About your work with libraries and MBLC
What (or who) led you to a career in libraries?
In the early 90s, I was a research assistant at a think tank in Washington, DC, having
recently finished grad school in public policy and administration in NYC. I was regularly
doing research at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and some presidential
libraries, and I started thinking about working in the library field, particularly with public
libraries. I decided to go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s graduate
library and information science program, received a fellowship, and was able to complete
the program in one calendar year. I started out working as an adult/reference librarian at
the New York Public Library at the Mott Haven branch in the South Bronx and I’ve been
very happy to be in the library field ever since then—it’s rewarding work that I strongly
believe in and a great fit for me.
What do you like best about your work at the MBLC?
I like knowing that we are supporting—through leadership, funding, advisory services,
and partnerships—equal access to key core and innovative library programs and services
that improve the lives of all the Commonwealth’s residents. I also like working with the
enthusiastic and dedicated folks in the Massachusetts library community.
What are the greatest challenges?
Funding and organizational capacity for us and for our affiliates and partners: the
Massachusetts Library System, the Library for the Commonwealth at the Boston Public
Library, the Perkins and Worcester Talking Book Libraries, the Massachusetts Center for
the Book, and the nine automated library networks.
Do you have a vision for library service in Massachusetts?
I share the MBLC’s vision of the Commonwealth’s libraries being successful by
providing equitable and universal access to services, information, collections, and
programs; meeting a broad multitude of needs in their communities; and being essential
to a functioning democracy.