Uncategorized – MBLC Blog

Norwood Library and Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries Relaunch Access to Justice Initiative

Maureen Amyot, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners speaking at press conference at Norwood's Morrill Memorial Library (Photo Courtesy Town of Norwood) — Maureen Amyot, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, reminded the audience how much libraries have changed over the years. (Photo Courtesy Town of Norwood)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Town of Norwood
Tony Mazzucco,
General Manager
566 Washington St.
Norwood, MA 02062

Media Contact: Rory Schuler
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: rory@jgpr.net

NORWOOD — Your local library has changed dramatically since the days ofmandatory silence and dusty stacks.

“Public libraries today … are no longer book warehouses where people get shushed for speaking above a whisper,” said Maureen Amyot, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). “Those days are long gone. Today’s libraries connect people with essential services, information and importantly, with each other.”

Amyot joined state and local court and library officials in Norwood on Wednesday, Oct. 1, to announce the relaunch of the Massachusetts Access to Justice initiative.

“This project touches on all three of those things in a place where everyone iswelcome,” said Amyot. “By bringing legal services into the public library, the partnersare providing a local, easy-to-access, familiar, welcoming place for residents toaccess the services they need.”

The MBLC is a state agency created in 1890 to promote and support equitable library services across the Commonwealth.

A Daunting Experience

“The idea of physically entering a courthouse for any reason can feel really intimidating,” Amyot told the packed reading room inside the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood. “Transportation issues, work hours, lack of stable internet at home, can also be barriers for those looking to access legal services. The Access to Justice project helps people overcome all those hurdles and get the hope they need right in their own communities or nearby.”

The Massachusetts Trial Court Law Library’s Public Library Initiative provides Morrill Memorial Library visitors with access to computer terminals and the internet to search for court resources, such as interpreter services, legal aid and case information. And now, multiple court branches can be accessed at specially designated Bay State libraries.

“The Morrill Memorial Library continues to redefine what libraries are and the rolethey play in civic life, and we’re happy that we are taking this relaunch step,” saidTown of Norwood General Manager Tony Mazzucco, who added that this next stepwill illustrate what local “libraries can do for our communities and ourCommonwealth.”

Norwood’s public library is one of 15 participating libraries in six counties —Barnstable, Essex, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk — across Massachusetts.

“We were the first public library in the Commonwealth to launch Access to Justice,” said Clayton Cheever, Morrill Memorial Library Director. “We know what an essential role this library has played in Norwood for over 100 years.”

The Morrill Memorial Library also provides fast Wi-Fi with stable connections for video communications. Visitors can contact the virtual court help desk, use library computers and printers to access and print court forms, and reserve designated, private library spaces for virtual court hearings.

“When people access our justice system, we know that can be a challenging time in anybody’s life,” Cheever said. “We want to help make that interaction as positive as possible. There’s a lot of stress that can be involved when you go into courthouses, when you have other interactions with the justice system. But, ideally … when we see all the smiling little faces from all the youngest users of the library, to the seniors who have been using it their entire lives, people really feel comfortable here in the library. “That’s what we want, for people to feel as comfortable as possible when they need to work with the justice system.”

The Under-Represented

Robert DeFabrizio, Esq., Senior Manager of Law Libraries, Court Services and Law Libraries Department, Massachusetts Trial Court, Office of Court Management, explained that the “initiative grew out of a well-documented and acknowledged need for access to the courts and legal information.”

“The statistics on unrepresented parties in civil courts included nearly 9 out of 10 defendants in Housing Court … while the majority of cases in Probate and Family Court involve at least one unrepresented party,” said DeFabrizio. “Needless to say, unrepresented parties are at a disadvantage while navigating the court system and fully advocating for their legal rights.

“Although the 15 Trial Court law libraries exist to provide free legal information to everyone who lives and works in the state, as the numbers … show, the challenge is daunting.”

But local libraries are trusted institutions — a sort of social safety net.

“Many people visit their public library, asking for help on a wide range of help on a wide range of issues, including legal information,” DeFabrizio said. “Thus, the idea
of partnering with our public library colleagues was seen as a way to bridge the access to justice gap.”

In closing, DeFabrizio shared a quote from the Honorable Ralph D. Gants, who was the 37th Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and an ardent access to justice supporter: “Until we create a world in which all who need counsel in civil cases have access to counsel, we must do all we can to make the court system more understandable and accessible for the many litigants who must represent themselves.”

“Words that are so appropriate for this day and age, and in terms of this program itself,” said DeFabrizio.

Services Available

When the initiative was first launched in 2022, only one court offered virtual services. Now, all the different branches of courts in Massachusetts offer virtual services. While not all court business can be resolved remotely, many services can be utilized, including court virtual registries, the Court Service Centers, and the Trial Court Law Libraries Zoom with a Law Librarian.

“As Register of the Probate and Family Court for Norfolk County, I am dedicated to the success of the Access to Justice project between the Norwood Memorial Library and the Probate and Family Court,” said Colleen Brierley, the Register of the Probate and Family Court for Norfolk County. “We are committed to ensuring equal access to the Probate Court for all members of the public, and we are prepared for the relaunch and expansion of this invaluable program. The Registry is ready to assist through the Virtual Registry and in person at the library. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this great step forward in continuing our Access to Justice initiative.”

Norwood’s public library was chosen because it’s centrally located for many of the towns in Norfolk County and is easily accessible by public bus routes.

“And I hope other Massachusetts libraries look to what’s being done here in Norwood as a model, and reach out to Clayton Cheever or to the Trial Court, to find
out how they can launch it in their own communities,” Amyot said. “How wonderful would this be, if it was an option at every single library in the Commonwealth?”

