Food Writers Joanne Chang and Chris Kimball on June 2 and June 7, Respectively
Joanne Chang
Smug Little Devil
South End culinary lights Joanne Chang (Myers+Chang, Flour) and Christopher Kimball (Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Bible) will come to the South End Library to talk about their work (culinary and authory) on Thursday, June 2 and Tuesday, June 7, respectively. Both events start at 6:30 PM and will offer refreshments (how could we not?). Their books will be available at the event. Stay tuned for more information closer to the date.
Flour Bakery's Joanne Chang Will Talk About Writing the Flour Cookbook, Thursday, June 2, at 6:30 PM at the South End Branch.
Joanne Chang
The South End's doyenne of daily delicacies, Flour Bakery's owner and baked-goods visionary Joanne Chang, will speak at the South End Library on Thursday as part of The South End Writes series. Joanne will talk about what was involved in writing the cookbook,Flour: A Baker's Collection of Spectacular Recipes, and answer any questions you might have about the writing process , her recipes, and what she would like to get into print next. Joanne will bring copies of the book, and sign them. Next week Tuesday, June 7, another South End culinary star, Christopher Kimball, of Cook's IllustratedandAmerica's Test Kitchen, will close The South End Writes author's series for the summer season. FOSEL is currently working on inviting others writers for the 2011/2012 literary year. Stay tuned..
Tonight's the Night of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Friends of the South End Library: 6:30 PM.
The Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) will hold their Annual Meeting tonight at the South End branch at 6:30 PM. The board will give updates on programs past and future, fundraising efforts, and initial efforts underway by FOSEL, the Rutland Square Association RSA) and the Parks Department to redesign Library Park. The RSA is the official Parks Partner for Library Park. Its board and volunteers, as well as FOSEL's board and volunteers, have cleaned, trimmed, planted, swept and generally fussed over the park for decades. FOSEL intends is to create a strong community outreach and participation program for the park's future.
The fundraising campaign, the first community-wide outreach by FOSEL, has for its main goal the installation of a handicapped-accessible door to the South End library. The branch already features an elevator that can accommodate wheelchairs and strollers to access the second floor community room, but getting into the building from the street still requires a major effort by the less abled. Over the years, FOSEL has made many requests for an automatic door but for a number of reasons those requests have not met with desired results. By raising the funds privately, we expect the City will do all it can to partner with FOSEL to get the door in place quickly.
Bring your questions and suggestions.
As always, FOSEL will offer refreshments.
South End Library to Be the Site of a Hubway Bikeshare Docking Station
Starting after July 4, the Newton and Tremont Street sides of the South End Library will have a bike-sharing docking station as part of the city of Boston's Bikeshare program. The library's location is clearly seen as a community hub/stop for the South End. The Boston system is called Hubway Bikeshare. It will start sometime in July with 600 bikes. Cambridge and Somerville are likely to start similar programs. Read more about it at Boston Biker and Mass Bike.
Sign of a Better Season: Saturday's South End Library Book Sale Was NOT Rained Out...
The South End Library's Book Sale was bravely held at adjacent Library Park and....the gods of weather blessed it by not raining it out. A steady stream of pedestrians with newly-found pre-owned books in hand traversed the streets leading to and from the library's sale, a sign that some happiness was achieved by the annual give-and-take of non-digital treasures priced at as little as 50 cents and one dollar. Thanks to the outstanding library staff who organized it, that is, Anne Smart, George Bernhardt-Miller and Margaret Gardner, and thanks to the many volunteers who showed up. And thanks to Chris Treacy of South End Patch, who wrote a nice article about the book sale in Friday's edition.
South End Library's Friends Looking for Your Financial Help to Fund Handicapped-Accessible Entry to the Branch--Please Donate
Preparing Envelopes
We are at the last stage of a massive mailing campaign -- envelopes are stuffed, address labels have been applied, postage stamps affixed. It was both easier and harder then we thought. My thumb is tired from, of all things, peeling labels and stamps off their sheets. Our return address stamp is not easily applied but when it is, looks great. Hope you have received one of these (see photo) in your mailbox. Make a donation by using our return envelope or clicking on the DONATE icon if you want to use PayPal.
Thanks.
