What Existed Before (No Plan At All) But Does Not --Yet-- Address How to Improve BPL Governance or Establish a Transparent and Fair Library Renovation Process

The Boston Public Library's Trustee committee formed last year to draw up a Long-Term Strategic Plan has come up with a draft proposal it hopes will be adopted by the Library Board in November. It is a major improvement over what existed before, namely, no strategic plan at all. And, as State Rep. Byron Rushing, the BPL Trustee heading the so-called Compass Committee, said during the angry days in 2009 when library closures seemed imminent, "You can't make cuts without a strategic plan." To begin the current turnaround effort, the trustee committee  studied other library systems' strategic plans, including those of the Seattle Public Library, the British Library, and Pina County Library, AZ., among others. Combined with public comments delivered to the BPL via surveys, blogs, BPL staff meetings and related forums, as well as at meetings at Copley Library and the library branches in Boston's hinterlands, the Library Board approved the proposed Principles for Excellence culled from the feedback earlier in the process. This go-around was followed by additional meetings and commentary, in real time and on the web, all of which has now resulted in an impressive, unwieldy but hope-laced Draft Long-Term Strategic Plan. The goal is for it to be ready for approval by BPL trustees at their November 15 public meeting. Additional comments are welcomed until October 7.

As important for what it addresses are the matters the draft plan doesn't mention, for obvious political reasons. These issues, BPL governance and a fair process for system-wide library renovation, would encroach on the prerogatives of Mayor Menino or, for that matter, anyone who will succeed him. Currently, the mayor controls BPL budgets and trust funds, and  appoints all nine trustees. Proposed trustees are not vetted in any public forum by either the city council or another public entity to help ensure they would be the best candidates to protect and advance the interests of the Boston library system and its patrons. In the past, trusts left to the BPL have regularly been used to pay for operational expenses and executive benefits, rather than library enrichment the trusts were intended for. Each time, these actions were approved by the trustees, as were all the proposed cutbacks in BPL budgets, and library closures, including the controversial shuttering of the beloved downtown Kirstein Business Branch Library in 2008. (It's collection was moved to the basement of the Copley Library.)

No requirements relevant to library governance are necessary to become a BPL trustee, nor are there any term limits. The most recent resignation from the Library Board was earlier this month, by Ms. Berthe M. Gaines who had become a trustee 25 years ago, when Boston was a vastly different city and libraries were mostly about silence and books. Ideally, demographic, cultural and technological changes should be reflected within the Library Board to meet the needs of a modern, inclusive public library. For example, in the Minneapolis-Hennepin County system, from where BPL President Amy Ryan came, several seats on the Library Board are reserved specifically for trustees  from the city of Minneapolis: county libraries have different needs and interests than urban libraries. Similarly, in Boston, neighborhood libraries have different needs from Copley, for example, and one neighborhood's requirements for services can be vastly different from another. Academics and researchers, moreover,  wish for other things in their libraries than parents with teenagers or toddlers. A logical way to balance these needs is for those interests to be represented by library board trustees.  Former Trustee Gaines, who was a respected library advocate in the 1980s, had not attended any BPL trustees meetings in the last two years, illustrative of even a basic lack of required attendance requirements for the library's governors.  Thus far, the Boston city councillors have not asserted their muscle to change either the trustee appointment process or library governance.  There are currently two vacancies on the board of trustees.

Eligibility for neighborhood library renovation or expansion is also not part of the proposed draft plan. The current process is a mystery, except perhaps for those who are cynical enough to dare speculate that the road to renovation is highly politicized. A surprising example of this played out in plain view in March 2009 when trustees were asked to vote on a plan to eliminate four libraries, including one in East Boston, a neighborhood close to the heart of Trustee Paul LaCamera. He refused to support it, until a phone call from Mayor Tom Menino to BPL President Amy Ryan during the public vote was revealed to include a mayoral pledge to site a new library in East Boston. LaCamera still voted to abstain but a new East Boston Library is currently "in the design phase," where it wasn't before. Thus, plans for library capital improvements in some neighborhoods become suddenly revealed, while libraries in too many others languish, cramped for space, poorly designed, not ADA accessible, nor otherwise enriched by library specialists or convenient hours for patrons.

