October/November
2004
News and Notes from the Boston Regional Library System, Boston
Public Library
BRLS Services are provided through state funds administered by the MA Board of Library Commissioners.
New Regional Administrator Appointed
We are
pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Colford to the position of
Regional Program Administrator for the Boston Regional Library System. Michael
comes to us from the Saugus Public Library where he has been the Assistant
Director. In that capacity his responsibilities have included library planning
and personnel management, assisting with the planning and implementation of the
annual budget, creating policy statements for presentation to the Board of
Trustees, managing the Collection Development Team, and developing the
Library's public relations program, an endeavor that included creation of an
electronic newsletter and redesign of the Library's website. Michael has also
been involved with various activities involving NMRLS, the Northeast
Massachusetts Regional Library System.
Michael has also worked for NOBLE (North of Boston Library Exchange automated network) and for the Reading Public Library. He has served as co-chairman of the Massachusetts Library Association Conference Committee and as a member of the MLA Strategic Planning Team and Executive Board for the past 3 years. He is also the founder of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, and serves as a member of the Brattle Film Foundation Board of Directors. His experience in membership development, broad-based library management, and the development and implementation of continuing education programs for libraries of all types are important assets he brings to the Boston Region program.
Michael started in the office August 16, 2004. Please join me in welcoming him to the position of Regional Program Administrator for the Boston .
New Administrative Assistant Hired
One of our new Regional
Administrator's first tasks has been working to re-staff the Regional Office.
As many of you are aware, our former Administrative Assistant, Connie Dudgeon,
received a promotion to the Events Coordinator of the Boston Public Library. We
welcome JoAnn Butler-Henry as our new Administrative Assistant. JoAnn comes
from the Mattapan branch of the BPL where she served as Children's Librarian.
She started in the Regional Offices on September 20 and will be helping out
with accounting, the quarterly newsletter, delivery issues, database helpdesk.
and continuing education. In addition we will draw on JoAnn's experience as a
Children's Librarian for the Regional Summer Reading Program planning. JoAnn
will be working 21 hours a week while she goes to school full-time to complete
the Master's Program in Library Science at the University of Rhode Island.
JoAnn will be working on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursday, so please call or
drop by to say hello.
The BRLS Welcomes the Commonwealth School
Commonwealth is a small independent day school for boys and girls in grades 9 through 12. The school offers students from all backgrounds a chance to join in a community of individuals who care about learning. The school was founded almost half a century ago by Charles E. Merrill, Jr.
For more information, click here.
Congratulations to The Boston Arts Academy(BAA)/Fenway High School Library and Boston Symphony Orchestra Education Resource Center!
What the Oscar is
to Hollywood, the Crystal Obelisk is to 166,000 school librarians and their
staff across the country. If the Obelisk isn't as well known as the Oscar, it
may be because school libraries aren't as well promoted (or funded). Yet,
millions of children across the country are impacted by the role their school
library plays in their education.
The National School Library Media Program of the Year Award, with its Crystal Obelisk and $10,000 cash prize, is sponsored by the Follett Library Resources Company and given by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Three Obelisks were presented this year, one to a large school district and two to single schools.
This year, for the first time since the award was instituted in 1963, an Obelisk will go to a Massachusetts site: the Boston Arts Academy(BAA)/Fenway High School Library and Boston Symphony Orchestra Education Resource Center at 174 Ipswich Street, across from Fenway Park in Boston. Follett presented one of the two single school awards to Library Director Katherine Lowe (pictured left) at a special ceremony at 5 p.m. on Monday, September 13 at the school.
The Ipswich Street library/resource center is exemplary, not only in its instructional programs and expert, dedicated staff, but in the schools' commitment to find the resources and form partnerships to keep it strong. The schools hope that this award will draw attention to the importance of public-private collaboration in supporting school libraries across the country. For example, the 174 Ipswich Street library has a third partner, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The BSO Education Department received funding from the U.S. Department of Education to establish an arts resource center for Massachusetts teachers at the same time that BAA was planning to open it's doors. Myran Parker-Brass, BSO Director of Education and Linda Nathan, Director of BAA agreed that to combine the resources of the center with the school library would make a powerful statement about partnerships and would also provide "state of the art" materials for the students and teachers of BAA and Fenway. The BSO continues to build and support the library/resource center whose resources are used by teachers from all Massachusetts communities. This was the beginning of a growing partnership between the BSO, BAA and Fenway High School.