Return Address Stamp
South End Library's Annual Book Sale This Saturday, May 21, 10 AM to 2 PM
The South End Library is holding its Annual Book Sale this Saturday, May 21, from 10 AM to 2 PM. Please come and discover literary, culinary and art treasures. Hard covers $1. Paperbacks copies 50 cents. All proceeds benefit the library and its programs. Volunteers welcome. See you there...
Meg Muckenhaupt On Boston's Green Spaces and Their Changing Use From 1600s to Contemporary Times
When Meg Muckenhaupt comes to the South End Library next Tuesday, she will examine the role of public spaces throughout Boston's historic and contemporary landscape and talk about the changing roles of green space in the Boston area since the 1600s. The author of Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces was born in New Jersey and graduated from Harvard. She has written for the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix. She currently edits the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter and lives in Lexington, MA. Copies of her book will be available at the reading. A light reception will follow the talk.
As James Carroll Leaves the Library's Board, City Councillors Have the Chance to Influence the Mayor's Next Nomination...But Will They?
BPL trustee and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll has resigned from the Library's Board after eleven years. The announcement was made this week at the BPL's Annual Meeting at Copley Library. Carroll's resignation opens the door for Boston city councillors to initiate a public vetting process of new BPL trustees. Currently, Boston's mayor nominates each new member, the city council issues a pro-forma approval without public input, and a new trustee appears at the next BPL public meeting. Based on past performance, the newcomer makes no statement about his or her intentions for the public library post, nor is information about his or her background made available that would explain suitability for the board that governs the BPL and its more than $50 million in trust funds. As last year's fight over library closures showed, votes by trustees can make a difference in how a library is governed.
A trustee devoted to the idea of libraries, books and their safe-keeping for future generations, Carroll had the misfortune in his most recent years as a library board member to find himself in an environment that did not seem conducive to his goals. Mayor Menino, who had appointed him, had usurped the BPL's autonomy and consolidated control over every aspect of BPL's governance, including the library's trust funds and foundation. Fellow trustees seemed asleep at the wheel while library budgets were cut brutally. The July 2008 Neighborhood Services Task Force Report that Carroll produced over several years, suggesting ways to take the BPL into the 21st Century, sat idly on a shelf and was not made electronically available until FOSEL asked for its web publication many months later. (The report has since become the basis for the current long-term strategic planning process headed by trustee Byron Rushing, under the new "Compass for Excellence" label.)
An author who twice won National Book Awards, Carroll advocated time and again at trustee meetings for funds to preserve and catalogue the BPL's treasures. Each time, he was politely but firmly swatted down by chair Jeffrey Rudman, who first and foremost is the mayor's man on the trustee board, and inclined to say, "we can't afford it." The BPL Foundation, moreover, until recently had a dedicated but inexperienced volunteer in charge of fundraising, with the predictable results that donations barely paid for the expenses and salaries of the -minimal- Foundation staff. An unfortunate trustee vote to approve an executive housing allowance for the BPL president out of the Foundation's account further tarnished its image. At the same time, advocacy for library funding at the State Legislature and the Congressional level had mysteriously ceased.
When in March 2008 Menino proposed unilaterally to close the Kirstein Business Library in the financial center, Carroll, a one-time priest not given to loud oratory, protested vigorously and made a point of having his comments about the lack of public process inserted in the trustees' minutes. He was joined by trustee Donna DePrisco. In a subsequent, private, conversation Carroll called the Kirstein closing " a terrible decision." But Menino prevailed, and moved the Kirstein collection and its more than $7 million Thomas Drey trust fund to Copley Library, where it is now helping to pay for operational expenses (off-setting municipal contributions to the BPL). The elimination of the Kirstein Business Branch turned out to be the first salvo in a much larger plan by the mayor to close up to a third of the branches. Ironically, Carroll had convinced himself by that time that closing some branches would strengthen the remaining ones, probably since no money seemed to be coming from anywhere else. But library users wanted none of it. The proposed closures ignited a severe public backlash.
Since Menino appointed one of his most vocal critics, long-time library advocate and State Rep. Byron Rushing to an open seat on the library board, its slumberous trustees, awakened by the inconvenient noise of outraged library supporters, have taken to the betterment of the BPL with an enthusiasm and steady commitment that would have been hard to predict as little as a year ago. Trustee Paul LaCamera, for example, has secured a seasoned fundraiser at the BPL Foundation, David McKay, who reportedly raised $50 million for Berklee College. And come again have the days when the BPL is advocating for funds at the State Legislature, likely under careful tutelage of Rep. Rushing. Even the proceeds of the future sale of the now-vacant Kirstein Library building downtown will be used for "charitable library purposes," according to chair Rudman. Previously, the sale of all BPL real property reverted to the city's General Fund, further draining the public library's assets to benefit non-library muncipal departments.