Until October 7, you can comment on the proposed plan on the Compass web site.. This is your last chance to offer your suggestions for a better Long-Term Strategic Plan. The blog currently includes a rather pointed commentary by David Vieira, former president of the Citywide Friends of the BPL. A final version of the plan will be voted on by the trustees at their November 15 meeting. All BPL trustee meetings are open to the public and, since Trustee Byron Rushing has joined the trustees, public comment has become a regular agenda item at the board, another sign of the board's rising comfort level with embracing enlightened stewardship and public participation.

Weekly Programs for Children at the South End Library for September, October, November and December 2011

MONDAYS AT TEN AM: Pre-School Films for young children MONDAYS AT ELEVEN AM: Toddler Story Hour with nursery rhymes, song and movement, puzzles and simple crafts

MONDAY - THURSDAY 3:30 - 5:30 PM: Homework Assistance with Boston high school tutors.

FIRST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH, 6 TO 8 PM: Tween/Teen Crafts, to include more sewing

projects

FIRST TUESDAY IN NOVEMBER, 6 TO 8 PM: Community Celebration of Creativity--anyone from 6 to 90 years old can bring something made, played or spoken to share.

EVERY FOURTH TUESDAY, 6:30 TO 8:30 PM: Each One Teach One, from 8 to 80 years old. Bring your handiwork to share. Sept. 27, Oct. 25, November 22nd and Dec. 27th.

WEDNESDAYS AT 10:30 AM: Pre-School Story Hour. Sept/Oct: books about new beginnings, fall and animals. Special Guest Myrna Nunez of Pine Village Pre-School. Sept.14 and 21, with stories in Spanish. November: Tales of giving and appreciation. December: Tales and crafts for winter and holidays.

EVERY THIRD WEDNESDAY, 4-5 PM: LEGO Club. Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 23, Dec. 21.

WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY 1 -3 PM: Play Groups

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 10:30 AM & WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 AT 10:30 AM: Pre-School Music with the Community Music Center of Boston's David Polansky. Sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library.

Whether "Back-in-Town" or "Never-Left-to-Begin-With," the Fall 2011 FOSEL Season Resumes

Hurricanes came and went this summer, and some may visit yet belatedly, but the South End Library is still standing. Its programming, and best of all, Saturday hours from 10 to 2,, have resumed. Just before Labor Day, FOSEL  cleaned up and refurbished the gardens in the tree enclosures around the library. In addition, FOSEL also removed the debris left by Hurricane Irene in Library Park. One of the park's steady visitors, Orlando, spent two days assisting FOSEL bagging the trash and sweeping the pavement in and around the park. Thank you, Orlando. The South End Writes Author's Series, which last year hosted literary luminaries like Sue Miller, Henri Cole, Doug Bauer, film writer Alice Stone, and culinary authors Chris Kimball and Joanne Chang, will start afresh on Tuesday, September 27 at 6:30 PM. Award-winning fiction writer Lily King will read from the just-issued paperback version of her 2010 novel, Father of the Rain, set in a suburb on Boston's North Shore. Her previous novels include The Pleasing Hour (winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award), and The English Teacher (winner of the Maine Fiction Award). Father of the Rain has won the New England Book Award for Fiction and was listed as a New York Times Editor's Choice.

Boston Globe reporter Johnny Diaz will read from his fourth novel, Take the Lead, on Tuesday, October 4, 6:30 PM. Diaz's novels explore the lives of Latino gay men in urban venues such as Boston's South End and Miami, where Diaz was previously a reporter for The Miami Herald. At The Herald, he shared in the 2000 Pulitzer prize for the paper's coverage of the seizure by federal agents of Elian Gonzales, a young boy who had fled Cuba with his mother and her boyfriend, but whose father demanded his return to the island after the mother drowned during the escape. Diaz's earlier novels include Beantown Cubans, Miami Manhunt, and Boston Boys Club. Diaz wrote in an email that Take the Lead was partially inspired by an article he wrote for the Boston Globe about a physical therapy dance class for people who suffer from Parkinson's Disease. In the novel,  the dance class forms the background for the main character's coming to terms with the relationship with his father, who struggles with the illness, and his love affair with the dance instructor..