The Morrill Memorial Library is open Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. Visit the library’s website for more information.

Those with questions about the offered resources or who would like to make an appointment to get extra help can contact the library at 781-769-0200.

Access to Justice through the library:

The Morrill Memorial Library is proud to partner with the Massachusetts Trial Court System to offer virtual court access through the Access to Justice program. Visit the
Access to Justice website. Free interpreter services are available through the
Office of Language Access.

Reserve a library space to attend court remotely:

Quiet, private spaces are available at the Morrill Memorial Library to attend court remotely using a laptop provided by the library. To reserve a study room for the Access to Justice program, call the library at 781-769-0200 x2 or x7. Please try to reserve your room in advance and let us know if you have to cancel so we can make the room available to someone else.

Click here for a Public Library Initiative list of partner libraries.

Do Funding and Staffing Change with Increased Usage?

In this edition, I’m going to use the frameworks I looked at from the Public Library Quarterly article from the last couple of posts to examine what’s happened in the past for library funding from municipalities and staffing and operate under the assumption that the statistical significance of this data holds as well.* So let’s dive in and see what the data discover!

Funding – Past & Present

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of going to the municipal pie as both an advocacy tool and for information on where libraries fit in for funding within their municipality. So it’s natural that when I was looking for what municipalities spent on their library pre-and during the Great Recession (using the same 3-year definitions from the Public Library Quarterly study that I used as the basis for my previous 2 posts), I went right to the source. Here’s what I found:

Pre-recession (FY2006-08), municipalities spent an average of $612,850 on their libraries year-to-year
Great Recession (FY2009-11), municipalities spent an average of $639,638 on their libraries year-to-year
Municipal funding to libraries increased an average of 4.37% from pre- to Great Recession

More recently, over the last 3 years (FY2022, 2023, 2024) municipalities have spent an average of $920,418. The average from those last 3 years looks pretty promising. Libraries have gotten more money from their cities and towns! If we extrapolate with the pre- to Great Recession percentage increase, library funding might average about $960,650 each year for the next three years.

While objectively, an increase in funding of almost 44% over the course of 13 years looks positive from almost any angle, and assuming even a modest increase in funding during an economic downturn feels a bit like a win, this is only part of the picture. My favorite feature of the Municipal Pie is that it shows you what percentage of the municipal general fund a library receives. So let’s take a look at those numbers:

Pre-recession, municipalities spent an average of 1.30% of their general fund on libraries each year
In the Great Recession, municipalities spent an average of 1.28% of their general fund on libraries each year.
So, the proportion of the total money that municipalities had available that was spent on libraries pre- to Great Recession actually decreased by 1.03%

The average percentage of available municipal funds that cities and towns spent on their libraries year-to-year over the past 3 years is 1.24%. So, while the dollar amount over the past 2 decades has increased to libraries somewhat each year, how much libraries were represented in the general fund went down. Another way to interpret this could be that while libraries received more dollars from their municipality, it was likely because the municipality’s general fund went up and the money was there to spend. But when decisions were being made about how much of that increased funding should go to libraries, the money going to libraries was not as much as it initially appears.

Staffing – Past & Present

It looks like the findings for library funds is a mixed bag. Let’s take a look at what kind of staffing libraries had for these same year brackets. Fortunately, ARIS has been keeps statistics on library staffing since at least 2006, so there is no gap in the data we can mine as we uncover the following info:

Pre-Recession, libraries had on average from year-to-year:

11.7 full time equivalent (FTE) employees
6.9 actual full time employees
10.1 part time employees
A total of 17.0 full and part time employees

Great Recession, libraries had on average from year-to-year:

11.2 FTE employees
7.2 actual full time employees
9.8 part time employees
A total of 16.6 full and part time employees

This works out to be a decrease in staffing of 2.35%. On the surface, these numbers make a certain amount of sense. It was a recession. Unemployment was up. Inflation was probably up as well, which means that even the modest increase in funding that libraries received probably was only enough (maybe) to cover an increase in costs. It seems almost encouraging that the average number of employees didn’t go down by a full position. But, like the funding discussed above, these numbers in isolation don’t tell the whole story.

Remember in a previous post how I broke down library usage in Massachusetts from pre-recession to the Great Recession? Here’s a refresh of those numbers:

Circulation increased 12.5% during the Great Recession as compared to pre-recession numbers
Attendance increased 32.4% during the Great Recession as compared to pre-recession numbers

If we take the numbers from ARIS that I quoted in that previous post, libraries in MA, on average, had 74 more people per day and circulated 45 more items per day during the recession than they had before the recession. Libraries did all of this while operating with slightly fewer staff than they did prior to the recession. To put this another way, during the Great Recession, libraries were put on a trajectory of “doing more with less,” with foot traffic and circulation increasing without a comparable increase in staff to support those changes. **

What about now?

What might this look like for libraries today? The current numbers we have for FY2022-24 are:

12.3 FTE employees
8.1 actual full time employees
9.4 part time employees
A total of 17.3 full and part time employees

One of the first things I notice about this is that libraries are only just reaching pre-recession levels of staffing over the past couple of years, after almost 2 decades. Let’s recap what I calculated in my last post:

Libraries are seeing, on average, 198 people per day
Libraries are circulating, on average, 504 items per day

In the face of an economic downturn, libraries could see an average of 567 items being circulated daily and 263 people each day, using the same percentages calculated for pre- and Great Recession usage. Will libraries have the staff and funding to support those increases? Past data indicates that in the event we have a future economic downturn, libraries will be expected to “do more with less” once again. Mabe’s study also noted that library usage increased regardless of whether they received proportional budgetary support, so this appears to be a nationwide trend.

