This year’s election for the Board of Library Trustees is contested for the first time since 2017, as turmoil in Brookline’s public libraries pushes new candidates and incumbents to step up.
In Brookline, the Board of Library Trustees is a 12-person elected body with four seats up for election each year. Trustees are responsible for hiring and managing the library director and overseeing the library’s budget, services and policies.
In the May 6 town election, five candidates, including two incumbents, are on the ballot for four open seats.
The Public Library of Brookline has faced significant staff turnover and workplace turmoil in recent years, with employees alleging a “toxic workplace environment” that boiled over last fall. In November, the former library director announced her resignation, citing the negative feedback she had received from employees about changes she believed necessary for the library’s growth. She also alleged that her reputation had been targeted.
Weeks later, the Board of Library Trustees hired an outside consultant to study the workplace dynamics of the library and present solutions for the ongoing workplace troubles. The consultant’s work has not yet started, and in the meantime, a former library employee is serving as interim director.
This year, each candidate has their own strategies for shared goals of rebuilding trust within Brookline’s libraries and hiring a new director to propel the system forward.
Click on each candidates’ name to read more. Candidates are listed in the order they will appear on the ballot.
Michael Burstein
Michael Burstein, an incumbent in the Board of Library Trustees race, is a 30-year resident of Brookline who has served as a library trustee since 2004. A writer and editor, Burstein is also a Brookline Town Meeting Member and serves on the board of Brookline PAX. He has also previously chaired the Board of Library Trustees.
For Burstein, working with libraries is extremely important in today’s political climate, as the Trump administration has added the national Institute of Museum and Library Services to its list of agencies to be dismantled, he said.
“At this point in our country’s history, it’s important to do what we can to support and protect libraries,” he said.
Burstein said he sees the trustees primarily as advocates for the library. As a trustee, Burstein has overseen library renovations, pushed for longer library hours at the requests of patrons and advocated for an updated materials checkout system, he said.
Trustees must also oversee and support the director. If re-elected, Burstein hopes to create a feedback mechanism for employees, he said. In addition to the feedback provided by an outside consultant, Burstein hopes to incorporate formal employee feedback into the annual director evaluation, he said.
“We can’t just have a random situation where we get an anonymous letter or one or two staff members say, ‘Hey, there’s an issue going on,’” Burstein said. “What we need is … an aggregate of feedback from the staff that presents to the trustees something we can use as we talk to the director.”
Burstein also endorsed candidate Batia Bloomenthal, who held a number of positions across all three library branches during her 27-year career in Brookline’s libraries. Bloomenthal’s experience would be “the most valuable” of any board member, Burstein said.
“I encourage people to cast two of their votes, one for her and one for me,” he said.
Burstein has been endorsed by Brookline PAX.
Judith Vanderkay
Judith Vanderkay, the other incumbent in the race, has lived in Brookline for 42 years and been a library trustee since 2007.
On the library board, she serves as the liaison to the Friends of the Brookline Library, a nonprofit group that sponsors some library programming and staff professional development. Vanderkay is also a Town Meeting member and Brookline PAX board member. Professionally, she is a writer, editor and consultant for technology companies, she said.
For Vanderkay, library trustees are responsible for supporting the library director and maintaining public trust in the libraries. She is running for reelection this year after a particularly tumultuous time in Brookline’s libraries because she feels she has more to contribute, she said.
“I want to see it through,” Vanderkay said. “I think we’ve had a period of upheaval and disruption and distress, and I don’t think this is the right time to change horses. I think we need some continuity, some stability, some institutional memory.”
If re-elected, Vanderkay will prioritize rebuilding trust and community at the library, she said. Part of the work will be done by a consultant, who has already been hired, but trustees will be responsible for implementing the solutions, she said.
Vanderkay is focused on “making sure the ship is sailing in the right direction,” she said. If re-elected, she would work with the consultant to better understand and address the factors that contributed to a negative work environment, and try to prevent them for the future, she said.
She also plans to advocate for the town to increase the library’s budget so that library employees can be better paid, with the goal of increasing stability in the workforce and staff morale, Vanderkay said.
“I’m very proud of the staff for their level of professionalism,” she said. “I just hope we will be able to serve them as they deserve.”
Vanderkay has been endorsed by Brookline PAX
Batia Bloomenthal
Batia Bloomenthal grew up in Brookline and worked in the town’s library system for 27 years, holding six different positions across the library’s three branches.
