Showing posts with label Margolis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Margolis. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ousted BPL Head Albany-Bound
Former Boston Public Library director Bernie Margolis has been appointed New York's state librarian, the Boston Globe reports today. Margolis was confirmed yesterday by the State Board of Regents.
Friday, February 29, 2008
BPL's Rare Books Turmoil
In the current Boston Magazine, novelist William Martin highlights the dire state of the Boston Public Library's rare books preservation/conservation program. Martin takes us inside the library to the workroom of Stuart Walker, the BPL's conservator, located just off the main rare books display area: "It's the windowless sacristy to this sanctum of books, and also a battlefield where, every day, Walker fights acid, mold, and all the other insidious enemies that the passage of time is using to destroy the library's treasures."
Walker's lack of resources, Martin writes "make for an ironic footnote in the dustup over the ouster of the library's president, Bernard Margolis, who, it was said, lavished too much attention on the central library - on collections like John Adams's - at the expense of the neighborhood branches." Margolis, no quiet lame duck he, says the problem is the BPL has too many books and not enough funds: "It's a lot to maintain, and sometimes we've needed leadership that understands that investing in this resource as a public good produces a direct economic return. But we haven't had the blessing of that."
Walker says his modus operandi has, by necessity, shifted from proactive to reactive, telling Martin "our work is essentially need-driven on an item-by-item level." Not exactly the ideal circumstance for preserving such an important collection, but entirely understandable given the current situation.
Friends of the library, including David McCullough (who has started a Conservation Fund for the BPL's collections) are busy raising money and pushing for more attention, staffing and resources for the preservation of the BPL's rare books collections. They are also thinking, Martin reports, about Doomsday Scenarios - perhaps donating the John Adams collection to the Library of Congress, for example, if resources enough to keep it safe cannot be mustered. Practically unthinkable, in my view, but I agree that steps must be taken to protect and preserve the collection.
Hopefully with a new Library president and a permanent Keeper of Rare Books (Earle Havens is fairly recently out, Susan Glover in as Acting Keeper), the importance of this issue can be expressed more forcefully to the powers that be.
Martin's entire article is well worth a read.
Walker's lack of resources, Martin writes "make for an ironic footnote in the dustup over the ouster of the library's president, Bernard Margolis, who, it was said, lavished too much attention on the central library - on collections like John Adams's - at the expense of the neighborhood branches." Margolis, no quiet lame duck he, says the problem is the BPL has too many books and not enough funds: "It's a lot to maintain, and sometimes we've needed leadership that understands that investing in this resource as a public good produces a direct economic return. But we haven't had the blessing of that."
Walker says his modus operandi has, by necessity, shifted from proactive to reactive, telling Martin "our work is essentially need-driven on an item-by-item level." Not exactly the ideal circumstance for preserving such an important collection, but entirely understandable given the current situation.
Friends of the library, including David McCullough (who has started a Conservation Fund for the BPL's collections) are busy raising money and pushing for more attention, staffing and resources for the preservation of the BPL's rare books collections. They are also thinking, Martin reports, about Doomsday Scenarios - perhaps donating the John Adams collection to the Library of Congress, for example, if resources enough to keep it safe cannot be mustered. Practically unthinkable, in my view, but I agree that steps must be taken to protect and preserve the collection.
Hopefully with a new Library president and a permanent Keeper of Rare Books (Earle Havens is fairly recently out, Susan Glover in as Acting Keeper), the importance of this issue can be expressed more forcefully to the powers that be.
Martin's entire article is well worth a read.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
BPL Having a Rough Week
Whoever's in charge of PR at the Boston Public Library is undoubtedly having a not-very-fun week at work.
On Monday night, Boston's CBS affiliate broadcast this report (video available at the link) on violence in and around the BPL's main branch at Copley Square. They note that for the past three years, police calls to the area have averaged 270 annually, and the story features some police reports of items being stolen inside the library, people fighting or refusing to leave, &c. "The library prides itself on being a true public building open to all. It's a sad sign of the times, but more and more homeless people are finding it to be their last refuge during the day," correspondent Joe Shortsleeves said in the broadcast ... The mission of a treasured landmark is getting lost."
Kathy LaFrazia, the director of St. Francis House - one of the only daytime homeless shelters in Boston - said "These are people that doors are shut to them constantly, and they stay few minutes at a McDonalds but they are moved along, moved along. People get desperate, people get angry." Of course people need a place to go during the day, where they can be warm and safe and left alone. Should that place be the Boston Public Library? In most cases, probably not. There's a much larger issue here that does not involve adding more security at the BPL, or excluding people, but providing adequate space for people who need it.
