BRLS Annual Meeting 2004


November 17, 2004
Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity
2:30pm-4:30pm
 
Garry Wong greets new arrivals Librarians listen to Advisory Council Chair
Mickey Zemon's opening remarks.
Business Meeting Agenda
  1. Tour of the Mary Baker Eddy Library
  2. Welcome & Introductions -- Mickey Zemon, Director, Emerson College Library (Chair, Regional Advisory Council, 2004)
  3. Report of the Boston Regional Library System -- Michael R. Colford, Regional Program Administrator
  4. Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Legislative Agenda -- Dianne Carty, Head, State Aid and Data Coordinator, MBLC
  5. Introduction of Keynote Speaker -- Deborah Hill Bornheimer, Commissioner
  6. An Invitation to Poetry -- Robert Pinsky
  7. Reception
Links to Handouts and Materials from the Meeting

Regional Program Information and Handouts
FY 2006 Plan of Service
FY 2004 Annual Budget Submission
Report from the Regional Administrator
Nearly sixty people were on hand for the Boston Region's Annual Meeting at the Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity on November 17 We thank everyone who took time from their hectic schedules to come and spend the afternoon with fellow members.

Susan Klein, Library Director, made the arrangements as our host for this event, which was held in the library's state-of-the-art Conference Center.

Members of the Region were welcomed by our serving Advisory Council Chair, Mickey Zemon Director of the Emerson College Library, who also presented the slate of Councilmembers for 2005. Regional Administrator, Michael R. Colford, presented the 2006 Plan of Service and Proposed Budget for fiscal year 2006, as well as reporting on the Regional Office's activities in the past year. Dianne Carty, Head of State Aid and Data Coordinator for the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners updated members of Board activities and the Legislative Agenda for 2005.
Commissioner Deborah Hill Bornheimer introduces the meeting's keynote speaker Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, addresses the meeting.
Robert Pinsky: An Invitation to Poetry
After the business portion of the meeting was concluded, we were treated to the keynote address from the country's past Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky. Mr. Pinsky discussed the importance of poetry and how libraries foster community before reading and showing videos from his latest work, An Invitation to Poetry. Powerful videos showed people from all ages and various walks of life reading their favorite poem.

Robert 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. He teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University, and is poetry editor of Slate magazine.
 
Mr. Pinsky muses on the cataloging possibilities of his new book and DVD package.
Robert Pinsky reads a selection from his book. Regional Administrator, Michael R. Colford poses with Robert Pinsky after the meeting.
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