Filling James Carroll's seat with a nominee who is a true advocate for the BPL's autonomous interests matters because any of the recent improvements in BPL governance can be easily reversed or weakened. At the moment, there are no term limits on the nine-member board. Qualifications or attendance requirements for library board trustees are not published. One of the seats is held by Berthe M. Gaines, who has a history of strong library advocacy. However, she has not been seen at trustee meetings for years. Similarly, conflicts of interest among some trustees and their private business interests have been raised in the past by Boston Globe reporter Donovan Slack in 2008, and should be addressed.
Confirming the next BPL trustee is the city council's first opportunity to influence BPL's board of trustees. Will the councillors rise to the occasion? If you let them know you want them to, they may do just that. Here's the contact info...
South End Library's Staff Needs Volunteers for its Book Sale, Saturday, May 21, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
The South End Library staff is holding its annual book sale in Library Park on Saturday, May 21, but needs volunteers to help make their revenue dreams come true. Carrying tables, putting out the (already sorted) books from their boxes, keeping track of the cash, and helping the book lovers find their favorites are among the tasks. Hardcovers will go for $1 and paperbacks for 50 cents. No surcharge for gas..just kidding. Come and enjoy, a book is your best friend: you can take it anywhere and it will not complain.
Author of "Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces" to Speak at the South End Library on Tuesday, May 17, 6:30 PM
When Meg Muckenhaupt comes to the South End Library next Tuesday, she will examine the role of public spaces throughout Boston's historic and contemporary landscape and talk about the changing roles of green space in the Boston area since the 1600s. The author of Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces was born in New Jersey and graduated from Harvard. She has written for the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix. She currently edits the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter and lives in Lexington, MA. Copies of her book will be available at the reading. A light reception will follow the talk.
Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) Will Hold Its Annual Meeting at the South End Branch on Tuesday, May 31, 6:30 PM
Glyn Polson, president of the Friends of the South End Library, will chair the Annual Meeting at the South End Library on May 31. The agenda includes updates on fundraising, events, library news, developments at the BPL, and a possible redesign of Library Park starting next year. All are invited.
On an Upward Swing, Library Board Trustees Meet for Strategic Planning Session and Hire a New (and Experienced) Director for its Foundation
The upward swing at the Boston Public Library is continuing apace with the recent hiring of David McKay, an experienced fundraiser to head the anemic Boston Public Library Foundation, and the brainstorming at the committee level of a group of trustees and library luminaries about how to make the BPL "better than anyone," as trustee Carol Folpe put it. "Let's stretch ourselves, reach for the stars," she said. McKay, who is scheduled to meet with library Friends groups next month for a Q and A, has most recently built a development program at Berklee College that raised $50 million for a capital campaign. Previously, McKay served in development and alumni affairs positions at Trinity College of Vermont, Medical College of Georgia, Norwich University, and Vanderbilt University.
At the April 13 Compass strategic planning committee meeting, trustees and other members looked at several other library systems' long-range plans, including the British Library's and Seattle's. Trustee Zamawa Arenas liked the way the British Library saw fostering economic growth and development as an appropriate library function. BPL president Amy Ryan brought up visual presentation of library services as an important feature, especially as illiteracy in Boston may be as high as 23 percent. Bridging the digital divide, creating "green" libraries, weaving the BPL's history into its technology, developing sustainable partnerships and forging a user-centered institution crowded the wish list, as did innovation and intensive use of social media.
Members of the committee, chaired by Representative Byron Rushing, include:
- Rep. Byron Rushing, Boston Public Library Board of Trustees
- Carol Fulp, Boston Public Library Board of Trustees
- Zamawa Arenas, Boston Public Library Board of Trustees
- Amy E. Ryan, President, Boston Public Library
- Meg Campbell, Executive Director, Codman Academy Charter Public School
- Alice Hennessey, Special Assistant to Mayor Thomas M. Menino, City of Boston
- Mimi Jones, Friends of Dudley Branch Library
- Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero, Esq., Associate, Nixon Peabody LLP
- Pamela Seigle, Former Trustee, Boston Public Library; Executive Director, Courage & Renewal Northeast at Wellesley College
The goal is for the committee to present a final plan to the trustees by the end of the year. Between then and now, the public will be apprised of progress and invited to comment on the plan's details. The next such roundtable will be Thursday, May 5, at the West Roxbury Branch, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm. The next strategic planning committee session will be held at Copley Library in mid-June.