Libraries have been receiving smaller percentages of the potential municipal pie over the course of nearly 2 decades. Even in the event that libraries funding increases in dollar amount, based on evidence in the past, there is no guarantee that this will be enough to cover increase in expenses or staffing needs. Many costs are increasing nationwide and in Massachusetts , libraries are increasingly expanding their options in response to their communities’ needs. From libraries of things, more reliance on high-speed internet connections, adding social services and going fine free, libraries are adding services and removing barriers that can inhibit usage. Given these patterns, this is another opportunity to share information with your library advocates. You can encourage and help your advocates to put together a narrative that explains the realities of library work to present to municipal officials before budget negotiations begin. Libraries should have a seat at the table when funding is being determined and the sooner information is dispersed, the chances for a more favorable outcome increase.

* As a reminder this is a thought experiment to help provide a framework for potential projections by extrapolating numbers from the past. This does not mean that this is what WILL happen, but I would like to offer libraries to a basis that can be scalable to use for advocacy purposes in the event the need arises.

** The elephant in the room here when it comes to recent staffing numbers is obviously the 2020 global pandemic. Many libraries were forced to lay off workers, many of whom were part-time and/or not union represented. And even when libraries opened up again, many were not back to their full, pre-pandemic operating hours which means the incentive to hire back workers wasn’t particularly strong. And when libraries were operating more fully and getting back to pre-pandemic hours, bringing back part time staff wasn’t as appealing to many as being able to merge a couple of part time positions into a single full-time position that offered benefits and often a higher wage.

~ Al Hayden, MBLC Library Advisory Specialist

Service Update – June 25, 2025

PDF MBLC Service Update – June 2025 Download

🕙 MBLC Monthly Board Meeting on July 10th (Hybrid)
Contact: Rachel Masse

The regular monthly board meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is scheduled for 10AM on Thursday, July 10th, 2025, at the MBLC Office.

📰 Governor Healey Appoints Kemarah Sika as MBLC Commissioner

Contact: June Thammasnong

Boston native Kemarah Sika has been appointed by Governor Maura Healey to serve as a Commissioner for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). The MBLC is a nine-member board responsible for organizing, developing and improving library services across the Commonwealth. To read more about Commissioner Sika, visit the MBLC website.

📰 2025 Bruins Summer Reading Prizes to be Awarded to Libraries

Contact: June Thammasnong

Summer Library Programs play a significant role in keeping kids and teens connected to educational resources over the summer. Through the “When You Read, You Score!” Statewide Summer Library Program, the Boston Bruins encourage kids and teens to continue reading by awarding special prizes to participating public libraries across the Commonwealth. To read more about this year’s prize winners, visit the MBLC Website.

📅 Supporting Library Patrons with Re-Employment Needs—An Overview by MassHire (Online)

Contact: Ally Dowds

Thursday, June 26 at 10AM – Registration & More Information

Join this informative session designed to equip library staff with tools, resources, and knowledge to support patrons navigating unemployment, layoffs, and re-employment opportunities. There are over 25 MassHire Career Centers across that state and a Rapid Response Team that provides early intervention re-employment services to employees affected by layoffs and closings.

🗓️ARIS Opens on Tuesday, July 1^st!

Contact: Cate Merlin, Jen Inglis

State Aid ARIS & Financial Report season are upon us! The FY26 ARIS survey will open on July 1st and close on Friday, August 15th, and the FY26 Financial Report will open on August 4th and close on Friday, October 3rd. We are offering one more ARIS trainings this month, and Financial Report trainings will begin in August. Keep an eye out for information about ARIS-specific office hours and sign up for the State Aid Listserv for updates and information. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the State Aid team if you have any questions or concerns. More information and dates can be found at at the MBLC website.

🗓️ARIS Workshop (Online)

Contact: Cate Merlin, Jen Inglis

Wednesday, July 9 at 10AM – More Information & Zoom Link

‘Tis the season for ARIS (Annual Report Information & Statistics) trainings! Review the Annual Survey and learn about the new questions that will appear. Workshop information (meeting ID, etc.) will be emailed to registered participants as the date of the session approaches. Registration is required.

🗨️ Local History, Archives, and Preservation Office Hours (Online)

Contact: Jess Colati

Tuesday, July 1 at 10AM – More Info & Zoom Link

Tuesday, July 29 at 10AM – More Info & Zoom Link

Open to all interested in ensuring safe and stable storage and improving collection management for your library or organization’s preservation projects. Connect with the MBLC’s Preservation Specialist, Jess Colati and colleagues around the Commonwealth that work to advance the protection of cultural collections during monthly office hours. Sessions and chats are not recorded or saved.

💬 State Aid Office Hours (Online)

Contact: Cate Merlin

Wednesday, July 9 at 9AM – More Information & Zoom Link

Wednesday, July 23 at 2PM – More Information & Zoom Link

Join Cate Merlin, Head of State Programs, and your fellow Library Directors, Trustees, and others seeking advice and answers as we embark upon the FY2026 budget season. Make sure your next budget, materials spending, and hours open fully meet State Aid requirements, and share ideas for budget strategies with others- registration is not required, and session and chats will not be recorded or saved.

