NEWS RELEASE

Governor Appoints Karen Traub to Library Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 27, 2021
Celeste Bruno
Communications Director
1-800-952-7403 x208
celeste.bruno@mass.gov

Shutesbury resident Karen Traub has been appointed by Governor Charles Baker to serve on the nine-member Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). The MBLC is responsible for library services across the Commonwealth including the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program, federal Library Services and Technology Act grants, regional library services, and statewide programs for eBooks, audiobooks and research databases.

“I’ve loved libraries since I was a five-year-old kid who checked out Make Way for Ducklings with my very first library card. I’m proud to live in Massachusetts where the country’s first library commission was established.  I will do my best to serve our libraries,” said Traub. 

Throughout her career, Commissioner Traub has worked to expand library accessibility, locally advocating to increase library staff, hours and budget and serving on the committee that made the Shutesbury library handicapped accessible.

Traub took a leadership role in planning for a new Shutesbury library urging the town to put aside a yearly $10,000-$25,000 toward the anticipated project. She sponsored a region wide “Revitalizing your Friends Group” roundtable and a community visioning party with a chocolate fountain and chaired the Library Facility Needs Assessment Committee which held listening and information sessions. She assisted in writing the MBLC construction grant applications which resulted in Shutesbury being awarded a planning and design grant in 2007 totaling $40,000 and provisional construction grant totaling more than $2 million in 2011. Traub also chaired the fundraising committee which brought in pledges of over $100,000 from all over the world.

Commissioner Traub served as a Library Trustee in Wendell from 1997-2000, and in Shutesbury from 2002-2012 where she helped develop and update library policies including the bylaws, mission statement, trust fund, and computer use policies.  She also served on the MBLC’s State Advisory Council of Libraries (SACL) from 2014-2020. SACL members review and evaluate grant applications and make funding recommendations to the MBLC. A graduate of the Newport MFA, Traub holds an M.Ed. from Cambridge College, and a B.A. from McGill University. She is also an acupressurist, belly dancer and a historical reenactor who appears at community events as Lura Berry Barnes, a library trustee from the early 20th century.

About MBLC

The Board of Library Commissioners (mass.gov/mblc) is the agency of state government with the statutory authority and responsibility to organize, develop, coordinate and improve library services throughout the Commonwealth. The Board advises municipalities and library trustees on the operation and maintenance of public libraries, including construction and renovation. It administers state and federal grant programs for libraries and promotes cooperation among all types of libraries through regional library systems and automated resource sharing. It also works to ensure that all residents of the Commonwealth, regardless of their geographic location, social or economic status, age, level of physical or intellectual ability or cultural background, have access to essential new electronic information technologies and significant electronic databases.