Also wrested out of context are recycled versions of Margolis's
unwillingness to install Internet filters -- except for children --
on library computers. Free speech may be uncomfortable at times,
but it should never be so in a library. It is the branch libraries,
though, that are now center stage.
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Unpleasantness at the BPL
How one of the nation's leading librarians got axed by City Hall
November 7, 2007 1:34:44 PM
071109_editorial_main
When the trustees of the Boston Public Library meet next week, they
will decline to renew the contract of BPL president Bernie
Margolis, in effect firing the man who has preserved and expanded
the strengths of the nation's oldest public library in the face of
strained and dimini****ng financial resources.
During his 10 years on the job, Margolis has led the BPL
energetically and effectively into the 21st century: children's
services at branch libraries have been strengthened, Boston became
the nation's leader in urban digital access, and the long-neglected
treasures that make the central library world-famous finally began
to enjoy a modi*** of the sort of curatorial care they deserved.
Why would the library's trustees give the boot to a leader who has
proved to be a triple-threat talent, accommodating tradition,
tackling present-day issues, and positioning a service-oriented
institution for the future?
The answer is simple: Mayor Menino doesn't like Margolis and
apparently never has. In fact, it is something of a miracle that
Margolis has survived this long. That he was allowed to build his
splendid legacy is largely due to the efforts of former Boston
Globe publisher and now ex-BPL trustee William Taylor, as well as
still-current trustees William Bulger, the former Senate and UMass
president, and Angelo Scaccia, a state representative from Hyde
Park.
But, alas, all good things must come to an end. Taylor and Bulger
no longer wield the clout they once did, and Scaccia has worn his
close relation****p with Menino to the bone in service of the
greater good of the BPL. If Margolis deserves heartfelt thanks for
his splendid service, then Taylor, Bulger, and Scaccia likewise
deserve approbation as models of disinterested public stewards.
As the trustees mount their nationwide search to fill Margolis's
shoes, it will be interesting to see how they conduct themselves:
will they be capable of exercising the independent judgment their
roles require, or will they, as they did in dismissing Margolis,
prove to be little more than agents of Menino's will?
Displaying independent judgment in the Menino administration is
dangerous, indeed. Menino is a master at close-quarter political
combat and, despite appearances to the contrary, is also skilled at
taking long views. His record of getting what he wants is testament
to that.
Menino's style is to keep things structurally and organizationally
as they are, while paying lip service when necessary to the need
for change. He resists shaking things up at the Boston
Redevelopment Authority and at the police and fire departments,
trading the need for big changes and the new challenges they might
bring for short-term and near-absolute control. Only in the schools
has he varied, slightly, his game plan.
Now that Margolis's firing is about to be made official, the city
is being treated to a campaign of disinformation suggesting that,
while Margolis was good for the historic central library in Copley
Square, his track record in the branches was lacking. This is
rubbish, so out of line with reality that it approaches a big-lie
strategy: tell a whopper with enough conviction and frequency and
you can get the public to believe it. It will probably work. Also
wrested out of context are recycled versions of Margolis's
unwillingness to install Internet filters -- except for children --
on library computers. Free speech may be uncomfortable at times,
but it should never be so in a library. It is the branch libraries,
though, that are now center stage.
When it came to expanding library hours and services in the
neighborhoods, Margolis has had to fight City Hall every step of
the way, and usually lost or had to settle for much less than
requested or required. In a tight fiscal environment, that is the
way of the world. But to suggest that Margolis favored the historic
Copley Square library at the expense of the neighborhoods is just
not true. Look at where the painful cuts in staffing have occurred
and you'll see that Copley Square suffered so that the branches
could soldier on.
When Margolis suggested consolidating redundant branches in order
to provide better service in a more cost-effective way, City Hall
thundered elitism: more rubbish. Keep your eye on East Boston. Now
that former Senate president Robert Travaligni, who hails from that
neighborhood, has left the State House, one of its two branches
will likely be closed, and operations consolidated.
One of the tricks to keeping political score is not to listen to
what public officials say, but to watch what they do. In this
regard, Margolis was remarkably consistent. He said what he meant
and he tried to act accordingly. A more politically acute
individual might get away with that. But even Margolis's most
ardent sup****ters will admit that policy, not politics, is his
strong point. Couple this with his constitutional inability to kiss
the mayoral rump -- perhaps the most im****tant requisite for
survival in the Menino years -- and you can begin to understand why
Margolis's gold-plated library card is not being renewed.
Margolis, the library, and Boston deserve better. The
letter-writing campaign that has been mounted on Maroglis's behalf
will most likely have no immediate effect. The mayor spent years
appointing sufficiently pliant souls to the BPL's board of trustees
to achieve his end, and it is unlikely that his appointees will not
do what the mayor requires. That sad bit of reality aside, it is
im****tant for the trustees to remember that their first loyalty --
their only responsibility -- should be to the library itself. It is
their job to insulate the library from the vagaries of political
life. Let us hope that in the future they are up to the
task. Boston is watching.
COMMENTS
We are fortunate to have Bernard A. Margolis here in Massachusetts
to bring out of the dark ages our Boston Public Library. The light
at the end of this tunnel might be that Bernie Margolis hopefully
would continue in Massachusetts somewhere that benefits our
Massachusetts' public libraries.
POSTED BY dsaklad@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
AT 11/08/07 8:52 AM
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