MBLC Meets at the new Rowley Public Library on May 6, 2004.
Summer Reading Adventure:
To promote the upcoming statewide "Explore Other Worlds @ your libraryŽ" Summer Reading Program on a statewide level, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is initiating a summer reading public relations campaign this year. Included are the following:
Media Coverage of Library Kick-Off Events
The media will be invited to help generate publicity about summer reading during the week of June 16 - June 23 when participating libraries across the Commonwealth will be holding kick-off events.
Promotion at Movie Theaters
During June and early July, the MBLC will be using some Library Service and Technology Act federal monies to fund advertising of the summer reading program in movie theaters across the Commonwealth. Movie previews will feature the "Explore Other Worlds @ your libraryŽ" theme, along with an encouragement to visit a Web site and their local library.
A Special Web Site for Children, Teens and Families
The MBLC is developing a special "Explore Other Worlds @ your library" summer reading program Web site directly aimed to meet the information needs of children, teens, and families. It will launch in June at www.mass.gov/mblc/reading.
House FY05 State Budget
The Massachusetts House of Representatives completed work on FY05 state budget on April 29th at the State House. The House version of the State budget includes a $1.4 million increase in the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners budget from the FY04 level of funding. The House budget provides a $1.2 million increase in State Aid to Public Libraries from the FY04 level of funding from $7,339,844 to $8,539,844. It also gives authority to grant 20 additional waivers of the municipal appropriation requirement (M.A.R.) in addition to the 10 waivers permitted in law. The FY04 state budget and the FY05 Governor's budget provide authorization of the MBLC to award in excess of the statutory ten waivers of the M.A.R.
The House also reinstated funding for line item 7000-9506 Library Technology and Resource Sharing. An amendment passed during the House budget debate, which provided a $200,000 increase in this account from $ 341,811 to $541,811. The Governor's version of the FY05 state budget does not contain funding for this account.
The House also reduced funding for the Board's Administrative account by $29,881 for FY05. The House level funded the Talking Book Library at Worcester, Talking Book program at Perkins and Regional Library Systems and Library of Last Recourse at the FY04 level of funding. The Senate version of the FY05 state budget will be debated the week of May 17th.
CD Settlement
The Attorney General's Office does not have a new firm date for the distribution of the CD's. They do not expect them to arrive earlier than June, but that is far from a firm date.
Comeau Appointed to the Board
George T. Comeau, Esq., of Canton has been appointed by Governor Mitt Romney to a three-year term on the nine-member Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. He replaces John Henderson who resigned in January.
Commissioner Comeau is an administrator and an adjunct professor at Suffolk University and also maintains a private law practice in Canton. He currently is a Trustee of the Canton Public Library, and a member of the Executive Board of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Advisory Board, the Chairman of the advisory board of the Massachusetts Audubon Society Visual Arts Center, a member of the Mass. Audubon Council and Canton Historical Commission, and the President of the Friends of the Little Red House, Inc., in Canton. He has both a BS and a MPA from Suffolk University, as well as his JD from Suffolk University Law School.
