Library Trustees Meet Without Rabbitt; Director Roalsen Speaks

WOBURN, MA — The Board of Trustees met without President Jan Rabbitt Thursday, as the three-decade trustee fights her removal from the board by Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin.

The board had three meetings Thursday: the Personnel Committee, the Annual Meeting of the Corporation and a regular full Board meeting. Vice President Carol Seitz chaired the two meetings of the full board, in the absence of Rabbitt.

Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin sent Rabbitt a letter Jan. 27 removing her from the Board after an acrimonious recent meeting where it emerged that two members had not been informed of a meeting. Rabbitt called her removal illegal and a lawyer for the trustees sent Galvin a letter saying the mayor lacked the authority to remove her and she remains on the board.

The trio of meetings dealt with the evaluation of Director Bonnie Roalsen, the election of officers and an Open Meeting Law complaint. The election of new corporation officers was postponed, keeping Seitz and Clerk Kathryn Thifault in place.

The trustees agreed to submit written evaluations of Roalsen, although trustee Richard Mahoney said they should have done so six months earlier.

Roalsen has been a target of criticism going back to a summer labor battle when she raised the possibility of layoffs. The mayor has introduced special legislation to give him the authority to appoint and remove the library director, and according to the trustees' lawyer, not removing Roalsen was the true reason for Galvin's removal of Rabbitt.

Roalsen gave a lengthy statement defending her tenure at the library. The full statement can be found at the end of this article.

Finally, the trustees discussed an Open Meeting Law complaint which cited the discussion at the Jan. 19 meeting, where trustees Mahoney and Joanne McNamee said they had not been part of a decision to hire an attorney. Trustee William Callahan said that the trustees had discussed hiring an attorney at their Sept. 15 meeting.

Mahoney was not satisfied by Callahan's argument, noting that while the trustees voted to engage legal counsel at that meeting, they did not select a particular lawyer or appropriate funds at that meeting. But Callahan's motion that they respond by citing the Sept. 15 meeting won the day.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.

The following statement was provided by Library Director Bonnie Roalsen:

Thank you. I have a few things I’d like to say, and I appreciate the opportunity. First, I’ll give a brief director’s report:

We have kept this library open while libraries across Massachusetts have closed their doors. That includes in neighboring towns with far larger budgets. We have people driving from an hour away on the South Shore to come use our facility and access our materials.

We have kept our services flowing to patrons of all ages, from infants to seniors. Despite several resignations, we have expanded our hours. I am pleased to report that despite all of the obvious challenges, we are open. And last year we delivered over 1,000 programs to the community, including events on our lawn, author readings, child development classes for parents, English language learning, Movie Mondays for seniors and so much more.

The majority of our programming for the benefit of Woburn residents comes from private individual donations, as well as the generous endowment of the library’s trust funds, separate from taxpayer money. It’s important to note that we only receive $6,000 per year for programming from the mayor, as part of the taxpayer-funded part of the operating budget.

Our success in remaining open has come despite enormous pressures: the COVID19 pandemic, social distancing, and moving programming online are the obvious ones.

But it also has come despite issues with library booster groups which have delayed issuing funding during the most challenging time for this city in 100 years- money that was raised in the name of the library.

These successes have come despite our own library network improperly inserting itself in a labor dispute, in the mayor’s own words, the minuteman library network does not “have any right to dictate bargaining or budgetary priorities to the City of Woburn, and the harassment of our Library Director is intolerable and must stop immediately.” The mayor also pointed out in that letter to the Minuteman Network that “Seeking to intrude on the collective bargaining prerogatives of the City of Woburn and the work of my office, which manages those negotiations, is outrageous and unethical.”

These successes have come despite an ugly attempt by politicians to remove our trustees, and then grant the mayor the power to hand-pick new trustees and a new library director. If that is allowed to happen, you will see this library turned into a political instrument. Politics have no place in a library. This isn’t about personalities. This is about ensuring an independent structure that withstands political whims--today, tomorrow and forever.

Despite these challenges, we have been guided by the pillars of our 2017-2020 strategic plan, which included transitioning away from lifetime trustees. Now we look ahead to further updating this strategic plan. As we do that, I want to provide some context. To understand this, it is important that patrons and Woburnites understand that this a battle of ideas that will define the role of this library--either positively or negatively--for decades to come. It is a vigorous discussion that I welcome.

I have spent the last 15 years of my career broadening the services and materials that libraries provide. As I have said since my very first interview for the job in Woburn, a library is far more than a storage facility for books. Any community who thinks otherwise won’t have a library in the future.

America’s first library was created by Ben Franklin. He had books on the first floor and electricity experiments on the second. That’s my kind of place, and it’s why we have robots you can play with, and 3D printers, and telescopes that you can sign out. Libraries were ALWAYS meant to be places of knowledge, curiosity, pushing boundaries, and sometimes some really crazy experiments. Libraries are meant to be laboratories for all kinds of curious minds. It is not just about knowledge made available by the library. It is about encouraging the creative application of knowledge among our constituents.

