The Friends of the South End Library will hold their yearly board of directors election on Thursday March 12 at 6:00 PM at the South End Library and you are most cordially invited. FOSEL elects and re-elects board members to its voting board around this time every year. Since we are a membership organization, you, the public that shows up at the Annual Meeting, helps us affirm the slate of proposed candidates that has been vetted by our current board. Since last September, we have aggressively recruited new directors at neighborhood association meetings, via mailings to some 2,500 South End residents, and on our website, as per linked here.

Come to the Annual Meeting and discover the newly improved South End library

The current slate of proposed directors is made up of the following South End residents, each one of whom stated unequivocally that they loved their South End neighborhood, public libraries, and that they wanted to ‘give back’ to their community library what they received from their own since when they were children. They are (alphabetically): Gary Bailey, Lauren Begley, Tracey Bolotnick, Marilyn Davillier, Nancy Downer, Michael Hinchclife, Yvette Jarreau, Marleen Nienhuis, Derek Lessing, Fara Ramjane, Joe Rondinelli, Karen Teller, Jason Sarno, Barbara Sommerfeld, Jennifer Watson. The advisory board includes Bill Coady, Susanna Coit, Kaiti Coffin, Liane Crawford, Sara Divello, Stephen Fox, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Don Haber, Maura Harrington, Michelle Laboy, Reinhold Mahler, Jackie McGrath, Russ O’Haver, Anne Smart, Elizabeth Taylor and Duncan Will. Their bios are posted on our website, linked here.

Because the South End Library is scheduled to be expanded and renovated in the next three to five years, FOSEL has expanded its voting board from seven to fifteen members to more fully represent the neighborhood and the diverse needs for library services. In addition, we have an advisory board for members of the community who have skills and talents to contribute but can’t commit to a voting board position. When the new board of directors is confirmed at the Annual Meeting, they in turn elect four officers, president, vice-president, clerk and treasurer. Officers serve two-year terms. Directors serve one year but can be re-elected several times. It is not unusual for voting-board members to move to the advisory board and vice versa, depending on changed commitments in their personal and professional lives.