The BPL's efforts to create a workable Long-Term Strategic Plan will reach an important moment on Thursday, September 15 when the BPL trustees, at their public meeting, will receive a draft of the document outlining the BPL's modernization plan from the so-called Compass Strategic Planning Committee. The meeting will be held at Copley Library at 8:30 AM. The planning committee is chaired by South End's State Representative and BPL Trustee, Byron Rushing. Other members of the committee include BPL Trustees Carol Fulp and Zamawa Arenas, BPL President Amy E. Ryan, Executive Director of  Codman Academy Charter Public School Meg Campbell, Mayor Menino's Special Assistant Alice Hennessey, Mimi Jones of the Friends of Dudley Branch Library, private attorney  Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero and Pamela Seigle, Executive Director, Courage & Renewal Northeast at Wellesley College. The committee met several times during the summer and held a few "roundtables" at branch libraries, regrettably not well advertised through neighborhood associations or similar institutions, and too often held during the summer when many library patrons and supporters are away on vacation or visiting relatives. Nevertheless, the Compass Committee invites everyone to read the draft document and comment by email . FOSEL will report on the document in a later post on this web site.

Also on the BPL Trustee Agenda is the announcement of the resignation of long-time trustee Berthe M. Gaines, creating the second open seat on the nine-member library board. The other vacancy is the result of the retirement earlier this year of author and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll.. A library advocate who in the 1980s fought branch closures, Ms. Gaines had not attended trustee meetings for more than two years or expressed any public opinions about the BPL's recent trials and tribulations. Mayor Menino appoints trustees, but, in contrast with procedures in other library communities, the mayoral nominees have thus far not been asked by the City Council to demonstrate their ability for advocacy on behalf of libraries or library patrons, or their fundraising prowess, in a public forum such as city council hearings. The danger of pro-forma confirmation of library board nominees by the City Council became evident in the last few years when proposed budget cutbacks went unchallenged, BPL foundation fundraising collapsed for lack of inspired leadership and proposed  library closures endorsed by BPL trustees were only averted at the last minute after public outrage made closings politically unpalatable.

Overall South End Library programming will be posted separately, but FOSEL has agreed to sponsor two events for children in September and October. In addition, A FOSEL supporter has purchased a sewing machine for the library's craft program organized by children's librarian Margaret Gardner, who hopes to instruct young tailors and tailorettes in the art of the mechanical needle.

The FOSEL Fundraising Campaign begun earlier this year to collect money to have a handicapped-accessible door installed at the South End Library has not yet reached its goal. The FOSEL board is currently looking into next steps, and will post an update as soon as possible.

Welcome back and stay tuned....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nominate our library to win $1000 tag reading kit

Leapfrog is running a "contest" of sort. The prize is a $1000 LeapFrong reading kit. This is a next generation smart "pen" that will read a book, word by word, from a specially marked books. It's hard to explain but it actually works really well. We have one at home. What they say:

Nominate the south end  library by August 1 and it could win a $1,000 LeapFrog Tag™ Reading Kit! The kits include Tag, "the #1 best-selling reading system that brings interactive books and maps to life.** Tag engages children with favorite characters as it helps them learn to read." (from their website).

What to do:

Email Leapfrog and submit information of the library, send email to: loveyourlibrary@leapfrog.com with your library's name and mailing address. That information is below:

South End Branch Library 685 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118 617-536-8241 Branch Librarian: Anne Smart

Summer 2011 Events for Children at the South End Library

The South End Library has scheduled the following events for children during the summer of 2011. To sign up or make inquiries, call Margaret Gardner, Children's Librarian, at 617 536-8241. Click here for South End Library hours, location and additional information. JUNE:

Short films for young children, Mondays at 10:30 AM

JULY:

Story hour for young children in the  "One World Many Stories" series, Wednesdays 10:30 AM

Share a Story Book Club, children grades 1-3. Read a book, do a craft. Mondays, July 25 through August 22nd, 1-3 PM

Summer Book Club, children grades 3-8. Choose books, do crafts and more. Tuesdays, July 5th through August 23rd, from 1-3 PM

For all readers all summer long: pick up your summer reading books at the library, rad, and earn great rewards for every five books you read.

ADDITIONAL SPECIAL PROGRAMMING:

Garden Art from Recycled Materials with Daisy Cushner. Make mobiles and more from recycled stuff for your garden. Use your own materials or ours. All ages welcome. July 11, at 1:00 PM.

World of Bridges: a special design and build class from the Museum of Science. For children aged 7-10. Each class can accommodate 20 participants. Call the library to register. Monday, July 18, two classes, one at 1 PM, the other at 2 PM.

Special Tour of the South End's Animal Rescue League. For children in grades 1-3. Call the library to register. Meet at the SE Library for the walk to ARL. Wednesday, July 13, at 1 PM.

PJ Story Time in Library Park. For parents and older children. Please bring a book to read aloud or a story to tell. Cookies and juice provided. Tuesday, July 19 at 6:30 PM.