Woburn has a modern library—a beautiful $31.5 million library, better than just about anything else in Massachusetts in a community this size. But a modern look and feel does not guarantee a future. Only new and evolving ideas guarantee that future. Of course, we will always keep traditional services available: yes, of course you can check out a physical book. Yes, we have storytime for children. Yes, we have free wifi. But here’s what else the library of the future should have:

1. Encourage entrepreneurship. This is especially important considering the US government expects unemployment to remain high until 2024. This is also especially important considering that, for example, in 10 years, 800 million jobs on this planet— that’s 1 in 10 jobs—could be made redundant because of automation, artificial intelligence, and the changing workforce.
2. Our library also must serve marginalized residents—new Americans, people who don’t speak English as their native language, children left behind because of the pandemic’s educational challenges, the elderly who live alone, and others.
3. Prepare patrons for a future no matter how scary or foreign that it may be: cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, climate change, etc. A library must help its users constantly see around the corner to what’s coming, to provide opportunities, to surprise them, to prepare them.
4. Create public/private partnerships that help us do things in new ways. This drives new ideas, new services, and new funding streams.
5. Be a cultural beacon that respects and reflects the diversity of the world today. Woburn is changing. We want Woburnites to know—whether you’ve been here for five generations or five days—that we have something that will enrich your life.
6. Communicate all of the above effectively. You can’t be a company, a nonprofit, or a government without effective communications. Libraries across the country have realized that they need to think more about how they communicate: to patrons, funding sources, electronically, new and old media, social platforms, and visually. My goal has been to make libraries accessible to everyone and to improve the library experience for all. It has to be of use for all ages, all socio-economic backgrounds, and for a diverse group of constituents.

And yet, in the dialogue surrounding how to make the Woburn library meet the challenges both of the pandemic and the world that is rapidly changing around us, admin staff have received threatening and harassing messages. I have had people share messages with me that are downright hateful.

To be clear: I will discuss and debate the best ways to make our libraries accessible with anyone under one condition: I will not engage in discussions with people who place swastikas on my car or who engage in other acts of intimidation threatening the admin team.

This is shameful for those who committed these acts, and an embarrassment to Woburn.

This is how people are spending their time. In the middle of a pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people dead. A violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol. At a time when this country is incredibly divided, that division is being sowed here at home. A small group of vocal people, driven and encouraged by actors and agendas outside of Woburn. I serve 40,000 people of Woburn. It’s time for other voices to be heard.

There’s a saying: “A truly great library has something in it to offend everyone.” Well, I’m all for free speech and the exchange of ideas. But not in an atmosphere of misinformation, lack of civility and threats.

Some people inside and outside of Woburn have made it clear they prefer attacking administrative staff personally rather than engaging in substantive debate. Some are unwilling (or unable) to have a conversation about the merits in a forum that excludes personal attacks and agendas. I won’t engage with those people in such circumstances, and the citizens of Woburn shouldn’t put up with it either. Rather, the citizens should be encouraging a discussion about solutions that position Woburn for the future.

And that’s why I’m excited to launch our new strategic planning process soon. I welcome all ideas. My criteria for the people who serve on that committee will be that they have a demonstrated background in being a force for change, and that they be compassionate, civil influences on their communities. This process will start in March and conclude in April.

Finally, let me say that a library is not a static museum that never changes. It’s all about adapting.

That’s why, many will recall, last year I raised the possibility of staff cuts. Why? This was three months into the pandemic. The library was closed. Thousands more were closed across the United States, with hundreds enacting layoffs and furloughs. The economy was in a tailspin. Businesses were shut. There were no vaccines. Meanwhile, our staff was at home, on full pay, while they negotiated with the city from March until August.

The future had never been more uncertain. I felt the need to speak the truth, and to face the future with honesty. I raised the possibility of layoffs because I was aware of the mayor’s fiscal conservancy. And like all Woburnites, I appreciate the careful use of resources.

But I also want to make clear that neither the trustees nor library administration had a seat at that negotiation table. Union negotiations are held between the mayor’s office and the union. Little did anyone know that, three weeks later, Gov. Baker would lift restrictions. That changed everything, opened our doors and brought people back to work.

Today, we can’t lose that momentum, which is why, incidentally, I wrote Governor Baker a letter last month imploring him not to close libraries again. It is also why, last month, I asked the mayor to release funds from the existing operating budget for four new jobs--union jobs-- which reflect the needs of a post-pandemic society and libraries.

But I also have to be clear that the role of people who work in libraries is constantly changing, my own included. “Traditional” skills among library staff don’t always translate to the rapidly changing world. No library should be dependent solely on the programming provided by library staff. The staff must support programming and services that meet the needs of a wide variety of patrons. This is an area that has been accelerated by the pandemic, making this more possible than ever before thanks to technology.

Ever since I arrived in Woburn, I’ve been talking to as many people as possible—including staff—about new and technological ways in which to prepare Woburnites and themselves for a very different future. A future where, as I said before, in a decade, 800 million people could lose their jobs to technology. I’m not trying to tell you a meteorite might hit. It will hit.

A library—this library—must be a place where people gain the knowledge that propels them toward a better future. That, in a nutshell, is my job. It’s what Woburnites should expect of their library. My philosophy is that if change isn’t uncomfortable, then you aren’t really changing.

I love this library. I love this city. I love this job. I know there are things that I can do better, and I’m committed to doing that. I’ve made a concerted effort to listen to community concerns over the past few months, and I want to continue that, starting with an inclusive strategic planning process. I hope people will listen to what I see as vital to the success of this library, and I am committed to hearing their vision as well.

I look forward to pulling together a team of bright and inspiring individuals to help the library in its new strategic planning process, including these concerned and motivated patrons. And I thank the Trustees for the opportunity to share my vision and our upcoming strategic planning process with you. Thank you.

The statement above was produced by Woburn Public Library Director Bonnie Roalsen. All views expressed are the author's own.