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| Region members mingle after the annual meeting | The newly renovated Boston Athenaeum was the site for the Boston Regional Library System's annual meeting. |
The Boston Regional Library System's annual meeting was held Tuesday, Nov. 4, at the recently renovated Boston Athenaeum. Stephen Nonack, curator of manuscripts for the Athenaeum, welcomed the group.
Stephen Fulchino, director of the State Library of Massachusetts, described the past year as one in which "a library was fortunate if it was level funded." And he said, "The Boston Region was not fortunate in 2003 and barely fortunate in 2004." As the budget was decreasing, the region's importance was increasing, he said. But the worries continue as he said a $2B deficit is projected in FY05 revenues for the state to provide same services. "Our work is cut out for us again," he said.
Deirdre Brennan, Regional Program Administrator, outlined the Region's annual report for the approximately 30 people in attendance. She said both the Region and the BPL have seen a lot of change in the past year. The Boston Public Library has lost approximately 100 positions in the past year and the Boston Region has lost Kerry Cronin as continuing education coordinator and Phil McNulty as assistant regional program administrator. The Region is in the midst of a temporary doubling of positions as Susan Godlewski is serving as acting assistant regional program administrator. Over the past year, the Region has had to decrease some of its offerings, especially in the area of continuing education classes, while seeing a 59% increase in the number of items transported by its delivery service. The Summer Reading program also continued to thrive as the number of children participating increased 46% over the previous year. After thanking BRLS members for "all the messages and words of support" during the past difficult year, she distributed the FY 2005 plan of service and annual budget, which are precipitated on level-funding.
Robert Maier, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, described the past year as "a little like a Survivor episode, and we managed to stay on the island." The Romney administration had proposed putting the Board under the umbrella of the state Office of Education Office. But "through the efforts of a great many people," the Legislature was persuaded not to do that, he said. He believes such reorganization is not likely to come up again this year. He also said that in the 11th hour in July, administrative vetoes threatened libraries by proposing to eliminate four library accounts, including those that fund the regions. Ultimately, all four were restored, three unanimously. Looking into a "crystal ball" to make predictions for FY05, he said, "Massachusetts' libraries have a great future and are learning how to work with this administration. Kerry Healy has shown signs of being a great supporter of libraries." Looking to FY05, he said, that on a preliminary basis if there were an 8% reduction in programs from the Board of Library Commissioners, part of that would come back on the regions.
He said that the Board of Library Commissioners had planned to adopt a legislative agenda for the coming year calling for no further reductions in state funds for libraries, " if that were to happen we could feel we'd done pretty well." And as for how to achieve that, he said, "Let's stick together. Let's work together. Let's get through this year as best we can, hoping it's the last year of this fiscal crisis."
John Lannon, associate director of the Athenaeum, then described the massive and impressive project that allowed for the renovation and expansion of the building. The goal of the project was "to make things better for our members, better for staff, and, perhaps most importantly, better for our collections."
After a slide show highlighting the renovations, BRLS members were treated to a wine and cheese reception.
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| Deirdre Brennan, Regional Program Administrator, Rob Maier, Director of the Masschusetts Board of Library Commissioners and Ruth Kowal, Director of Operations at the Boston Public Library at the annual meeting. | Past and present Region staff members Garry Wong, Kerry Cronin and Susan Godlewski socialize after the program. |