AUGUST:

Spanish in Motion with Jouvette Shortell, Wednesdays in August at 10:30 AM

Special Tour of the South End Animal Rescue League. For children grades 4-7. Call the library to register. Meet at the library at 1 PM on August 3.

Master Story Teller Mark Binder with Great Tales for One World, Many Stories. For children aged 5-10. Monday, August 1 at 11 AM

Read and Run with Personal trainer Michele Craemer. Meet at the library to read with Michele from her new book. Then run to the Butterfly Garden on SW Corridor Park and, finally, do boot camp calisthenics in Titus Sparrow Park. Tuesday August 2 and Thursday August 4 at 1 PM.

Doll. e. Daze, a Show for All Children. Monday, August 15 at 10:20 AM.

More Art with Daisy Cushner. Functional origami using recycled stuff. For everyone who shows up. Tuesday, August 16, at 1 PM.

End of Summer Reading Party in Library Park. For everyone. August 16, at 6:30 PM.

America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated's Chris Kimball Will Talk About Food Writing at the South End Library on June 7, 6:30 PM

Smug Little Devil

Chris Kimball

Longtime South End resident and culinary-publishing star  Christopher Kimball (America's Test Kitchen) will talk about his personal essays in the bi-monthly Cook's Illustrated this Tuesday at the South End Library at 6:30 PM. And, yes, refreshments will be served: how could we not? For this event, Kimball will bring copies of his recent book, Fannie's Last Supper, a tale of the author's recreation of a 12-course Christmas dinner  given at the end of the 19th Century in the South End  by Fannie Farmer, who wrote The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. The entire meal was prepared on a wood-burning stove at Kimball's home located near where Ms. Farmer used to live.

Kimball's extraordinarily successful career in food-publishing (The Best Recipe, Grilling and Barbecue, American Classics, Restaurant Favorites at Home, among other cookbooks) has defied general wisdom numerous times since its inception in 1980. Cook's Illustrated lacks the sumptuous photography mandatorily prevalent in food publishing, but offers instead fine line drawings and watercolors of seasonal vegetables, fruits, cheeses, culinary implements and, yes, even its authors. And in an era when print publishing has seen its worst circulation numbers, Cook's Illustrated's subscriber base exploded. What can his secret be?

Perhaps in an era of  formulaic publishing formats, the incongruous and unexpected brings the triumphs. Thus the personal essays Kimball pens for each bi-monthly Cook's Illustrated may seem out of place in a magazine devoted to the dreary task of testing recipes and canned-food products, but the cast of characters that has populated the columns for decades enlivens and anchors this publication's unique approach to food and life. There's Charley Bentley, the farmer who doesn't talk much but whose raised eyebrow will tell you all you need to know; and John Kurasinski, the gruff neighbor who likes to do favors but has trouble accepting them because he doesn't want to be in anyone's debt; and there we have Herbie and Onie, the two local farmhands with whom Kimball weathered the many complications of farming.

For Kimball, all roads seem to lead back to Vermont, where he grew up and owns a farm: even in a 2001 essay, recalling his 1969 trip with high-school friends across the Sahara desert to Agadez (Niger), he wonders, three decades later, after dropping off his kids at the local country store to buy candy, whether the journey and the destination are the same thing.

Kimball's visit will close the first season of FOSEL-sponsored The South End Writes author's series. It will resume in September.

Food Writers Joanne Chang and Chris Kimball on June 2 and June 7, Respectively

Joanne Chang

Joanne Chang

Smug Little Devil

Smug Little Devil

South End culinary lights Joanne Chang (Myers+Chang, Flour) and Christopher Kimball (Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Bible) will come to the South End Library to talk about their work (culinary and authory) on Thursday, June 2 and Tuesday, June 7, respectively. Both events start at 6:30 PM and will offer refreshments (how could we not?). Their books will be available at the event. Stay tuned for more information closer to the date.  

Flour Bakery's Joanne Chang Will Talk About Writing the Flour Cookbook, Thursday, June 2, at 6:30 PM at the South End Branch.

Joanne Chang

Joanne Chang

The South End's doyenne of daily delicacies, Flour Bakery's owner and baked-goods visionary Joanne Chang, will speak at the South End Library on Thursday as part of The South End Writes series. Joanne will talk about what was involved in writing the cookbook,Flour: A Baker's Collection of Spectacular Recipes, and answer any questions you might have about the writing process , her recipes, and what she would like to get into print next. Joanne will bring copies of the book, and sign them. Next week Tuesday, June 7, another South End culinary star, Christopher Kimball, of Cook's IllustratedandAmerica's Test Kitchen, will close The South End Writes author's series for the summer season. FOSEL is currently working on inviting others writers for the 2011/2012 literary year. Stay tuned..

