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Mayor, Trustees announce Committee to find new BPL President
December 12, 2007

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today joined Jeff Rudman, Chairman of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library (BPL), to announce the formation of a search committee to assist in the search for a new BPL President. The search committee will be co-chaired by James I. Cash, Professor Emeritus of the Harvard Business School and John H. McArthur, former Dean of Harvard Business School.

“Boston’s public library system is one of the oldest in the nation and serves thousands of residents with free books and services,” Mayor Menino said. “Serving Boston’s residents and scholars with the most innovative programs and quality materials is our highest priority. Finding the best possible leader for the Boston Public Library is critical to achieving this mission, and I am thankful that this group of individuals has volunteered their time to this process.”

“The trustees look forward to working with the search committee to find the very best person to lead a very great library,” Jeff Rudman, Chairman of the Trustees, said. The next president of the Boston Public Library will lead a strong organization that includes the central library in Copley Square and 28 neighborhood branches across the city. With an annual operating budget in excess of $36 million, the Boston Public Library provides free access to educational materials and programs for people of all ages, representing the language and cultural diversity of the City of Boston.

The City of Boston is dedicated to providing quality library services to all of its residents and is committed to working closely with all city agencies from Boston Public Schools to the Elderly Commission to ensure quality programs, such as children’s story hours, book clubs and author talks. The new president will shape the future vision of the BPL, from maintaining the research resources at the main Copley branch to ensuring quality services to local communities at the branch libraries.

In addition to co-chairs Cash and McArthur, the committee will include: Trustee Zamawa Arenas, principal of Argus Communications; Jeff Rudman, Chairman of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library; Elissa Cadillic, president of Local #1526 of AFSCME; Michèle Cloonan, Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Library Science at Simmons College; William Kennedy, Nutter, McClellan & Fish, LLP; May Lo, children’s librarian, Copley branch; Carol Mahoney, Director of Neighborhood Services, Boston Public Library; Mary O’Brien, Friends of the Adams Street Library; Ron O’Hanley, Chair of the Boston Public Library Foundation; Marta Pardee-King, Curator of Social Sciences, Research Library; Pamela Seigle, former Boston Public Library Trustee; and Meredith Weenick, Associate Director, Administration and Finance, City of Boston.

The search committee will select a professional search firm to assist in candidate outreach and screening.

For more than 150 years, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America with revolutionary ideas and famous firsts. Established in 1848, the BPL was the first publicly supported municipal library in America, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library and the first to have a children’s room. Today, the BPL boasts 27 neighborhood branches, free Internet access, two unique restaurants, an award-winning website www.bpl.org and an on-line store featuring reproductions of the BPL’s priceless photographs and artwork. Each year, the BPL hosts nearly 5000 programs, answers more than one million reference questions and serves millions of people in its National Historic Landmark McKim Building in Copley Square. All of its programs and exhibits are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning!

Prepared by the Boston Public Library's Communications Office. For more information about news, programs and events at the BPL, call 617-859-2212 or send a message to the Communications Office.