This story clearly wasn't handled well by the BPL (whether that's their fault or the t.v. station's is unclear). No library official appears on camera in the piece, only a man identified as "an employee," who commented "It's a big concern. Loitering and people hanging out. Run of the mill disruptive behavior sometimes." Mayor Menino told Shortsleeves that the issue has never before been brought to his attention (which, if true, is absolutely unbelievable).
The timing of the story was most interesting, as it came just hours before the library's board of trustees met and voted 7-2 not to renew the contract of BPL president Bernie Margolis. Margolis is not going to go quietly; in a front-page Globe interview today he lambastes Menino for interfering with library operations and not providing adequate funding for library operations. He accused the mayor of running Boston as an "authoritarian state," telling the paper "I didn't think this was Venezuela."
Menino responded by saying "I'm not getting involved in 'he said, she said,'" but his chief of staff, Judith Kurland, fired right back at Margolis. "It's hubris and entitlement, thinking that he owns the job. Nobody owns the job," she told the paper.
Margolis accused the mayor's administration of neglecting services at the city's branch libraries, including a rejecting of a plan to have the branches open on Saturdays in an attempt to help combat youth violence. At a meeting about the proposal earlier this year, Margolis says, the mayor "'dismissed it in the 'the most casual, offhanded way,' saying, 'Oh, those kids just want to be at the beach.'" Ironically, aides to the mayor have made the same charge against Margolis, that he's been "fixated" on the Copley Square facility while neglecting the branches.
I can't speak to the branch libraries, but if the current state of the Copley Square branch is what ten years of "fixation" has resulted in, I'm really worried about the state of things. I barely even use the BPL anymore because service and facilities are so poor - photocopiers are rarely working, the books I request from the closed stacks often cannot be found, and the place really is pretty grungy. Margolis says Menino didn't like that he went around telling people that the library doesn't have enough money, but anyone who walks through the doors ought to be able to see that's the case.
The Globe story reports that while library use has been up in recent years, the budget has increased just .26% per year since 2000, and full-time staff positions have been cut from 603 in 2002 to 483 in 2007.
Anybody who's crazy enough to take Margolis' job is obviously going to have some major issues to deal with, and they're definitely going to have to be tough enough to stand up to Menino's administration in an effective way and push for increased funding at attention at all levels. The BPL's collections and facilities are a crumbling treasure, and something must be done soon, before it's too late.
On Monday night, Boston's CBS affiliate broadcast this report (video available at the link) on violence in and around the BPL's main branch at Copley Square. They note that for the past three years, police calls to the area have averaged 270 annually, and the story features some police reports of items being stolen inside the library, people fighting or refusing to leave, &c. "The library prides itself on being a true public building open to all. It's a sad sign of the times, but more and more homeless people are finding it to be their last refuge during the day," correspondent Joe Shortsleeves said in the broadcast ... The mission of a treasured landmark is getting lost."
Kathy LaFrazia, the director of St. Francis House - one of the only daytime homeless shelters in Boston - said "These are people that doors are shut to them constantly, and they stay few minutes at a McDonalds but they are moved along, moved along. People get desperate, people get angry." Of course people need a place to go during the day, where they can be warm and safe and left alone. Should that place be the Boston Public Library? In most cases, probably not. There's a much larger issue here that does not involve adding more security at the BPL, or excluding people, but providing adequate space for people who need it.
This story clearly wasn't handled well by the BPL (whether that's their fault or the t.v. station's is unclear). No library official appears on camera in the piece, only a man identified as "an employee," who commented "It's a big concern. Loitering and people hanging out. Run of the mill disruptive behavior sometimes." Mayor Menino told Shortsleeves that the issue has never before been brought to his attention (which, if true, is absolutely unbelievable).
The timing of the story was most interesting, as it came just hours before the library's board of trustees met and voted 7-2 not to renew the contract of BPL president Bernie Margolis. Margolis is not going to go quietly; in a front-page Globe interview today he lambastes Menino for interfering with library operations and not providing adequate funding for library operations. He accused the mayor of running Boston as an "authoritarian state," telling the paper "I didn't think this was Venezuela."
Menino responded by saying "I'm not getting involved in 'he said, she said,'" but his chief of staff, Judith Kurland, fired right back at Margolis. "It's hubris and entitlement, thinking that he owns the job. Nobody owns the job," she told the paper.
Margolis accused the mayor's administration of neglecting services at the city's branch libraries, including a rejecting of a plan to have the branches open on Saturdays in an attempt to help combat youth violence. At a meeting about the proposal earlier this year, Margolis says, the mayor "'dismissed it in the 'the most casual, offhanded way,' saying, 'Oh, those kids just want to be at the beach.'" Ironically, aides to the mayor have made the same charge against Margolis, that he's been "fixated" on the Copley Square facility while neglecting the branches.
