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Date: 11/1/2022
NORTHAMPTON – For well over a century, Forbes Library on 20 West St. has been a warm and welcoming spot for the community to peruse its extensive collection of art, books, history, music, movies and more.
The Victorian building has maintained its historic feel over the years while simultaneously modernizing some of its amenities to change with the times, and because of this, Forbes’ Board of Trustees President Russell Carrier believes the library is in the best shape it’s ever been in.
During the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Library Trustee Association (MLTA), which was conducted on Oct. 22 at the Shrewsbury Public Library, Carrier was awarded with the “Library Trustee of the Year” award for his 41 years as trustee at Forbes Library, where he has spent his time as chair and president of the board.
While Carrier is appreciative of the achievement, he was also adamant about recognizing the concerted effort of a team that includes many board members, staff, volunteers and the Friends of Forbes Library. For him, all these people have played a role in making the library what it is today.
“We have a really great staff and administrative team, and that’s really the foundation, there,” said Carrier, in an interview with Reminder Publishing.
When Carrier speaks about the importance of Forbes in its current iteration, he mentions the welcoming ambience, the “great” children’s department, a “strong” outreach to the community, the historic significance of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum, the push to make Forbes a true community center, and the extensive art collection that the library prides itself on.
“A lot of people don’t know that we have a pretty big art collection on the walls that really enhances the experience,” said Carrier. “We’re also the only public library in the country, as far as we know, that has a presidential library within its walls.”
None of these important amenities would be available without the right leadership, however.
For years, the Forbes has been bolstering its relevance through crucial building improvements, careful stewardship of their endowment, maintained focus of fiscal stability and recent initiatives to support equity, diversity and inclusion at the library.
And while none of this can be accomplished without an entire team of people, Carrier has been at the center of Forbes’ evolution for a little over four decades.
Carrier’s background
Carrier, who grew up in Northampton, told Reminder Publishing that he came from a family that did not have much education, so Forbes and Lilly Library in Florence became important beacons for Carrier.
“Both libraries were important in terms of unlocking the bigger world for me,” said Carrier. “I’ve always had that kind of connection to both of them.”
Aside from his involvement with Forbes, Carrier was also an American history teacher for 44 years and served on a School Committee for four years. His involvement with the library increased exponentially as statewide changes started to take shape in the latter part of the 20th century.
Specifically, Carrier recalls a statewide law passed in the early 1980s called Proposition 2 1/2, which limited the amount of taxes each community could raise each year.
According to Carrier, there was great concern about the effect this law would have on institutions like libraries. To mitigate these concerns, Carrier said he was part of a group that became the Friends of Forbes Library. Soon after this was formed, one of the trustees decided not to run for re-election, so Carrier decided to run for election on the board.
“When we started [the Friends], it was a small band of us sitting around and talking about what we could do to try and make a difference,” said Carrier. “I think we hoped for modest improvements.”
The Friends have donated tens of thousands of dollars over the past 40 years for initiatives and resources that the library would not have been able to provide otherwise. “The Friends have been really instrumental and indispensable,” said Carrier.
Becoming president, and spearheading library improvements
Carrier is currently in his 11th four-year term as part of the board. Much to his surprise, he officially became president of the trustees in 1982. “I had no experience and no desire for that job,” Carrier recalls, with a laugh. “I was the youngest of three members at the time.”
Once he became president, Carrier and the board took a very methodical approach to how they would renovate and modernize the building. “We built a lot of support within the community by going slow, and so that way the financial pain was spread out over many years,” said Carrier.
Gradual renovations over the years included improvements to the first and second floors, the addition of elevators for greater accessibility, improvements to the children’s room, and outdoor improvements that included a brand-new parking lot.
“The whole building has been transformed and brought up to date, while also keeping in mind that we wanted to keep that 19th century look and feel,” said Carrier.
Aside from structural and fiscal improvements, the library also reached an agreement with the city about five years ago that delineated the specific rights and responsibilities of both the Board of Trustees and the city as separate entities.
“Most people think that the [Board of Trustees] is a department of the city, but it’s totally independent of the city,” said Carrier.
Present day and the future
As part of their most recent strategic plan, the library has been working on racial justice issues with the help of a few committees who are developing ways to make the library as welcoming as can be.
One of these initiatives included the evolution of the art collection include artists from the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and peoples of color) population, while another committee is responsible for making sure the library is up to date on what they offer for topics and resources.
Concurrently, the library has also emphasized the need for more accessibility. Aside from the installation of the elevators, the library also has an outreach program that delivers resources to people who may not be able to physically visit Forbes.
The hope now, according to Carrier, is to develop a new strategic plan for the next three years while also working on adding two more seats to the board to make it seven in total since, according to Carrier, the work over the years has increased.
“Last time was a five-year plan, but one of the things we realized is that is too far out to plan,” said Carrier. “What we found is, by the time you get to the end of the third year, the fourth and fifth year didn’t make as much sense as they seemed to have.”
Final reflections
Reflecting on the last four decades, Carrier is proud of what the library and its extensive team has been able to accomplish. Despite some obstacles, namely COVID-19, Carrier believes the library has accomplished a lot in its pursuit of making Forbes as warm and welcoming as possible.
“I’m going to be 75 in a couple of months, and I have to say, if you live that long, you make more than a few mistakes in life,” said Carrier. “But I feel like the library is one of the areas of my life that I got pretty much right. It took a lot of different people working together to do the stuff we’ve been able to do.”