🤝 Fortifying Your Library: Protecting Your Library and Staff Through Policy (Online)

Contact: Al Hayden

Wednesday, July 9 at 2PM – More Information & Registration

Libraries are in need of updated policies now more than ever. Strong policy is one of the best ways to protect library staff, prevent issues, and keep unpreventable issues from escalating too far. Join Al Hayden for this webinar, which will offer practical advice for revising your library’s policies with:

Essential policies every library should keep updated
Tools to evaluate the strength of the policies you have now
Guidelines to consider when revising your policies
Suggestions for training staff on your updates
Communicating policy to patrons

Attendees should leave with actionable ideas to strengthen, revise, and evaluate library policy manuals.

Signup link: http://nicheacademy.com/fortifying-your-library-protecting-your-library-and-staff-through-policy

💻 Introduction to Web Accessibility (Online)

Contact: Jaccavrie McNeely, Kate Butler

Thursday, July 10 at 2PM – More Information & Registration Registration is full, but a waiting list is available.

Join us for the first webinar in a new series discussing digital accessibility topics and building tech skills to support your website’s accessibility. We’ll discuss the Department of Justice ADA Title II ruling and how it affects libraries as well as some accessibility basics to get you started.

Have specific questions? Accessibility office hours will be starting this summer, schedule TBA!

🤝Library Advisory Office Hours (Online)

Contact: Al Hayden

Monday, July 14 at 9AM – More Information & Zoom Link

Monday, July 28 at 2PM – More Information & Zoom Link

Open to all Directors, Trustees, Library Friends, and Foundation Members. They are designed to be an open-ended, safe space for questions and interaction among participants. Sessions will NOT be recorded, and chats will NOT be saved. Registration is not required; stop by anytime during the hour!

📊Census Data for Libraries: A Deeper Dive into Your Community ((Online)

Contact: Al Hayden

Tuesday, July 15 at 10AM – More Information & Registration

In this workshop you will learn how to find population and demographic data for various geographies, using data.census.gov, the Census Bureau’s premiere online data platform. Understanding community characteristics can help inform and prioritize the need for library services, funding, and programs.

🚧 Refreshed Construction Webpages

Contact: Andrea Bono-Bunker

Check out the new content and organization of the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program’s (MPLCP) webpages. In addition to updated pages for grantees, stakeholders interested in the construction program and project information will find pages on technical assistance, space planning (including a new inquiry form), pre-planning, active and past projects, funding available from other entities, and MPLCP publications, LibGuides, and podcast episodes.

🏳️‍🌈 Welcome Poster for PRIDE and Beyond!

Contact: June Thammasnong

In celebration of PRIDE, we’re delighted to share a bright new poster for your library to welcome everyone into libraries—everyday. The poster displays “Welcome to the Library” in 12 different languages (in order of appearance: Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Russian, Korean and Czech).

The poster is 11×17″ but may printed on 8.5×11″, and there are two versions available to download and print from the MBLC Awarehouse:

· Welcome to the Library Poster with space in the center for your library’s logo

· Welcome to the Library Poster (2025) MBLC logo only (pictured to the right)

The QR code takes visitors to libraries.state.ma.us, the statewide portal for Massachusetts libraries that features information how to get a library card, the statewide calendar of events, and a statewide search for library of things.

📝 Update on Bruins Summer Materials

Contact: June Thammasnong

There’s been an unexpected delay on this year’s Bruins Summer Reading Materials due to an issue with our printers that we’re working to fix. We’ll share an update when materials are shipped. Thank you for your patience!

🕙 MBLC Monthly Board Meeting on August 7th (Hybrid)
Contact: Rachel Masse

The regular monthly board meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is scheduled for 10AM on Thursday, August 7th, 2025, at the Marlborough Public Library.

MBLC Update May 23

Dear Colleagues,

This week at the Massachusetts Library Association conference I announced what statewide services will look like for FY2026 as we move ahead with no federal funding. While we are able to maintain the Commonwealth Catalog, the Libby eBook platform, and some funding for eBook content, the ongoing federal funding instability has caused us to make significant reductions in database offerings. After the announcement, many people shared kind words with me and with our staff at the MBLC booth. Please know how much we all appreciate it.

I also had the opportunity to speak with Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell at the conference. As I’ve mentioned previously, through AG Campbell’s office, Massachusetts is part of a 21 state lawsuit to protect IMLS in the aftermath of President Trump’s Executive Order.

In that conversation, AG Campbell told me she wants the library community to know that the actions outlined in the executive order are illegal, and her office is doing absolutely everything in their power to stop it. They will not stop fighting. It was encouraging to know that at the highest level of state government, we have a staunch advocate who truly has our backs.

Last week Rhode Island district court judge John J. McConnell Jr. issued an injunction to stop the dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The order calls for IMLS employees to be recalled and for processing and disbursements of grants to be resumed. It also requires that reports be submitted to demonstrate compliance with the injunction.

The first report states that IMLS staff are being recalled and that some grants will resume.

While that is good news, and baby steps in the right direction, we also learned this week that the Trump Administration is appealing the injunction.

We are watching the situation closely and reaching out to our colleagues in other states, but until or unless IMLS is fully restored and funds are flowing, the only fiscally responsible path for the MBLC is to continue to plan for FY26 without federal funding.

We’ve created some ways to track what’s happening with services and federal funding:
➡️MBLC Program Status
ℹ️Database Information Sheet
📋Federal Funding Impact Dashboard (for stakeholders, on the agency website)
🖥️Federal Funding Impact for the Public (on the consumer portal) updated with the most current information.

