NEWS RELEASE

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) elected new officers to serve for FY2023 at its Board Meeting on July 7, 2022.

The Board elected Commissioner Debby Conrad as Board Chair. Ms. Conrad was appointed to the Board in December 2020 by Governor Baker. Her library career spans more than 40 years, most notably as Executive Director of the SAILS library network which boasts membership from more than 70 publicly funded school, academic and public libraries in 38 communities. She was inducted to the Massachusetts Library Association’s Hall of Fame in 2014. She serves on the MBLC’s Resource Sharing Committee and State Aid to Public Libraries Committee. She is also the MBLC Liaison to the Massachusetts Library System and the State Advisory Council on Libraries (SACL).

Commissioner Deborah Abraham was elected to serve as Vice Chair. Appointed by Governor Baker in 2018, Ms. Abraham has held many leadership roles during her 30-year library career including at the Massachusetts Library Association and North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE), one of nine library networks. As the former Director of Everett Public Libraries, she was successful in renovating and expanding the Shute Memorial Library, which celebrated its reopening in 2015. She serves on the MBLC’s Construction Team, Public Relations Advisory Committee, and Resource Sharing Committee.

Commissioner Stacey DeBole was elected to serve as Secretary. Commissioner DeBole was appointed by Governor Baker in 2019, and has spent most her of professional career working in various public, academic, and special libraries including the Suffolk University Library, the New England School of Law Library, and the Salem State University Library, before moving to the Everett Public Libraries, where she recently retired from her position as Library Director. She serves on the MBLC’s Resource Sharing Committee and is the MBLC Liaison to the Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library, Mass Friends of Libraries, and the Mass Library Trustee Association.

The Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary make up the Executive Committee of the MBLC and are elected every July by the board and hold their office for one year. Commissioners can serve for two successive one-year terms in any office, and after one year are eligible for election again.

Established in 1890, the MBLC was the first state library commission in the United States. The nine-member, volunteer Commission is appointed by the Governor. The MBLC supports statewide programming and innovation in libraries to ensure equal access to library services for every resident in the Commonwealth.