This has been a year of accolades for the library/resource center. In November, Linda Nathan, director of Boston Arts Academy, received the Massachusetts School Library Media Association's Award of Merit as an Administrator Advocate for Excellence in School Library Media Programs. Library staff have also written and received two federal grants this year, a fundraising coup in a lean time for libraries - and for schools. A $5,000 Library Incentive grant enables the library to buy resources for student research and supports the creation of "Research Pathfinders," web pages leading students to resources for school projects. A $2,500 Preservation Survey grant will help the library establish a historical archive, chronicling the development of the two remarkable urban public schools it serves. Both grants are funded through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funds from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
AASL recognized the winners during a ceremony and luncheon on Monday, June 28, at the 2004 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL.
We extend our heartiest congratulations to Kathy Lowe and the Boston Arts Academy(BAA)/Fenway High School Library and Boston Symphony Orchestra Education Resource Center librarians on this wonderful accomplishment.
Robert Pinsky to Speak at Region's Annual Meeting
We are thrilled to
announce that poet-laureate Robert Pinsky will deliver the keynote speech at
the Boston Regional Library System's Annual Meeting. Pinsky served three terms
as Poet Laureate of the United States, from 1997-2000. He continues work on the
Favorite Poem Project, his main undertaking during those years: an audio and
video archive featuring Americans from all walks of life reading aloud a
beloved poem. He is the author of six books of poetry, including Jersey
Rain, published spring of 2000, and The Figured Wheel: New and Collected
Poems 1965-1995, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and received
the 1997 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. He has also published numerous
translations and five books of criticism, most recently Democracy, Culture
and the Voice of Poetry. His landmark translation of The Inferno of
Dante was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Harold Morton
Landon Translation Award. Pinsky is co-editor of Americans' Favorite
Poems and the more recent An Invitation to Poetry, both anthologies
that grew out of the Favorite Poem Project.
Pinsky's latest work published in August 2004 by W. W. Norton & Company, An Invitation to Poetry: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology, gathers 200 poems introduced by readers of various ages from every corner of the country. With the anthology is a DVD featuring 27 of the Favorite Poem Project's celebrated mini-documentaries, in which project participants-at home, work or school-speak briefly about a beloved poem and read it aloud. The DVD opens with an introduction by Robert Pinsky who, while poet laureate, started the project by inviting Americans from all walks of life to write to him about a favorite poem.
Robert Pinsky teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University, and is poetry editor of Slate magazine. Mr. Pinsky will show clips from the DVD, An Invitation to Poetry: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology, and discuss the process of putting this project together.
The Boston Regional Library System will hold its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, November 17, 2004, 2:30 - 5:00 p.m. at the Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity.
photo courtesy of Juliet Van Otteren
Board Elects New Officers
BOSTON-The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners elected new officers on Thursday, July 8, 2004, to serve for FY2005.
Elected Chairman was John E. Arnold of Westborough; elected Vice Chairman was Dr. Em Claire Knowles of Medford, and elected Secretary was Deborah Hill Bornheimer of Duxbury.
"Libraries transform people at every stage of their lives. Programs and services provided by today's libraries provide important contributions to a community's literacy, education, economic development and citizenship. Through the combined efforts of the library community in Massachusetts, libraries offer and share their resources at a remarkably affordable price - typically pennies on the tax dollar. As Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, I look forward to continuing the efforts that have transformed today's public library into a community center - a community center for self-improvement and life-long learning."
Arnold is serving his second term on the Board having been appointed a Commissioner by Governor William Weld in 1994. Commissioner Arnold was a library trustee in Westborough from 1977 to 1992 serving as Treasurer or Chairman through his 15 years of service. Prior to his appointment on the Board, he had worked with the Board as a delegate to the 1991 White House Conference on Library and Information Services and as a member of the State Advisory Council on Libraries. He has degrees in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Brown University.