We’ve also set up zoom sessions so that your questions can be answered by me and by MBLC staff. Please join us:

May 29, 2025 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/JxXK0CrKQz6OxdeAbE71yQ

May 30, 2025 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/veIYpCXdSXmM5EpD9_dYyg

On the state side, this week the Massachusetts Senate has been debating their FY26 budget. Senators Oliveira, Rausch, and Collins filed amendments across several MBLC budget lines. During Wednesday’s session the last of the amendments was taken up. Here are the results:

Amendment	Title	Sponsor	Action
66	Public Libraries 7000-9401	Collins, Nick, Rausch, Rebecca L	Withdrawn
615	State Aid to Regional Public Libraries 7000-9401	Oliveira, Jacob R., Rausch, Rebecca L.	Adopted
741	Board of Library Commissioners 7000-9101	Oliveira, Jacob R., Rausch, Rebecca L.	Rejected Bundle 3
742	Library Technology and Resource Sharing 7000-9506	Oliveira, Jacob R., Rausch, Rebecca L.	Rejected Bundle 3

Amendment 615 will add $500,000 to State Aid to Regional Public Libraries 7000-9401. This extra funding to the Massachusetts Library System and Library for the Commonwealth will have a big impact securing resources during these times of unstable federal funding. Sincere thanks go out to Senator Oliveira for his leadership in filing these amendments and his staff for being so responsive.

The Senate’s debate on the budget wrapped up yesterday, and their final budget is complete. The budget now goes to the House and Senate Ways and Means Conference Committee for debate on any line items that didn’t match each other in both budgets. Once that is complete, a final version will be presented to the Governor.

We will continue to share information as it develops from the state and federal levels, and please continue to reach out with questions anytime.

Sincerely,

Maureen Amyot

Director, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

MBLC May 16 Update

Dear Colleagues,

We received news this week that Rhode Island District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. issued an injunction to stop the dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) caused by President Trump’s Executive Order 14238 . The order calls for IMLS employees to be recalled to work and for processing and disbursements of grants to be resumed.

While this is good news, the MBLC continues to proceed with caution. Questions remain about federal compliance with this ruling and the outlook for federal funding for FY2026 is uncertain. As I have mentioned in previous updates, the MBLC is planning for FY2026 with no federal funding. That said, we cannot make up the federal funds via our state budget lines which are currently level funded in the FY26 budgets being debated at the State House.

On Tuesday, May 20, I will use the “State of the State” at the Massachusetts Library Association conference to make an announcement about statewide services that have been impacted by the uncertainty caused by Executive Order 14238. These services include statewide databases, the Commonwealth Catalog, and the statewide Library eBooks and Audiobooks (LEA) program powered by Libby.

After the State of the State, this information will be available at both the MBLC and MLS booths. It will also be emailed to the library community.

I have scheduled information sessions for people who are not able to be at MLA:

May 29, 2025 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/JxXK0CrKQz6OxdeAbE71yQ

May 30, 2025 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/veIYpCXdSXmM5EpD9_dYyg

I look forward to seeing you at the MLA conference or at one of the zoom information sessions. Please continue to reach out if you have questions anytime.

Sincerely,

Maureen Amyot

Director, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

MBLC May 9 Update

Dear Colleagues,

Yesterday, President Trump fired Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress who has been a champion of intellectual freedom. Hearing this news early today was both upsetting and infuriating. My colleague Karen Mellor, the Chief of Library Services at the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services framed the situation eloquently when she said, “The country is poorer now for the irrational removal of a respected and thoughtful leader of one of our nation’s leading institutions.” Dr. Hayden was the first woman and first African American Librarian of Congress. She was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by Congress in 2016, and served under the Obama, Trump, Biden, and Trump’s current administrations. Her entire career has been focused on equity in library services, patron privacy, outreach, and building diversity within the library workforce.

Dr. Hayden’s abrupt termination is a stark reminder that our freedom, including our freedom to read, is being challenged across the country. Hereat home we need to continue efforts to pass legislation that protects that right — and protects the librarians who work to ensure that all voices are part of library collections.

We received notice this week that a federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction halting the further dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that began on March 14 when President Trump signed Executive Order 14238 eliminating IMLS to “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The preliminary injunction comes as part of the lawsuit filed by attorneys general in 21 states, including Massachusetts. This is separate from the lawsuit filed by the American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) which as I reported out in last week’s update, was granted a temporary restraining order to block the dismantling of IMLS.

These are solid wins. In the long game they may move us closer to a return to reliable federal funding for libraries. But right now, the MBLC is facing difficult decisions that are based on what we do know: federal uncertainty persists. We cannot sign contracts or move ahead with services for FY2026 based on what we hope will happen with federal funding.

We’ve been asked if there’s a possibility that the flow of federal funding will return for FY2026. There’s always that possibility. And should the funding requirements align with the values we’ve held since our founding in 1890, we’ll gladly accept them and put them to work serving the people of the Commonwealth.

Please continue to reach out with questions. We appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Maureen Amyot

Director

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

Policy: Child Safety

If you read the past blog entries on patron rights and responsibilities and the associated rights and responsibilities for employees, especially if you have experience as a children’s or youth librarian, they may have left you wondering “but what about children in the library?” As someone who spent years of her career as a children’s librarian, I felt that children’s behavior and safety warranted its very own blog post. My philosophy on this takes several prongs, but focuses, much like collection development, on the responsibility of the adult that accompanies or is otherwise responsible for the child(ren). Let me walk you through what I mean.

Children’s Inclusion in Patron Rights and Responsibilities

Every patron who walks into the library should be subject to your Patron Rights and Responsibilities (or whatever you choose to name that particular behavior policy). This should be regardless of age. Some may argue that very young children are not cognitively equipped to understand the requirements placed upon them when they are in the library. This is where the responsible person accompanying the child needs to assert those responsibilities. Presumably, someone who is capable enough to accompany a younger patron into the library should also be capable of understanding the rules that surround the use of the library and either explaining them to the child or ensuring that the child acts accordingly.

