James Carroll

c/o Boston Public Library

700 Boylston Street

Boston, MA 02116

April 7, 2010

Dear James:

From one member of the Paulist Center community to another, I extend to you my warmest Easter greetings. From one Catholic of conscience to another, I am writing to express my concern for the Boston Public Library and its staff. On behalf of the religious communities in the City of Boston that my organization represents, I call upon you as a Trustee of the Library not to lay off any workers, close any branch libraries, or reduce any services.

My organization has been following the news, and people of faith are deeply distressed to hear that you and your fellow Trustees may close up to 10 branches and lay off up to 70 workers in the Main Branch. Given the public’s expressed will to find new and alternative sources of funding to keep these libraries open and fully staffed, we believe these measures are defeatist and narrow-minded. In our view, the Trustees’ debate over whether to close branch libraries and lay off workers seems strangely disconnected from the vision that President Amy Ryan is advancing. We are worried that library closings and layoffs are a foregone conclusion, belying the Trustees’ effort to conduct their decision-making process publicly.

Closing the branch libraries and reducing staff at the Main Branch will devastate all of our communities. We stand in solidarity especially with the neighborhoods of Dorchester, East Boston, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury, whose branches are most at risk. These libraries are an oasis for young people, the elderly, the unemployed, recent immigrants, the homeless, and many others in our communities. Numerous community, labor, and religious activists have pled with you to consider the human impact of layoffs and closings, and we urge you not to ignore their cries.

We believe the Boston Public Library is more than its books. It is more than a repository of knowledge. It is an extension of the community. The community is prior to the Library and is its ultimate caretaker. The position you hold is a public trust, and you must heed the will of the people, who have spoken with clarity. Books and people—the Boston Public Library can afford both, indeed must afford both. If you choose to disinvest in one, you lose the other. Layoffs will undermine any effort to preserve the Library’s core resources.

I pray you will receive the concerns of the religious communities in the spirit of brotherhood by which they are conveyed. Please listen to the voices of the community, follow their lead, and act wisely. Thanks, and peace be with you.

In faith and solidarity,

Anthony Zuba, Lead Organizer

Massachusetts Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice”

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