There will be a second set of Compass roundtables during the summer. Visitwww.bpl.org/compass for additional details or send comments via email tocompass@bpl.org.
A China Memoir: Susan Conley Will Read from her Book, "The Foremost Good Fortune" at the SE Library Tuesday, April 26, at 6:30 PM
The South End Writes program will host Susan Conley on Tuesday night, April 26 at the South End Library where she will read from her China memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune, which describes the years she spent there recently with her husband and two young sons. She was diagnosed with breast cancer while in Beijing: the experience of battling the disease in a culture so different from ours is a focus of the book. Conley, a former South End resident, is currently living in Portland, Maine, where she founded a creative-writing lab, The Telling Room. She has been published in the New York Times, the Paris Review and Ploughshares.
Fourth Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Library Park Sunday, April 24, 11 AM - 1 PM
The Easter Bunny's suit has been delivered to Easter Egg Hunt headquarters in the South End. The eggs are being filled with candy, poems, riddles and knock-knock jokes. The Easter baskets have been pulled from the closet. The Parks Department has its brooms ready to clean Library Park. Area D4 Police will assist street crossing, so all is about ready for the Fourth Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Library Park. As always, there will be a separate safe area for the littlest egg-hunters. Be there at 11:00 sharp on Sunday, April 24. See you there.....
Easter Egg Hunt at the Library Park
Families, please join us at the Library Park at 11 am this Sunday the 24th for a Easter Egg Hunt! Light refreshment will be available. This is always a bit hit with children. We do expect the Easter Bunny will make an appearance.
Boston Public Library Foundation Gets New Leader
April 6, 2011
David McKay Named Executive Director of Boston Public Library Foundation
Experienced leader will advance the Foundation’s strategy
BOSTON – April 6, 2011 – The Boston Public Library and Boston Public Library Foundation today jointly announced the selection of David M. McKay as executive director of the Boston Public Library Foundation, effective May 4, 2011.
McKay has an impressive 30-year record of leading successful development programs for colleges and universities. He currently serves as vice president for institutional advancement at the Berklee College of Music, where he has worked for the past 12 years. At Berklee, McKay served on the President's Council and Cabinet, and built a development program from one that raised just under $1 million annually into one that culminated in a successful $50 million campaign. He chaired task forces on college-wide and alumni strategic initiatives, and was also responsible for alumni affairs, the alumni magazine, and giving websites. Previously, McKay served in development and alumni affairs positions at Trinity College of Vermont, Medical College of Georgia, Norwich University, and Vanderbilt University.
“In the 21st century, libraries have never been more important,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “The Boston Public Library is both a world-renowned center of learning and a vital element of the neighborhoods of Boston. David is well qualified to lead the Boston Public Library Foundation and truly propel the advancement of the BPL."
“David has the credentials, experience, and leadership skills to advance the Foundation’s mission to support the Boston Public Library,” said Ronald P. O’Hanley, chairman of the Boston Public Library Foundation Board of Directors. “He has the passion and commitment needed to expand the development function for the Foundation and increase support for both the Foundation’s and the Library’s objectives.”
In his new role, McKay will lead all development activities, member relations, and external affairs for the Boston Public Library Foundation. He also will be responsible for the design, development, and implementation of a broad-based fundraising program to increase financial support for the Foundation, and will cultivate and nurture relationships with existing and prospective donors, including individuals, corporations, and foundations.
“I am honored to lead the Boston Public Library Foundation and support the Boston Public Library, a centerpiece of the Boston community and gateway to information for all its residents,” McKay said. “I look forward to connecting to the broad range of supporters that the library already has and building new relationships to help sustain the library into the future.”
The Boston Public Library Foundation was created in 1992 to build a new partnership among civic-minded individuals, the corporate community, and public funders. The combined strength and leadership of this partnership has not wavered over the years and has enabled the Foundation to raise more than $80 million. The core mission of the Foundation has remained unchanged since first drafted: to enhance the public visibility and to raise public and private funds in support of the revitalization of the Boston Public Library.