In addition, aside from perhaps the littlest of our patrons, children are out there in the world and understand and mimic a lot in their worlds. So, if the grownups are behaving appropriately, the kiddos are likely to follow suit. You can also help guide the younger patrons to understanding appropriate behavior with a sign explaining the most important rules with simple, direct phrasing and accompanying graphics or icons to illustrate what you expect. For example:

In this library, we:

Use our walking feet
Use our indoor voices
Clean up after ourselves
Ask for help when we need it

Using icons that illustrate the rules can help children who aren’t reading yet to still understand the rules. Plus, children who go to pre-k or elementary schools will likely be familiar with similar signs in their classrooms.

Speaking of signage, it can also be helpful to the adults who bring children into the library’s space to have clear signage clarifying their role and the role of library staff. You will know the best way to present this information to your community but something to the effect of “Please remember that the library is a public space. We do our best to keep all of our patrons safe, but library staff members are not a substitute for childcare and cannot supervise children,” could be helpful in keeping expectations clear and preventing some confrontations between patrons and staff.

Child Safety Policy

If you have a space that’s dedicated to children’s usage, you probably want to have a policy dedicated to this, or, at the very least, a section in your patron behavior policy that addresses children who are unattended. Some things to consider when you’re crafting a policy around child safety include:

Will you be able to indemnify the library from responsibility for children left in the library unattended?
How will you communicate the role of the caregiver in determining their child’s ability to use the library with or without supervision?
How will you define an “unattended child”?
What situations will prompt you/your staff to act in the best interest of the library and the child to resolve a problematic situation.

Once you have those situations outlined and defined, the next step you may want to consider is outlining what will happen if you become concerned about an unattended child. This may seem to cross the line into procedure, so this is entirely up to you whether to get into this level of detail. However, it may be helpful for your staff to have precisely what to do enshrined in policy. That way, if there are any challenges or questions as to how the situation was handled, your staff are enabled to say, “here is a copy of our policy; this child met the circumstances defining an unattended child and we acted as our policy outlined.”

Here are some questions you may want to consider when deciding what you will do if you find that a child meets your definition of unattended and is in a situation that you have defined as warranting action:

At what point(s) do you attempt to contact the child’s caregiver and how many times will you make those attempts?
What will you do if the child is unattended, and it is close to closing time?
What will you do if you are unable to reach a caregiver?
Will you consider contacting the police? At what point should that action be taken?
What are the limitations on your staff?
ex: staff will never transport a child to their home or lead a child outside the building
What do you do in the event of a medical emergency?
What steps will you take after the situation has been resolved (I’m a big fan of incident reports and may do a future post with that focus)

Role of the Caregiver

By and large when you see a caregiver at the library, they are already aware of and enacting their full responsibilities on behalf of their child(ren). Here are some questions you may want to consider if you choose to craft a section that creates clear expectations about the responsibilities of the caregiver:

If a caregiver chooses to drop off their child(ren), when is the latest they must pick up their child(ren)? —-> Relatedly, will the caregiver need a reminder that library hours vary, and it is the caregiver who must know when the library closes?
How will you express the boundaries a caregiver should set with their child(ren) about what they see, read, hear and borrow from your library?

Some additional considerations:

Will you mention or include an ALA statement about the right for all to have equal opportunity to access anything in the library?
Does your library have filtering software on any of its technology and what are those limitations (or not)?
Do you want to address the privacy rights of a child who may have their own library card?

The Role of Library Staff

I have spent most of this post focusing on the responsibility of the person accompanying any children into the library, but the needs and responsibilities of staff members should be addressed as well. Staff members have job duties they need to attend to, and their responsibility lies in taking care of their job duties, which does not involve childcare. However, library employees still have the responsibility to maintain a safe, accessible space for as many patrons as possible. They need to be trained and prepared to intervene when the occasion calls for it. If you’ve hired a staff member to work in a children’s or youth department, you’ve likely done so with the trust in their temperament and ability to handle your youngest patrons with care and respect.

They are also out there in your community, communicating with your patrons and likely have a very good sense of how to approach patrons and keep their departments as safe as possible. That doesn’t mean they won’t occasionally need backup or training but having a policy that reiterates the responsibility of the person who is there with the child as paramount can go a long way to helping your staff feel more confident when they do need to say to a child “where is your grownup?” or “doing that isn’t safe; please stop.” It also empowers them to find that grownup and explain the policies in a way that not only can help the caregiver understand them, but also that the caregiver is the one who needs to take the reigns in the situation.

Like so many policies, whether or not you address these specific issues and, if you do, whether or not it becomes its own policy or is embedded in other policies is largely dependent upon your unique library situation. You know your library community best and whether or not these situations apply to your library. You know what is practical for your staff and makes the most sense in the context of your library. I hope these points give you the option to consider what will work best within your library’s structure and your community’s expectations.