I can't speak to the branch libraries, but if the current state of the Copley Square branch is what ten years of "fixation" has resulted in, I'm really worried about the state of things. I barely even use the BPL anymore because service and facilities are so poor - photocopiers are rarely working, the books I request from the closed stacks often cannot be found, and the place really is pretty grungy. Margolis says Menino didn't like that he went around telling people that the library doesn't have enough money, but anyone who walks through the doors ought to be able to see that's the case.
The Globe story reports that while library use has been up in recent years, the budget has increased just .26% per year since 2000, and full-time staff positions have been cut from 603 in 2002 to 483 in 2007.
Anybody who's crazy enough to take Margolis' job is obviously going to have some major issues to deal with, and they're definitely going to have to be tough enough to stand up to Menino's administration in an effective way and push for increased funding at attention at all levels. The BPL's collections and facilities are a crumbling treasure, and something must be done soon, before it's too late.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Links & Reviews
- Big news from Boston today, the Globe reporting that the Boston Public Library's trustees will not renew the contract of Bernie Margolis, the library's president for the last decade. A spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Menino told the Globe "While [Margolis] did a great job restoring the main branch in Copley, I believe the board is looking to expand their search for a new director, someone who would be interested in looking more at the branches. That's no slight at Bernie, because he did a great job. But with his contract up, it's the right time for someone new to come into the library and have a fresh approach." Margolis' contract expires on 30 June of next year.
- In Americana Exchange, Michael Stillman covers the September auction of a collection of Civil War documents which was the subject of a long legal battle between the collection's owner and the state of South Carolina. The state claimed ownership rights over the documents as official property, but a federal judge disagreed. Stillman comments on the case in general and also notes the low prices the items fetched at auction, citing the venue, lack of promotion, and other factors. (h/t Everett Wilkie)
- The "Devil's Bible", a thirteenth-century Bohemian manuscript copy of the Bible remarkable for its large portrait of the Devil, is now available digitally, here. The manuscript is also known as the Codex Gigas, as it is believed to be the largest surviving European manuscript. Beyond the scriptures, the codex also includes two works by Flavius Josephus, Cosmas of Prague's Chronicle of Bohemia, and several additional short texts. The digital exhibition website provides much more history, background and commentary, as well as excellent browsable images.
- From yesterday's NYTimes, a rather odd story about a Russian conductor's archive rescued from the trash and now the subject of an international legal tussle.
- I've long been meaning to add a link to Sylvia Plath Info, which is run by a slightly-Plath-obsessed friend of mine; it's a very useful site for all things Plath, and has some good posts from a recent multi-day symposium of Plath's life and works. Link now added.
- In a wide-ranging Times essay, Bee Wilson examines a new four-volume collection of primary documents, Eighteenth-Century Coffeehouse Culture, edited by Markman Ellis. Beyond the books, Wilson also comments on a recent documentary about coffee, "Black Gold."
- From BibliOdyssey, images from a late sixteenth-century Bavarian court dress and coats of arms book, and a selection of illustrations from swordplay manuals.
- Michael Lieberman notes that the recent San Jose earthquake resulted in a major reshelving project at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, where more than 300,000 books on the top four floors toppled from their perches as the building swayed with the quake.
- Rare Books Review reports that the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has acquired an extensive collection of the personal papers of Katharine Hepburn, which are being catalogued and will be available for public research early next year.
- The newest issue of Biblio Unbound is out, here.
- Jim Watts comments on the use of a robotic calligrapher to reproduce a copy of the Luther Bible, noting "This robot reproduces calligraphy because, despite five-and-a-half centuries of printing, careful hand calligraphy retains connotations of prestige and expense. Thus famous documents, like the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, are displayed and reproduced in calligraphic form, which is how they are popularly remembered, despite the fact that the originals were printed broadsheets. It was the secondary, anachronistic hand-written form that was given iconic status."
- Over at Campaign for the American Reader, Marshall looks at Jon Kukla's Mr. Jefferson's Women. It's always interesting to see how some books manage to attract gushing reviews from some readers (including some pretty important ones) while getting completely panned by others (see Stacy Schiff's NYT review, which I commented on here). I was particularly struck by the Library Journal excerpt, which begins "It is hard to dislike a book that, like this one, starts off with a discussion of how J. Peterman Company shirts are related to Thomas Jefferson." Personally I'd be more inclined to the opposite view, and I think Schiff's charge of conclusion-driven research is a damaging one, positive blurbs notwithstanding.
- Writing for Slate, Joshua Glenn claims to solve the mystery of the mysterious unnamed object produced in Woollett, Massachusetts, the subject of much speculation in Henry James' novel The Ambassadors.
- I missed Paul Collins' appearance on last weekend's Saturday Weekend Edition, but thankfully Ed caught it. Paul discusses scary stories and Halloween biblio-oddities with Scott Simon.
- Over at Boston 1775, J.L. Bell discusses Abigail Adams' investment strategies, bouncing off a Woody Holton article in the new William & Mary Quarterly.
