Boston Magazine Offers Profile of Amy Ryan, Public Library President

Boston Public Library

Link to May 22 Boston Magazine article, "The Nice Queen".

Excerpt:   As protests go, this one is downright amiable. On an unseasonably warm Sunday in March, 40 people have gathered on the steps of the Boston Public Library’s McKim Building in Copley Square for a read-in — a bookish riff on the sit-in — to demonstrate their displeasure with a plan to close several of the BPL’s neighborhood branches. The crowd ranges in age from infants in strollers to sexagenarians. Some chat among themselves, a few hold Sharpied “Save Our Libraries” signs, but most just sit and read their paperbacks. Their leader, a bespectacled Harvard postdoc named Brandon Abbs, speaks with a trickle of reporters and passersby, including a slim, silver-haired woman wearing black chinos and Asics, a black cardigan tied around her shoulders.

That would be Amy Ryan,the 59-year-old president of the Boston Public Library and, theoretically at least, the authority the crowd has gathered to oppose — The Man. But Ryan doesn’t look like The Man. She looks like a mom, one who doesn’t seem to recognize that she’s the object of these people’s ire.

“Isn’t this an honor? Isn’t this wonderful?” she repeats over and over, gazing at the protesters. “People really, really love their libraries.”

Related articles:
State funding at risk.  (4/29/2010)
Library board votes to close 4 branches.  (4/10/2010)
Recommendation to close 4 branches (among other cuts).  (4/8/2010)
More than 100 gather to fight possible branch library closings.  (4/4/2010)
The Skinny on Boston's branch libraries.  (4/1/2010)
Library measures data published.  (3/31/2010)
Don't close the book on us. (3/29/2010)
Citywide Friends of BPL to Hold Demonstration.  (3/28/2010)
BPL Budget News Available at Website.  (3/25/2010)
A Small Branch Makes a Big Impact.  (3/24/2010)
Friends of Boston Public Library Host Read-in to Support Tax Increase. (3/14/2010)
Emotions Reach Boiling Point in Boston Public Library Discussion. (3/13/2010)
The Boston Public Library Dilemma, Continued. (3/12/2010)
Boston Speaks Up for Its Libraries. (3/10/2010)
Boston Public Library Branches to be Ranked in Consolidation Plan. (3/9/2010)
Boston Public Library Anticipating Budget Cuts in 2011. (3/2/2010)