Bloomenthal said she is now running with even more urgency than when she announced her candidacy earlier this year, referencing the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services and slash funding for libraries across the nation.
“On a federal level, our libraries need extra advocacy,” Bloomenthal said.
Bloomenthal currently works as a program and volunteer coordinator for the city of Newton’s department of older adult services. In addition to her past work in Brookline’s libraries, Bloomenthal has also studied cybersecurity.
After a ransomware attack crippled the Boston Public Library’s IT network for nearly a week in 2021, Bloomenthal returned to school to study cybersecurity. She has since earned several cybersecurity certificates, but says all roads still lead to libraries.
“When I did my classes, I went back to campus,” Bloomenthal said. “I started noticing all the programs and events they had for students, and I started missing that aspect [of the library]. While I was studying, I found myself wanting to talk to my library friends.”
If elected, Bloomenthal would aim to increase the library’s cybersecurity and add programming such as scam awareness lecturers and coding courses for patrons, she said.
“The best offense on cybersecurity is being aware,” she said. “I want to help create programming targeting … our most vulnerable communities. That could mean our youth population as well as our older adult population.”
Bloomenthal also hopes to bolster staff retention at the library by increasing opportunities for staff feedback. She would suggest implementing monthly or quarterly surveys to “take the temperature of the library,” she said.
Bloomenthal has been endorsed by Brookline PAX.
Joseph Elasmar
Joseph Elasmar, a senior at Brookline High School, visits Brookline’s libraries almost daily to do homework. He was dismayed to read about the turmoil and turnover inside the library — and inspired to add a fresh perspective to the board of trustees, he said.
Elasmar, 18, has lived in Brookline for his whole life. He is a member of the BHS student library advisory, which helps with circulation and cataloguing and provides input on the BHS library’s programming and services. Most recently, he helped plan a reading challenge at the high school, which also required him to apply for grant funding, he said.
“We went to the Brookline Education Foundation to get a grant for it, and I was one of the people who testified in front of them,” Elasmar said. “I got this experience of trying to convince the higher level to give us money, which is one of the jobs of the Library Board of Trustees.”
If elected, Elasmar would aim to reduce the constant staff turnover that Brookline’s libraries have seen for the past few years, he said. One way to do this would be by implementing new, frequent streams of communication between staff, the director and trustees, he said.
Elasmar would also work to hire a director with experience in a large library like Brookline’s, who is well-trusted by staff, and is an effective communicator open to receiving feedback, he said.
Elasmar, who is the youngest candidate in the race by more than 30 years, said he hopes to add a new perspective to the existing institutional knowledge on the board.
“I can’t claim to be qualified to do everything, but I am qualified enough to have genuine conversations, to be a part of discussions about a topic in this town that I’ve lived in my entire life,” Elasmar said.
Felina Silver
Felina Silver, a Brookline resident for almost 60 years, decided to throw her hat in the race for Board of Library Trustees after she began noticing opportunities for growth and change at the library, she said.
Silver raised six children in Brookline and has been a patron of the libraries for decades, she said. She is the president of the Brookline League of Women Voters, a Brookline PAX board member and the co-chair of a patient advisory committee at Beth Israel. She has served on numerous committees and task forces in Brookline and also volunteered shelving books in the Public Library of Brookline and the Pierce School library, she said.
For Silver, addressing and improving the tumultuous work environment in Brookline’s libraries is a top priority. If elected, Silver will look for a director with strong listening skills and initiative to help shift the workplace culture, she said. She also suggested implementing check-ins with employees.
“People need to be able to see the bigger picture in a situation and understand their staff, their employees, the people they work with, they are important,” Silver said. “They exist, and you can’t shove them to the side.”
If elected, Silver would also aim to strengthen the library’s relationship with other community organizations, such as schools, daycares and parent teacher organizations, she said. Silver’s experience coordinating volunteers would also be applicable in the library, she said.
Silver’s strengths lie in her relationship skills and her go-getter attitude, she said. She described herself as someone who “can’t stand to leave things unfinished,” even when balancing many roles and responsibilities.
“If I say that I’m going to do something, they are going to be able to know that I did it,” Silver said. “When you have six kids, you have to be able to manage so much, and I’ve done that.”
Silver has been endorsed by Brookline PAX.