Tonight's the Night of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Friends of the South End Library: 6:30 PM.

The Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) will hold their Annual Meeting tonight at the South End branch at 6:30 PM. The board will give updates on programs past and future, fundraising efforts, and initial efforts underway by FOSEL, the Rutland Square Association RSA) and the Parks Department to redesign Library Park. The RSA is the official Parks Partner for Library Park. Its board and volunteers, as well as FOSEL's board and volunteers, have cleaned, trimmed, planted, swept and generally fussed over the park for decades. FOSEL intends is to create a strong community outreach and participation program for the park's future.

The fundraising campaign, the first community-wide outreach by FOSEL, has for its main goal the installation of a handicapped-accessible door to the South End library. The branch already features an elevator that can accommodate wheelchairs and strollers to access the second floor community room, but getting into the building from the street still requires a major effort by the less abled. Over the years, FOSEL has made many requests for an automatic door but for a number of reasons those requests have not met with desired results. By raising the funds privately, we expect the City will do all it can to partner with FOSEL to get the door in place quickly.

Bring your questions and suggestions.

As always, FOSEL will offer refreshments.

South End Library to Be the Site of a Hubway Bikeshare Docking Station

Starting after July 4, the Newton and Tremont Street sides of the South End Library will have a bike-sharing docking station as part of the city of Boston's Bikeshare program. The library's location is clearly seen as a community hub/stop for the South End. The Boston system is called Hubway Bikeshare. It will start sometime in July with 600 bikes. Cambridge and Somerville are likely to start similar programs. Read more about it at Boston Biker and Mass Bike.  

Sign of a Better Season: Saturday's South End Library Book Sale Was NOT Rained Out...

The South End Library's Book Sale was bravely held at adjacent Library Park and....the gods of weather blessed it by not raining it out. A steady stream of pedestrians with newly-found pre-owned books in hand traversed the streets leading to and from the library's sale, a sign that some happiness was achieved by the annual give-and-take of non-digital treasures priced at as little as 50 cents and one dollar. Thanks to the outstanding library staff who organized it, that is, Anne Smart, George Bernhardt-Miller and Margaret Gardner, and thanks to the many volunteers who showed up. And thanks to Chris Treacy of South End Patch, who wrote a nice article about the book sale in Friday's edition.

South End Library's Friends Looking for Your Financial Help to Fund Handicapped-Accessible Entry to the Branch--Please Donate

Preparing Envelopes

We are at the last stage of a massive mailing campaign -- envelopes are stuffed, address labels have been applied, postage stamps affixed. It was both easier and harder then we thought. My thumb is tired from, of all things, peeling labels and stamps off their sheets. Our return address stamp is not easily applied but when it is, looks great. Hope you have received one of these  (see photo) in your mailbox.  Make a donation by using our return envelope or clicking on the DONATE icon if you want to use PayPal.

Thanks.

Return Address Stamp

Meg Muckenhaupt On Boston's Green Spaces and Their Changing Use From 1600s to Contemporary Times

May 17th, 2011

When Meg Muckenhaupt comes to the South End Library next Tuesday, she will examine the role of public spaces throughout Boston's historic and contemporary landscape and talk about the changing roles of green space in the Boston area since the 1600s. The author of Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces was born in New Jersey and graduated from Harvard. She has written for the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix. She currently edits the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter and lives in Lexington, MA. Copies of her book will be available at the reading. A light reception will follow the talk.

As James Carroll Leaves the Library's Board, City Councillors Have the Chance to Influence the Mayor's Next Nomination...But Will They?

BPL trustee and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll has resigned from the Library's Board after eleven years. The announcement was made this week at the BPL's Annual Meeting at Copley Library. Carroll's resignation opens the door for Boston city councillors to initiate a public vetting process of new BPL trustees. Currently, Boston's mayor nominates each new member, the city council issues a pro-forma approval without public input, and a new trustee appears at the next BPL public meeting. Based on past performance, the newcomer makes no statement about his or her intentions for the public library post, nor is information about  his or her background made available that would explain suitability for the board that governs the BPL and its more than $50 million in trust funds. As last year's fight over library closures showed, votes by trustees can make a difference in how a library is governed.

