Why are you running?
Our library is a gem, a treasure. I take pride in what I see and find in our public library. I am running because I want to help preserve, promote, and improve it.
What Westborough Public Library offers goes far beyond lending books. Thinking of a library as simply a place where one searches out a book or reference material and hauls it home is an outdated view. Town libraries provide us much more than that. Bring up our library event calendar on your phone or tablet, or stop by and browse the bulletin boards, or come by on any afternoon or evening and notice the groups that fill the activity rooms. You’ll see our library hums with involvement. We owe a round of thanks to the staff and their efforts. Our library is welcoming; it is a resource center; it is a safe and monitored environment; it is a place where we – our children, ourselves, our seniors, our guests – meet and thrive.
What are the three biggest issues facing Westborough Public Library?
Community awareness is one of the biggest issues for our library. The need for maintenance and repair of the library building is another (and within this alone there are a good number of major issues!). As trustee, I would promote better reaching communication from our library. Through regular, effective communication, we will be more informed on our library’s offerings and plans. As well, we will kept abreast of the building’s ongoing needs. We have a hard-working library staff, just as we have a hard-working Library Building Committee. By keeping our community up to date with their plans, successes, and needs, we are better set to keep our library providing all it does and better set to take on its needs and incurred expenses.
With recent book challenges, what is your stance on book bans?
We are fortunate to live in a democracy. In a democracy, different voices can be heard and ought to be heard. And we, as citizens, need to be engaged, in both contributing and listening. Applying this to the issue of book challenges, I believe that it is right for ourselves and our fellow residents to be able to voice a concern about a book. And, likewise, is it right to have our concerns heard and evaluated.
What is not right is to misuse this ability to advance an agenda. Likewise, raising book challenges based on views that stem from intolerance, bigotry, racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, or fear of our LGBTQ+ community is wrong. Rather, what is right is to promote and protect our open community. What is right is to preserve our intellectual freedom.
Where would you like to see the library in the next five years?
I want to see a higher interaction between our town and our library. This is a two-way vision. I want to raise awareness of the services and resources our library provides. And I want our library to be reactive to our evolving needs. Having us be aware of the already impressive range of resources our library provides is part of this. So too is having us be aware of the challenges our current library faces, particularly with the building’s need for maintenance and modernization. And on the flip-side, we need to keep our library evolving so that it continues to meet our needs.
What is your opinion on the proposed repair project at Westborough Public Library?
Our library needs a number of repairs and updates. We owe it to ourselves, as a town, to look after our library building, same as we do with our other town services. I agree with the request that the Library Building Committee will make at the March 23rd town meeting.
While the $1.6 million price tag may set some back, we need to remember that for many years the library deferred making repairs, sensibly working on the premise that the major reconstruction proposal would obviate the need for many of the individual issues that were building up. When we voted down that proposal, though, in December 2022, that did not resolve the backlog. We still have a building with outdated electrical and HVAC systems, a deteriorated roof, an antiquated elevator, and non-compliant ADA facilities such as accessible bathrooms. The sum of all that needs to be done is worrisome, yet the Library Building Committee has a prioritized list and will bring the most pressing needs as a package to the town meeting. I trust and value their proposal.
What is your relevant experience to serve as a Trustee of the Public Library?
I have been in software technology my entire professional career. Much of that time has been spent working with problem assessment, opportunity recognition, issue prioritization, and project management. I’d like to apply what I’ve learned towards helping manage and promote our public library. It too consists of challenges, constraints and opportunities. I want to help guide all this and believe I have the applicable skills for doing so.
One of my first jobs as a teen was to help staff the service desk of my hometown library. I spent many hours recording periodicals plus the editions of the daily newspapers from print onto microfilm reels. Later as a software professional, I was involved in a system that replaced the traditional card catalog of public and university libraries. The system I worked on replaced and handled many parts of a library’s lending and inventory control. I gained from the evenings where I sat in the basement of the Framingham Public Library monitoring its computerized Minuteman network. All good experience.
Editor’s note: These are the statements as submitted by the candidate and have been unedited. Claims made by the candidates represent their own views and have not been fact checked by our editorial team.
