In June, 2023, Mayor Sean Reardon quickly suspended the Newburyport Library volunteer program, mostly in the Archival Center, due to a union grievance against the volunteers for allegedly performing tasks meant for employees. Having no success in negotiations, the volunteers petitioned the City Council for an independent investigation. In May, 2024, the petition was approved, but the investigation did not start until November. Findings are due this month.
A day before The Townie posted my essay on weeding (the removal of old books from local libraries), the local daily ran a front-page story on the “success” of the Newburyport Public Library’s new volunteer program.
“New” because the volunteer program was suspended in the summer of 2023 by Mayor Sean Reardon. “New” because the gig was crafted by the newly-appointed Head Librarian, Kevin Bourque. Also “new” because none of old, embattled volunteers are with the new crop. Considering all of them were retirees, you could say that they, too, were weeded.
Nor could any of them rejoin the new program, anyway. That would be awkward in light of the petition to the City Council that they and a few supporters, including me, signed calling for an investigation into the manner of their dismissal. The petition was successful, although the delay in choosing an investigator allowed a certain City Hall official, who played a key role in the incident, time to find a municipal position and new home in Western Massachusetts.
Coincidence? Maybe. But is it also coincidence that the local paper heralds nothing but success just as the investigation is drawing to a close in February? Here’s a sentence that appears midway through the 850-word report:
After collecting feedback from staff as well as former volunteers, Bourque crafted a new program and policy that was approved last May by the board of directors as well as library staff.
The phrase “from staff as well as volunteers” is no doubt true because he did listen to anyone who walked through his open door, including me. And a few of the dismissed volunteers told me that they have spoken to him. However, in the context of this rosy report, those six words create a rainbow impression that the former volunteers approve of all that has happened, and that all is forgiven and forgotten.
Another item in the report is a glaring contradiction to anyone who has followed the NPL saga, but would go unnoticed by casual readers. Allegedly, a reason for dismissal was that volunteers were doing staff work, a breach of the union contract. Now, Bourque openly reveals that the new volunteers are doing nothing but reshelving books in the stacks. How is that task not among the various items in a librarian’s job description? A clear case of “Which is it?”
Starting with Reardon’s suspension of the initial program, this has been a shell game to disguise the removal of people well-acquainted with local history who actually knew how to research and could help patrons find things.
Reasons given for the dismissal begin with “bullying” and “harassment,” but no one who knows any of the elderly, professional, and highly competent dismissed volunteers believes that for a moment. Which may be why no incident or quote was ever specified, despite numerous requests for them over these past 18 months.
My own speculation is that many young people expect a raise of inflection and or a giggle at the end of every spoken sentence, as well as smiley face or heart or huggy emojis after written ones. Normal talk, people my post-menopausal age often find, sounds angry to them. A matter-of-fact question is not heard but felt as assault and battery.
To nail down a breach of the union contract, charges against the dismissed volunteers included accepting money from patrons. In the most extreme case of a public institution “airing dirty laundry” that I’ve ever seen, the NPL website posted this accusation prominently for five weeks. The intended impression was to make the dismissed volunteers appear to be exploiting their role. The truth is — some patrons gave them coins for the photocopier because the volunteers were familiar with machines those patrons had never used, and they were thankful for their help.
So much for the truthfulness of NPL staff. Added to all of that, Bourque’s recent, unwitting admission regarding shelving seems like old news.
Don’t mean to tax your patience with yet another critique of a public library, but false information and insinuations that go unanswered stick. For that I reason, I write this not out of choice, but of obligation.
Jack Garvey
Newbury resident
Friends of the library are encouraged to get in touch and make their voice heard, so both sides of the issue are equally represented.
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