Reviews:
- In the Washington Post, Jonathan Yardley reviews Joe Ellis' American Creation.
- From the NYTimes, Mary Beth Norton covers My Dearest Friend, the new collection of John and Abigail Adams' letters.
- Over at Rare Book Review, Lynn Glyn comments on a new six-volume collection of letters by Joseph Banks.
- The Boston Globe's Michael Kenney reviews Woody Holton's Unruly Americans, and submits a joint review of Eve LaPlante's Salem Witch Judge and Emerson Baker's The Devil of Great Island. David Mehegan also commented on Salem Witch Judge this week.
- In Americana Exchange, Michael Stillman covers the September auction of a collection of Civil War documents which was the subject of a long legal battle between the collection's owner and the state of South Carolina. The state claimed ownership rights over the documents as official property, but a federal judge disagreed. Stillman comments on the case in general and also notes the low prices the items fetched at auction, citing the venue, lack of promotion, and other factors. (h/t Everett Wilkie)
- The "Devil's Bible", a thirteenth-century Bohemian manuscript copy of the Bible remarkable for its large portrait of the Devil, is now available digitally, here. The manuscript is also known as the Codex Gigas, as it is believed to be the largest surviving European manuscript. Beyond the scriptures, the codex also includes two works by Flavius Josephus, Cosmas of Prague's Chronicle of Bohemia, and several additional short texts. The digital exhibition website provides much more history, background and commentary, as well as excellent browsable images.
- From yesterday's NYTimes, a rather odd story about a Russian conductor's archive rescued from the trash and now the subject of an international legal tussle.
- I've long been meaning to add a link to Sylvia Plath Info, which is run by a slightly-Plath-obsessed friend of mine; it's a very useful site for all things Plath, and has some good posts from a recent multi-day symposium of Plath's life and works. Link now added.
- In a wide-ranging Times essay, Bee Wilson examines a new four-volume collection of primary documents, Eighteenth-Century Coffeehouse Culture, edited by Markman Ellis. Beyond the books, Wilson also comments on a recent documentary about coffee, "Black Gold."
- From BibliOdyssey, images from a late sixteenth-century Bavarian court dress and coats of arms book, and a selection of illustrations from swordplay manuals.
- Michael Lieberman notes that the recent San Jose earthquake resulted in a major reshelving project at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, where more than 300,000 books on the top four floors toppled from their perches as the building swayed with the quake.
- Rare Books Review reports that the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has acquired an extensive collection of the personal papers of Katharine Hepburn, which are being catalogued and will be available for public research early next year.
- The newest issue of Biblio Unbound is out, here.
- Jim Watts comments on the use of a robotic calligrapher to reproduce a copy of the Luther Bible, noting "This robot reproduces calligraphy because, despite five-and-a-half centuries of printing, careful hand calligraphy retains connotations of prestige and expense. Thus famous documents, like the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, are displayed and reproduced in calligraphic form, which is how they are popularly remembered, despite the fact that the originals were printed broadsheets. It was the secondary, anachronistic hand-written form that was given iconic status."
- Over at Campaign for the American Reader, Marshall looks at Jon Kukla's Mr. Jefferson's Women. It's always interesting to see how some books manage to attract gushing reviews from some readers (including some pretty important ones) while getting completely panned by others (see Stacy Schiff's NYT review, which I commented on here). I was particularly struck by the Library Journal excerpt, which begins "It is hard to dislike a book that, like this one, starts off with a discussion of how J. Peterman Company shirts are related to Thomas Jefferson." Personally I'd be more inclined to the opposite view, and I think Schiff's charge of conclusion-driven research is a damaging one, positive blurbs notwithstanding.
- Writing for Slate, Joshua Glenn claims to solve the mystery of the mysterious unnamed object produced in Woollett, Massachusetts, the subject of much speculation in Henry James' novel The Ambassadors.
- I missed Paul Collins' appearance on last weekend's Saturday Weekend Edition, but thankfully Ed caught it. Paul discusses scary stories and Halloween biblio-oddities with Scott Simon.
- Over at Boston 1775, J.L. Bell discusses Abigail Adams' investment strategies, bouncing off a Woody Holton article in the new William & Mary Quarterly.
Reviews:
- In the Washington Post, Jonathan Yardley reviews Joe Ellis' American Creation.
- From the NYTimes, Mary Beth Norton covers My Dearest Friend, the new collection of John and Abigail Adams' letters.
- Over at Rare Book Review, Lynn Glyn comments on a new six-volume collection of letters by Joseph Banks.
- The Boston Globe's Michael Kenney reviews Woody Holton's Unruly Americans, and submits a joint review of Eve LaPlante's Salem Witch Judge and Emerson Baker's The Devil of Great Island. David Mehegan also commented on Salem Witch Judge this week.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)