“This is an ideal moment for the Boston Public Library to gain the expertise of a development expert like David,” said Amy E. Ryan, president of the Boston Public Library. “With our community-defined strategic planning principles in place, expanded support from the Boston Public Library Foundation will truly help bring these principles to life.”
About the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY For more than 160 years, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library 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 Boston Public Library has 27 neighborhood locations, including the Central Library in Copley Square. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts nearly 12,000 programs, answers more than one million reference questions, and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibits are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning. To learn more, visit www.bpl.org.
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Author Susan Conley to Read From Her Memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune, on April 26, at the South End Library, at 6:30 PM
The next South End Writes event at the South End Library will feature Susan Conley, who will read from her debut-memoir, "The Foremost Good Fortune" on Tuesday, April 26, at 6:30 PM. Conley, who reported from China for the New York Times about the H1N1 flu epidemic --the China Flu Blues-- in 2009, lived there with her sinologist husband, Tony, and two young sons. But, she writes, "what happens while we’re there is that one of us gets cancer. It turns out to be me."
"The Foremost Good Fortune is just about as honest a book as you'll ever read," wrote the Washington Post. "The trip Conley went on was to a far more complex place that she envisioned. This is a beautiful book about China and cancer and how to be an authentic, courageous human being."
A former South End resident and native of Maine, Conley has taught creative writing and literature at Emerson College, Simmons College and within Harvard's Teachers as Writers Program. She and her family have since returned to Portland, Maine, where she started a creative writing lab, The Telling Room. She is now working on another novel.
Boston Globe calls on BPL to reverse decision on Sunday Copley closing, also calls for branch closings
Globe Editorial
Elimination of Sunday hours shows deeper woes at library
March 31, 2011
SUNDAY HOURS at the main library in Copley Square are part of intellectual life in Boston, and Boston Public Library trustees’ recent vote to eliminate those hours is a blow to Boston bibliophiles, researchers, students, and city residents whose work and family schedules limit access during the rest of the week. The trustees should reverse the decision. That could mean trimming hours during less busy periods in the short term — either at Copley or at branches — and will certainly mean more far-reaching changes, such as modernizing the terms of labor contracts, in the future.
The main library accounts for more than half the foot traffic in the system, library officials say, and Sunday is the second-busiest day of the week at the main library. But like every city agency, the library system is struggling to maintain reliable levels of service during an economic downturn, and cutting Sunday hours come fall will save about $250,000 that might otherwise be carved out of, for instance, the book acquisition budget.
Last year, the trustees voted to close four branch libraries to address a budget shortfall of more than $3 million. “This isn’t where we want to be,’’ said library president Amy Ryan. But the library needs major changes in labor and library service policies to avoid stagnation and get itself on better footing. Even though the Copley library is busiest on weekends, labor contracts call for librarians and library aides who work on Sunday to receive overtime pay. Clearly, some library staffers should be working on straight-time Sunday-to-Thursday schedules.
More weekend hours would be helpful at neighborhood branches, too, but this can happen only if city negotiators persuade librarian unions to tailor branch hours to the needs of users. As it stands, the library system has a dearth of hours and a surfeit of buildings. The system doesn’t need 26 branches to function well, especially in the digital age. But last year’s vote of the trustees to close four branches was met not only with protests from patrons but an end run by state legislators who threatened to cut off all state aid to Boston’s library system unless the Menino administration backed off the closure plan. It only delayed the inevitable; eventually, some branches will need to close.
Despite voting for the Sunday closure at the iconic main library in Copley Square, trustee chairman Jeffrey Rudman called it a “civic tragedy.’’ More such tragedies will be circulating throughout the library system until library administrators succeed at paring branches and rewriting labor contracts.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
BPL Patrons React to Proposed Sunday Closings
The Boston
Globe today has an interesting article on the proposed closing of the BPL Central Branch on Sundays for the new fiscal year. From the article:
College students fleeing campus libraries, where chatty pals stand in the way of a polished term paper. City residents showing off a historic landmark to friends visiting from out of town. Job seekers down on their luck. They all come to the same place on Sunday afternoons from October to May — the central facility of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. But next fall, they may have to look elsewhere, after the library’s Board of Trustees approved a budget proposal last week that calls for closing the Copley library on Sundays, as part of a larger effort to keep neighborhood branches open and avoid layoffs. Read more