At the May, 2017 Board meeting, Dianne Carty presented the recommendations of the State Aid Waiver Task Force which were accepted by the Commissioners. A PDF copy of the recommendations is available in the Task Force Recommendations box on the righthand side of this page.
MBLC staff will be holding State Aid Information Sessions to gather feedback from the library community on the following dates. It is not necessary to sign up to attend these sessions. For those people who cannot attend the information sessions, a survey will be available from June 1-30 to provide feedback on the recommendations.
Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Easton, Ames Free Library
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2017
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Barre, Woods Memorial Library
Date: Monday, June 12, 2017
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury Public Library
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Time: 2:30pm - 3:30pm
Location: CLAMS Headquarters
Date: Monday, June 19, 2017
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: MLS Northampton
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Georgetown Peabody Library
Facilitator:
Nancy Rea
Jane Cain, Director Yarmouth Town Libraries
Ellen Dolan, Director Shrewsbury Public Library
Glenn Ferdman, Director Somerville Public Library
Jessi Finnie Scituate Town Library
Sarah Gay, Director Chelsea Public Library
Dianne Giarrusso, Director Tewksbury Public Library
Antonia Golinski-Foisy, Director West Springfield Public Library
Theresa Hurley, Director Lynn Public Library
Jen Inglis, Chief of Public Service Boston Public Library
Andrew Jenrich, Director Mendon Public Library
Mark Linde, Trustee Brockton Public Library
Olivia Melo, Director New Bedford Public Library
Janet Moulding, Director Northampton, Forbes Library
Commissioners:
Mary Ann Cluggish, Board Chair
Greg Shesko
Frank Murphy,
Mary Kronholm
MBLC Staff:
Dianne Carty, Director
Liz Babbitt, State Aid Specialist
Mary Rose Quinn, Head of State Programs
Meetings:
September 22, 2016 - Worcester Public Library
October 20, 2016 - Shrewsbury Public Library
November 17, 2016 - Shrewsbury Public Library
January 12, 2017 - Shrewsbury Public Library
February 16, 2017 - Shrewsbury Public Library
March 16, 2017 - Shrewsbury Public Library
Two of the recommendations to the Board concerning the calculation of the MAR and the MAR waiver were put aside for further discussion. It was considered that they would need additional discussion beyond the scope of the original State Aid to Public Libraries Review Committee. At the July, 2016 Board meeting, Commissioners appointed a task force to look at the following charge:
The Task Force will study recommendations from the State Aid Review Committee regarding the Waiver process and the MAR calculation. Both require additional input from the library community, more focused research on current program elements, and a closer analysis of relevant data before a final determination about possible changes can be presented to the Board.