Commissioner Knowles was first appointed to the Board by Acting-Governor Jane Swift in 2002, and is currently the Assistant Dean at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. She serves on the boards of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Massachusetts Black Librarians' Network, Massachusetts Library Association, New England Library Association, and Reforma-Northeast. She has a BA from the University of California at Davis, a MLS from the University of California at Berkeley, a MPA from California State University in Sacramento, and a DA from Simmons College.
Commissioner Bornheimer was first appointed to the Board by Governor Paul Cellucci in 1998. A long time library supporter, she served as project manager of the Alden Library Project in Duxbury, as the first president of the Duxbury Friends of the Library, Library Trustee, and for 20 years as President of the Duxbury Free Library, Inc. A graduate of Harvard College, she also has her JD from Boston University School of Law. A lawyer and trustee, she is on the board of the Boston Athenaeum and the Americans for Libraries Council, where she chairs the Development Committee.
More information about the Board, click here.
Protect Your Password
By Marlene Sue
Heroux, Reference Information Systems Specialist
Massachusetts Board of
Library Commissioners
Just a gentle reminder that the cookie passwords sent to you by your Regional representative for your library's access to the statewide InfoTrac is CONFIDENTIAL for use on non-IP authenticated public, school and special library computers, as well as school computer classrooms by authorized library staff only. This password is for library staff to set persistent cookies on library and on-campus workstations. It is NOT for public dissemination in any form, whether it be on your Website or in a newsletter. This is also true for barcode numbers for residents to access statewide InfoTrac, Massachusetts newspaper, NetLibrary and other regionally licensed database and should also NOT be posted on your Website OR in a newsletter.
Please remember that your in-library patrons and all Massachusetts residents with public library cards have access to these valuable resources at no charge to your libraries or to the residents who use them. Should you license and pay for other databases, you negotiate access rights for your users and also ensure that you have, in good faith, provided access to only your authorized users. Ours, as well as regional contracts with the vendors limit access to regional member libraries for in-library use, campus-wide access for schools and colleges, and Massachusetts residents for home use. Password information distributed via the web can be located by anyone, anywhere in the world and thus violates the contracts with the vendors. Printed publications are also not acceptable vehicles for publishing barcode numbers or cookie passwords as their distribution can extend to non-authorized users. Violations of these contracts jeopardize your library's access as well as all Massachusetts' libraries access.
Thank you for your cooperation. I would be more than happy to discuss this with you if you have questions regarding this information. For more information, contact Marlene at Email: Marlene.Heroux@state.ma.us; Phone: 617.267.9400, ext. 250 (In-state Toll free: 800-952-7403); FAX: 617-421-9833
Autumn Sabbatical
There will be no continuing education workshops during the fall of 2004. Please check the Region's Continuing Education page in December for complete details and registration information for the next season of workshops.
Library Director / Bacon Free Library
The Bacon Free Library, a small independent library in Natick,
Massachusetts, seeks a Library Director.
Established in 1880 and located in the heart of historic South Natick Center in a park-like setting, the library overlooks the Charles River and is surrounded by recently restored grounds and gardens. The library is a focal point of the community and serves patrons of all ages. The BFL also benefits from an active Friends organization and the Board of Trustees which combine to support the library with their time, energies and other resources.
With the support of part-time staff and volunteers, the Director will be responsible for the daily operations of the library, including collection management, coordinating children's and adult programs, maintaining the budget and financial records, managing library staff, and coordinating with Trustees, Natick town officials, and Natick's Morse Institute Library. The library is also a member of the Minuteman Library System network.
The preferred candidate will have direct library operations experience and possess a MLS from an accredited ALA program. They will have a demonstrated ability to successfully manage the the overall operation and relationships of this small library. The ideal candidate should be energetic, enthusiastic, and be able to act independently and creatively to develop and promote the library's programs and services.
This 3/4 time position falls under the Town of Natick payroll schedule, which includes an attractive benefits program. Starting salary is in the mid-30s. The Bacon Free Library is an equal opportunity employer.
Interested candidates may forward an application letter, resume, and list of references to:
Trustees of the Bacon Free Library
58 Eliot Street
South Natick,
MA 01760
Attention: Director Search Committee
Electronic copies in text, PDF, or Word format may be sent to bflresumes@comcast.net. Applications should be received by Monday, October 24, 2004.
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