How much do book challenges cost?🏷️💲

In a previous post, I stressed the importance of laying out requirements for Requests for Reconsideration (RfRs). RfRs take extensive time and effort which end up costing the library in time, effort and taxpayer dollars that are taken away from doing another part of library work for your community. Let’s explore this in a bit more detail. I’ve discussed how professional librarians are tasked with being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This is because libraries are, by and large, municipal departments. The largest portion of funds from municipal budgets generally go towards staff salaries. Remaining municipal funds, plus funds from state aid, and donations from Friends groups or Foundations are often applied towards programs that move the library’s community forward in areas such as (but definitely not limited to):

digital literacy and bridging the digital divide
helping skilled workers enter the job pipeline
aiding budding entrepreneurs
guiding new Americans to become valuable citizens in our society
offering early literacy guidance to families
preparing children for kindergarten readiness
supporting K-12 students by partnering with schools
safeguarding patron privacy

These are the types of regular duties that professional and paraprofessional library staff are spending their time on, in addition to the more visible services of ensuring access to information, including your library holds. Libraries are offering essential services to their communities at no cost to individual patrons, making the most of every penny a municipality invests in them. * Any time spent by staff members at any level that are outside the regular duties I’ve described can put a strain on already limited time and budgets. **

️🔢 Let’s compile some numbers

When a book, program, display or other library service is challenged, much of what I described above gets put on hold to address the concern(s) brought to the library. The cost of these challenges is not often discussed, so finding data points such as the average cost of a single challenge, or how much a state spends on book challenges over the course of a year are difficult to find and even more difficult to standardize. Many don’t realize that book (or display, or program) challenges are a very real strain on taxpayer funds. Costs vary between states and municipalities based on staff salaries and more. Much of the data gathered about the cost of book challenges is from schools and indicates that schools across the US have spent more than $3 billion each year on investigating book challenges. There is less data on how much public library challenges cost. However, the MBLC collects data that all certified public libraries report annually through ARIS and in recent years we’ve included statistics on formal RfRs or intellectual freedom challenges.***

For our current purposes, we can calculate the cost of book challenges for fiscal year 2023 in Massachusetts’s public libraries based on the data we already routinely collect:

The average hourly wage of a professional (i.e. MLIS holding) librarian in MA is $33.56/hr.
I will also use this wage ($33.56) the professional librarian salary for library Administration but please keep in mind:

Library Administration (Directors and Assistant Directors) earn higher salaries than the average professional librarian, but the difference between administrative and professional salaries varies widely across municipalities.
Not every library has an Assistant Director (or equivalent)
This makes any result from these calculations VERY conservative.

There were 40 unique challenges to materials, services or programs in MA in FY24.

🔎 What really goes into a Request for Reconsideration?

How long does a reconsideration process take once a formal request for reconsideration (RfR) has been activated? This will vary by library, but using the guidelines outlined in my previous blog post and figures based on request for reconsideration procedures already in place at some public libraries, here is an approximation of the time investment for each step of the process:

Steps of the RfR Process	Approximate time invested
A Library Director, upon receiving a challenge, will usually spend some time researching the material being challenged, the reviews of the material and the library’s collection development policy	1 HOUR
Provided the library has a large enough staff, the Director will assemble a review committee of about 3 professional librarians who will research the material in question and its reviews along with the challenger’s complaint, and discuss a course of action based on the collection development policy	3 staff members, each investing about 3 hours = 9 HOURS
The Director will inform the staff member who ordered the book about the challenge. The Director will also inform the Chair of the Board of Library Trustees, ensuring the Board is aware that the issue is being handled according to policy. This also ensures Board has some background information should the complainant wish to appeal the library’s decision to the Trustees.	1 HOUR
The review committee will meet with the Library Director and inform the Director of their decision, including reasoning	1HOUR
The Director will compose a response based on the committee findings, informing the person who put forth the request of the library’s decision	1 HOUR
	This totals approximately 13 hours of senior/administrative staff time. Multiplying the total staff time spent (13 hours) by the average hourly wage ($33.56) , the cost to the challenge 1 book in Massachusetts is $436.28, at a minimum. (13 x $33.56 = $436.28)

For the 40 challenges MA libraries received in FY2024, the cost was more than $17,415 in taxpayer dollars and more than 520 hours of senior/administrative staff time devoted to book challenges. The process is very similar for a challenge to a program or service. ****

One more note about the factors in the above calculations. They only take into account senior staff and admin time, but the time, energy, and efforts for reconsideration taken on by professional staff not directly involved in a challenge (ex. the staff member who ordered the challenged item) or paraprofessional staff who are often the ones at the front desk fielding the initial complaint should not be underestimated. They are not included in these calculations because the costs are very difficult to standardize in terms of both wages and time spent with someone submitting a complaint. But never forget that it is generally the staff on the frontlines that are getting the unfiltered initial complaints that are often emotionally charged.

Which leads me to one, final note about the costs of requests for reconsideration. There is an incalculable emotional cost at every level of these challenges. Even under the best of circumstances, if someone is moved enough to go through the process to formally challenge something in the library, they feel very strongly about their position. How members of the public express their concern varies widely, but no matter how much experience a staff member has in libraries, or how many years they have been working at public service points, the underlying emotional tension associated with a challenge is high. It is most important for everyone to keep in mind that library workers – at all levels – are people first; they are more than the items they order or the programs they put on or the desks that they work. They are professionals and paraprofessionals who feel strongly about doing the best for their community. It will vary widely from person to person, but when the public calls into question the dedication of library workers to the library’s mission, the emotional cost is immeasurable.

* Last week’s blog post “Calculating and Communicating Your ROI” details how valuable these services are in terms of municipal return on investment (ROI), and you can check out different library value calculators to determine your library’s ROI.

** In Massachusetts’s fiscal year 2024, the total percentage of the state’s general fund that was invested into libraries totalled 1.09%. To find out what percent of its budget your municipality invests in libraries, and to see how that percentage compares to the state’s investment, take a look at your municipal pie.

