Marleen Nienhuis reduces her role with FOSEL

When Marleen Nienhuis talks about her passions, her clear blue eyes flash, she tosses her silvery hair and she speaks quickly, animatedly and articulately about the subject dear to her heart. One of those passions is the preservation and promotion of community libraries, which led her to organize South End branch's existing volunteers into Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) and to spearhead a host of improvements and programs that have boosted the library's community following. "The volunteers were not formally organized, which I did in 2008, with an official board and a 501c3 designation that allowed us to raise funds for the library, its programs and the park," she explained. Since becoming president of FOSEL seven years ago, the Amsterdam native has lobbied for access features such as a door opener and repair of the sidewalk and introduced programming such as the annual Easter Egg hunt, summer concert series in the library park and The South End Writes, the branch's popular author talk series. A versatile volunteer, Nienhuis also offered her sewing skills to make new cushions for the seating area at the library entrance. The driven advocate and volunteer is now ready to dial back her activities to make more time for personal priorities such as documenting her family history and painting. Last year, she handed over the reins of the author talk series, leaving her successor well prepared to continue it. "I wrote a handbook on the author series for the FOSEL board, which they have used to continue booking, promoting and hosting authors," she said. In this month's FOSEL e-mail, she announced that she will no longer author the monthly updates. "I put my life on hold in the last seven years because of the library group and the Rutland Square neighborhood association. I will continue to be involved in the neighborhood association and I will volunteer at the library from time to time. At this time I am still on the advisory board. You don't have to be on the board to be helpful to the organization," she explained.

Nienhuis became aware of the library's needs and its potential as a community focal point when she and her family moved into their current home in 2003. "When I moved with my family to West Newton Street from Durham Street, my neighbors alerted me to the sad state of the library park, essentially a needle park. You would go into the library and every table was occupied by sleeping men. It's their library too, but it made it a not very attractive place for other people." Nienhuis continued, "Becoming a library advocate gave me the incentive to look into the history and present-day use of what I discovered is one of the most important civic institutions of a democracy. I had no idea. I took its existence for granted, based on my experience of using libraries in many other places where I lived before." Nienhuis visited libraries when she traveled to other cities to see how they met their own cities' needs. As examples, Nienhuis recalled visiting a Minneapolis public library in 2008 that had a fully-automated checkout system, with some machines mounted lower so that children could use them. "Kids could get a book and check it in and check it out. It was very empowering!" she said. In a trip to conservative Salt Lake City, Utah, Nienhuis was surprised to find that the public library staff posted recommended reading lists for African American, Latino and LGBT readers. "They look at Massachusetts as Sodom and Gomorrah, the capital of gay marriage, but try and find any recommendations for gay and lesbian reading for adults, children or teenagers," Nienhuis said. In San Francisco, Nienhuis observed a creative approach to the homeless people who pass their days in the public libraries. "They hired a social worker who helps them connect to community organizations," she noted. She added, "It took me a long time to figure out why Boston has one of the weakest library systems in the country when, by its history, it should have the best."

Nienhuis feels that the BPL system's weaknesses are due in large part to the BPL's board of trustees lack of receptiveness to public input on the system's 24 libraries. In her September FOSEL e-mail, she mentioned the reduction in books at some libraries, notably a cull from 68,000 to less than 25,000 in East Boston, and urged readers to attend the September 16 board of trustees meeting to comment. Nienhuis feels that community support is vital to getting the board to tend to the needs of branch libraries. "Especially when mayor Menino had this plan to close the libraries, it became critical that the libraries have a constituency," she commented. She does hold out hope for improvement under the Walsh administration, which has expressed a commitment to the city's libraries. "I applaud the physical overhaul of the Central Library, long overdue, and appreciate the generous continued funding of it by the Walsh administration, and the money made available this year to keep libraries open Saturdays in summer," Nienhuis commented.

One of Nienhuis's most successful initiatives is The South End Writes. This month saw a September 23 talk by Jean Gibran, widow of the late South End artist Kahlil Gibran and on September 30, former Emerson professor and Globe reporter Johnny Diaz will return to Boston to discuss "Looking for Providence", the latest in his Boston Boys Club book series. Discussing its role in promoting the library, Nienhuis observed, "The author series I started in 2010 has brought a completely different group of neighbors to the branch library. When I moved here, I always heard that 'This person lives here who is writing a novel or who writes poetry,' but I didn't know who these people were or where I could go to meet them. Until the author series, that wasn't possible in the South End. You could go to the main library in Copley Square, but they didn't have the local stuff. It's the local history that is so vital in people's interest. They love to know about their neighborhood, the history, whether other people had similar thoughts and experiences." The author talks have often been well-attended even in adverse weather conditions. "Alison Barnet had her reading during a snowstorm and the same thing with Richard Vacca. They each got at least 50 people," she marveled. "The wonderful thing about the authors series is to see how many people will come to the library for these different subjects. It's neighbors meeting neighbors. I started this author series because I felt like it was important that the library wasn't populated just by after-school programs and homeless people, and that was the dominant scene about seven years ago."

In reducing her role with FOSEL, Nienhuis is not closing a door on the library itself, but taking more time for other personal passions. "It's been a lot of fun but a lot of work. I became the main writer for the web site the last four years and managed the author series until last year. Recently, the FOSEL board had some growing pains but is now looking to expand its board and increase its representational reach into the South End community. So it's a good time for me to move on," she said. Her continued commitment was in evidence at Jean Gibran's book talk, after which Nienhuis was busy breaking down the refreshment table and straightening the second floor meeting room as guests mingled before departing. Reflecting on her continuing dedication to the library, she said, "Libraries really bring neighborhoods together. They bring people together in a non-commercial environment."