A trustee devoted to the idea of libraries, books and their safe-keeping for future generations, Carroll had the misfortune in his most recent years as a library board member to find himself in an environment that did not seem conducive to his goals. Mayor Menino, who had appointed him, had usurped the BPL's autonomy and consolidated control over  every aspect of BPL's governance, including the library's trust funds and foundation. Fellow trustees seemed asleep at the wheel while library budgets were cut brutally. The July 2008 Neighborhood Services Task Force Report that Carroll produced over several years, suggesting ways to take the BPL into the 21st Century, sat idly on a shelf and was not made electronically available until FOSEL asked for its web publication many months later. (The report has since become the basis for the current long-term strategic planning process headed by trustee Byron Rushing, under the new "Compass for Excellence" label.)

An author who twice won National Book Awards, Carroll advocated time and again at trustee meetings for funds to preserve and catalogue the BPL's treasures. Each time, he was politely but firmly swatted down by  chair Jeffrey Rudman, who first and foremost is the mayor's man on the trustee board, and inclined to say, "we can't afford it." The BPL Foundation, moreover, until recently had a dedicated but inexperienced volunteer in charge of fundraising, with the predictable results that donations barely paid for the expenses and salaries of the -minimal- Foundation staff. An unfortunate trustee vote to approve an executive  housing allowance for the BPL president out of the Foundation's account further tarnished its image. At the same time, advocacy for library funding at the State Legislature and the Congressional level had mysteriously ceased.

When in March 2008 Menino proposed unilaterally to close the Kirstein Business Library in the financial center, Carroll, a one-time priest not given to loud oratory, protested vigorously and made a point of having his comments about the lack of public process inserted in the trustees' minutes. He was joined by trustee Donna DePrisco. In a subsequent, private, conversation Carroll called the Kirstein closing " a terrible decision." But Menino prevailed, and moved the Kirstein collection and its more than $7 million Thomas Drey trust fund to Copley Library, where it is now helping to  pay for operational expenses (off-setting municipal contributions to the BPL). The elimination of the Kirstein Business Branch turned out to be the first salvo in a much larger plan by the mayor to close up to a third of the branches. Ironically, Carroll had convinced himself by that time that closing some branches would strengthen the remaining ones, probably since no money seemed to be coming from anywhere else. But library users wanted none of it. The proposed closures ignited a severe public backlash.

Since Menino appointed one of his most vocal critics, long-time library advocate and  State Rep. Byron Rushing to an open seat on the  library board,  its slumberous trustees, awakened by the inconvenient noise of outraged library supporters, have taken to the betterment of the BPL with an enthusiasm and steady commitment that would have been hard to predict as little as a year ago. Trustee Paul LaCamera, for example, has secured a seasoned fundraiser at the BPL Foundation, David McKay, who reportedly raised $50 million for Berklee College. And come again have the days when the BPL is advocating for funds at the State Legislature, likely under careful tutelage of Rep. Rushing. Even the proceeds of the future sale of the now-vacant Kirstein Library building downtown will be used for "charitable library purposes," according to chair Rudman. Previously, the sale of all BPL real property reverted to the city's General Fund, further draining the public library's assets to benefit non-library muncipal departments.

Filling James Carroll's seat with a nominee who is a true advocate for the BPL's autonomous interests matters because any of the recent improvements in BPL governance can be easily reversed or weakened. At the moment, there are no term limits on the nine-member board. Qualifications or attendance requirements for library board trustees are not  published. One of the seats is held by Berthe M. Gaines, who has a history of strong library advocacy. However, she has not been seen at trustee meetings for years. Similarly, conflicts of interest among some trustees and their private business interests have been raised in the past by Boston Globe reporter Donovan Slack in 2008, and should be addressed.

Confirming the next BPL trustee is the city council's first opportunity to influence BPL's board of trustees. Will the councillors rise to the occasion? If you let them know you want them to, they may do just that. Here's the contact info...

South End Library's Staff Needs Volunteers for its Book Sale, Saturday, May 21, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

The South End Library staff is holding its annual book sale in Library Park on Saturday, May 21, but needs volunteers to help make their revenue dreams come true. Carrying tables, putting out the (already sorted) books from their boxes, keeping track of the cash, and helping the book lovers find their favorites are among the tasks. Hardcovers will go for $1 and paperbacks for 50 cents. No surcharge for gas..just kidding. Come and enjoy, a book is your best friend: you can take it anywhere and it will not complain.