*** We also collect data on informal challenges (complaints, turning books spine-in, relocating a book without staff knowledge, etc. but without taking the step of filing an RfR) which are also a strain on time and budgets, but those are much more difficult to calibrate.

**** While the above description applies to the procedures when a program is challenged, there is often an extensive increase in security, sometimes with the use of both municipal police and private security. This also incurs costs paid for by taxpayer dollars.

24 Mayors and Municipal Leaders Fight for Library Funding

April 2, 2025

Dear Members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation:

On behalf of mayors and city officials across Massachusetts, we thank you for your leadership in representing the needs of our communities. We are writing to express our deep concern over an executive order signed March 14, 2025 that would target federal funding to libraries and museums through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS is the single largest source of critical federal funding for libraries, however it only accounts for 0.003% of the federal budget.

In Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) received $3.6 million from IMLS’ Grants to States Programs. This money funds several statewide services for everyone, including the full and partial salaries for MBLC staff, statewide research databases, Summer Reading, the Statewide eBook Program, statewide trainings for librarians to increase access for people with vision loss, early literacy development and grade level reading programs, and Interlibrary Loan. It is also critical to note that IMLS funding also supports museums in our communities.

Libraries offer the opportunity for members of the public to access materials at no cost or low cost to them. For individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities, it can be difficult to sustain a need or desire for reading materials that are usable for their needs. Most importantly, Interlibrary Loan offers the chance for library patrons to obtain materials that are not a part of their home library’s collection. In towns that have smaller collections, Interlibrary Loan offers a gateway to materials throughout the Commonwealth.

As elected officials on the front lines, we know that libraries are more than spaces to hold reading materials. Libraries also serve as spaces that offer connections to social services and resources, support for small business owners and entrepreneurs, and they can serve as a space for community. Since their creation, American libraries have served to keep and circulate knowledge; they have remained dedicated
to promoting intellectual freedom in our democracy. We urge the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation to work together and across party lines to protect IMLS funding from harmful cuts and policy changes. As local leaders, we are directly accountable to the residents we serve. Thank you for your continued leadership and commitment to protecting the well-being of all residents.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. Petty, Mayor of Worcester
Cathleen DeSimone, Mayor of Attleboro
Dori A. Vecchio, Interim Town Manager of Auburn
Robert Pontbriand, Town Manager of Ayer
Margaret “Peg” Stone, Select Board Chair of Berlin
Robert F. Sullivan, Mayor of Brockton
E. Denise Simmons, Mayor of Cambridge
Charles Seelig, Town Administrator of East Bridgewater
Samantha Squailia, Mayor of Fitchburg
Charles Sisitsky, Mayor of Framingham
Michael J. Nicholson, Mayor of Gardner
Greg Verga, Mayor of Gloucester
Virginia “Ginny” Desorgher, Mayor of Greenfield
Melinda Barrett, Mayor of Haverhill
Brian A. DePeña, Mayor of Lawrence
Caesar Nuzzolo, Select Board Chair of Lunenburg
Jared C. Nicholson, Mayor of Lynn
David P. Beauregard, Jr., Mayor of Methuen
Ruthanne Fuller, Mayor of Newton
Gina-Louise Sciarra, Mayor of Northampton
Ted Bettencourt, Mayor of Peabody
Sherry Patch, Town Administrator of Princeton
Leah Whiteman, Select Board Chair of Rutland
Austin J. Cyganiewicz, Town Administrator of Rutland
Dominick Pangalo, Mayor of Salem
Domenic J. Sarno, Mayor of Springfield

Download the PDF of the 4.2.2025 Letter to Congressional Delegation Regarding Library Funding

AASL Commends the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

CHICAGO – The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) formally commends the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), approving a resolution made by the Massachusetts School Library Association (MSLA), an AASL Chapter. AASL annually recognizes outstanding programs, events, and products nominated by AASL Chapters for their support of the school librarian profession and the learners the profession serves. The full list of 2024 commendations can be found on the AASL website.
“The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners has made my job of high school librarian easier from day one,” said MSLA President Barb Fecteau. “The resources they provide make it possible for my students to succeed in many different ways. This year, they have gone above and beyond by highlighting the importance of school librarians across the Commonwealth by publishing The ‘Top 5 Reasons for Having a Licensed School Library Teacher in Every School.’ I read a LOT and it’s my favorite thing I have read all year!”
The MBLC strives to provide every resident of Massachusetts with full and equal access to library information resources. The Board has recently launched a new school Librarian webpage showcasing school librarians as educational professionals and has included “The Top 5 Reasons for Having a Licensed School Library Teacher in Every School” in the 2024 Legislative Agenda. The two-page PDF showcases how school librarians are educational professionals impacting reading achievement, preparing students to participate in a diverse society, developing media literacy skills, and staying up to date on technology.
AASL President Becky Calzada added, “Our AASL Chapters have brought forth eighteen stellar commendations. These recognitions highlight the advocacy of intellectual freedom, access of inclusive literature, celebrates students’ use of media and technology that incorporates the integration of AASL Standards and advances the understanding of school librarians as educators. The AASL Board of Directors is grateful for the keen eyes of our state chapter leaders for bringing these resolutions forward. Commendations acknowledge and expand awareness of the important work happening in many local communities in support of school libraries, school librarians and the learners they serve.”
All AASL Chapters are eligible to nominate outstanding programs, events, and products for national recognition. To be commended, nominees must align with the principles expressed in the AASL’s mission and value statements. The full list of 2024 commendations can be found on the AASL website.
The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.
Contact:
Jennifer Habley
Manager, Members & Chapters
American Association of School Librarians (AASL)
jhabley@ala.org