Commissioners
The official business of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is conducted by nine residents of the Commonwealth who have been appointed to serve as Commissioners by the governor.
George T. Comeau, Chairman
Katherine K. Dibble, Vice Chairman
Francis R. Murphy, Secretary
Carol B. Caro
Vicki L. Kaufman
Dr. Em Claire Knowles
Mary Rose Quinn
Gregory J. Shesko
Irving H. Zangwill
Carol B. Caro Carol B. Caro of Brookline was appointed to the Board by Governor Deval Patrick in 2008. Commissioner Caro has extensive experience with libraries including positions as the Executive Director of the Minuteman Library Network as well as Head of the Library Systems Department and Automation Librarian at Boston College. Her information technology skills have made her an asset to numerous committees and organizations such as NOTIS Users Group where she served four years as Chair of OPAC Training and the Boston Library Consortium where she chaired the Information Technology Committee. She has also served two years as the Secretary of the Massachusetts Library Association in addition to volunteering with the Friends of the Public Library of Brookline. A graduate of Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut, Commissioner Caro has an MLS from Columbia University School of Library Service as well as an MPA from Northeastern University.
George T. Comeau, Esq. of Canton was appointed to the Board by Governor Mitt Romney in 2004 and reappointed by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007. Commissioner Comeau is an administrator and an adjunct professor of Business Law at Suffolk University and also maintains a private law practice in Canton. He is currently a Trustee of the Canton Public Library, a member of the Executive Board of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Advisory Board, a member of the advisory board of the Massachusetts Audubon Society Visual Arts Center, a member of the MassAudubon Council, and Canton Historical Commission as well as the Canton Historical Society, and a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He has both a BS and a MPA from Suffolk University, as well as his JD from Suffolk University Law School.
Katherine K. Dibble of Roslindale was appointed to the Board by Governor Mitt Romney in 2005. Commissioner Dibble has had a long career with the Boston Public Library where she began in 1966 at the Hyde Park Branch. Through the years she worked as an adult, library loan and research librarian. Most recently she was the Director of Public Services from 1999 to 2003 when she retired. Among her professional memberships are the American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries, and City-Wide Friends of the Boston Public Library. She has also served as President and other capacities with the Boston Chapter of the Women's National Books Association, as well as a Trustee of the French Library and Cultural Center in Boston, and is currently a Board Member of the Boston Women's Heritage Trail. A graduate of Yankton College in South Dakota, she has her Master of Library Science from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Library Science.
Vicki L. Kaufman of Melrose was appointed to the Board by Governor Mitt Romney in 2006. Commissioner Kaufman, originally from Quincy, is a Civil Rights Investigator at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A former English teacher, she also served as a curriculum librarian at the University of Tennessee in Nashville, Tennessee, where she was able to study library science. A graduate of Boston University, she is a member of numerous professional and civic organizations, and active on many community issue and political campaign committees. She is a Melrose Public Library trustee and an active member of the Friends of the Derry Public Library in New Hampshire. She has served as President of the Boards of the South Shore Coalition for Human Rights in Quincy, the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Association at Boston University, DOVE, Inc. (DOmestic Violence Ended) on the South Shore, and Community Church of Boston.
Dr. Em Claire Knowles of Medford was first appointed to the Board by Acting Governor Jane Swift in 2002, and reappointed by Governor Mitt Romney in 2006. Commissioner Knowles is the Assistant Dean at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. Recently she was elected to serve on the American Library Association Executive Board. She also serves on the Council of the American Library Association and served on the Massachusetts Black Librarians' Network, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, the Massachusetts Library Association, the New England Library Association, Reforma-Northeast, as well as serving as a Design Team member of the Leaders of Tomorrow, a mentoring program of the National Black MBA Association. Originally from California, she has a BA from the University of California at Davis, a MLS from the University of California at Berkeley, a MPA from California State University in Sacramento, and a DA from Simmons College.
Francis R. (Frank) Murphy of Arlington was appointed to the Board by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007. A former Information System/Network consultant to NATO and MITRE, Frank began volunteering with libraries after retirement. He became a Robbins Library (Arlington) Friends Board member and in 2001 was appointed to the Robbins Board of Trustees where he served a term as Chairman. He has been actively involved with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners as a member of the State Advisory Council on Libraries and as a member of the State Aid Review Committee. In addition, Murphy has served as a Board member of the Massachusetts Library Trustees Association. A graduate of Holy Cross College, Murphy has done graduate program work at Boston College, MIT and Northeastern University.
Mary Rose Quinn of Woburn was appointed to the Board by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007. Currently the Director of the Stevens Memorial Library in North Andover, Mary Rose has been a librarian for 20 years, working in public libraries for the last 17. She serves on the Massachusetts Library Association’s Legislative and Public Relations Committees and has served as Chair of the New England Library Association’s Information Technology Section and on the Executive Boards of both NOBLE and the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System. In addition, she worked on the Steering Committee that formed the Friends of the Woburn Public Library and the MBLC’s committee planning services for patrons with disabilities. Mary Rose has her MS-LIS from Simmons College and ABs in English and History from Boston College.
Gregory J. Shesko of Needham was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick in September 2009. He has been a library trustee in Needham since 1994 and co-chaired the Renew Our Library campaign which successfully secured $15.7 million to build Needham’s new library. In 2005, he was named Outstanding Trustee by the Massachusetts Library Trustee Association. Shesko was the founding vice president and subsequent president of the Massachusetts Friends of Libraries. He has also served as president of the Friends of Needham Free Public Library where he led two successful override campaigns to increase library funding. Shesko has been a member of the State Advisory Council on Libraries since 2007. He previously served on the MBLC’s Planning and Design Review and Construction Review Committees. A Harvard graduate, Mr. Shesko retired from Brandeis University where he was Assistant Dean of Arts and Sciences and Assistant Provost for Academic Finance and Administration.
Irving H. Zangwill of Fall River was appointed by Governor Mitt Romney to the Board in 2006. A lifelong resident of Fall River, Zangwill was a teacher in the Fall River Public Schools for more than 30 years. He has served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fall River Public Library since 1996, as well as the President of the Fall River Public Library Foundation since 2000. Among his other library appointments have been the President and Vice-President of the Massachusetts Library Trustees Association, and on the board of the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Library System. In addition, he has worked with the MBLC on the Massachusetts Public Library Initiative, Trustee Handbook Committee and the State Advisory Council on Libraries. Zangwill has a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Education from Boston University, a M.Ed. in Education from Bridgewater State College, and his B.A. in Psychology from UMass/Dartmouth.