Dedham Public Library Director Moves On After Catalyzing Change

DEDHAM, MA - Earlier this week it was announced that the Dedham Public Library’s Director Bonnie Roalsen has been wooed away to become Director at another public library in Massachusetts, details of which will be revealed in coming days. The news has left her many admirers deeply disappointed. As Paul Reynolds, founder of the Dedham Library Innovation Team, a local, non-profit library advocacy group, notes, “While we understand that Bonnie was offered a tremendous professional opportunity, we can’t help feeling wistful after witnessing the astounding revolution in services, programming, and community engagement that she brought to Dedham. She will be sorely missed, but we must now find a worthy successor to carry on the tremendous momentum Bonnie has set in motion.”

Library Trustee Chair, Margaret Connolly concurs, “Under Bonnie’s leadership, our libraries have become vibrant centers for life-long learning with a relentless focus on making sure everyone in the community - young and old, regardless of income level - is welcomed and supported.”
Janet Holmes, Treasurer Friends of Dedham Library also offered her thoughts about Roalsen’s accomplishments while in Dedham, “Bonnie did a wonderful job of expanding the scope of what a library can be. She opened up the building to the community as a place for learning, as well as a place for having fun.”

In August 2016, when the Dedham Library Board of Trustees made the decision to hire Bonnie Roalsen as Dedham Public Library’s new Library Director, they were confident that they were hiring someone who could bring Dedham’s library into the future, but little did they realize just how much Roalsen would deliver - and in so short a time.

Roalsen immediately went to work to modernize the libraries, taking the Dedham Library which didn’t even offer consistent WIFI at its facilities and transforming it into a vibrant institution recognized by the library profession as an innovative, leading public library. Roalsen integrated technology to expand the public’s access to content and foster digital literacies needed in the modern world with a passionate focus on equitable access, no group went untouched or unhelped by the Director’s new initiatives.

The litany of accomplishments and innovations that have transformed Dedham’s libraries have wowed the entire community. They include:

• Community utilization of the Dedham Public Library has skyrocketed. DPL welcomed over 250,000 visitors in 2018 – with a 2557% increase in program attendance.

• Implementation of live streaming of key library events has extended the reach of the library across the globe and time - providing more equitable and broader access to library programming.

• The Dedham Public Library’s makerspace is now recognized as one of the finest in the region with its virtual reality systems, 3D printers and 3D scanner, interactive coding station, digitization area, and immersive learning stations.

• Community collaborations with multiple local organizations have extended library services to those who have been historically underserved by the library.

• The library’s entire IT infrastructure has been overhauled, resulting in increased utilization of the entire system from computers to WIFI, increasing digital content access and digital utilization of facilities by 717%.

• Multiple, new library websites and portals were launched to increase and facilitate communication among patrons and prevent outages.

• DPL now offers expansive ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs - providing over 800 hours of tutoring over the past year with a dedicated team of 35 volunteer tutors.

• Greatly expanded library hours providing equitable access to public services for working individuals and families.

• The Main Library offered free breakfast and lunch for any child in need under the age of 18 for the entire summer of 2018, serving close to 4000.

• Trustees instituted a fine free policy, recognizing that fines created a barrier to services.

• The library not only updated its book collections, but also added objects that can be checked out to expand opportunities for experiential learning across a wide variety of topic areas - including a telescope, sewing machine, robots, and more.

• New offerings have been added to the library to promote and encourage scientific learning, including a beehive and a wind tunnel with increased programming and circulating objects to support it.

• Part of the library’s strategic plan is to establish a solid foundation to support not only STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) technologies and literacies, but also to look to the future and support GRIN technologies (Genetics, Robotics, InfoTech, and NanoTechnology)

• With support from the Friends of the Dedham Library, the library has expanded its museum pass offerings to include even more cultural institutions and sites of interest.

• The library added a piano to the Main Library, circulating musical instruments, digital resources like ArtistWorks which give the public access to free music lessons, and a beautiful brass art hanging system to allow rotating art exhibits at the Main Library.

• Books now arrive at library facilities ‘shelf ready’ to get them more quickly into the hands of users.

• RFID tagging of all library materials is underway, which enhances the user experience, allowing for quicker delivery of items, and, when paired with the library’s new enhanced self-checkout machines, offer advisory services to patrons as well.

• Materials are now tagged with QRcodes to link users to additional offerings, resources, and content which might be of interest to patrons.

• Collaborative outreach and partnerships with Dedham Library Innovation Team, the Dedham Youth Commission, Dedham Public Schools, the Council on Aging, the Food Pantry, Livable Dedham has dramatically increased high quality public library service to all.

• Huge increase in number of library events offered to the public for free - with broad appeal across the community, resulting in a dramatic increase in community utilization and visits to the public library.

• The Main Library has undergone major renovations creating more open, flexible spaces that support increased community utilization, community connection, and has improved access to library materials and content. The Friends of the Dedham Public Library generously donated the beautiful furnishings for the Main Library Reading Rooms which really make these new spaces shine.

• Moving away from being a “book storage” facility of many outdated and unused editions, the library now offers access to content across multiple formats, including more in-demand books, experiential learning opportunities, modern collections, and technology and digital literacy support beyond what most libraries are capable of offering.

• The Endicott branch library has also been renovated, removing the old shelving which blocked the windows and beautiful views out over the Endicott Estate grounds. New carpet, paint, updated technology, and improved shelving units were added along with decorative painting. Access to the facility was also improved with the addition of an accessible walkway along the back of the facility.

• The library now offers multiple gaming areas and ways to experience Virtual Reality (immersive learning experiences) both in the library and out in the community, as well as offers users an opportunity to learn about drones, their applications across industries, and the chance to learn to fly...all for free.

• With financial support from Dedham Library Innovation Team, the library added 5 Raspberry Pi 2 mini-computers, a Flight Lab wind tunnel, supplies to support STEM instruction for library patrons, chalk spinners, deskcycles and Starling literacy devices, as well as funding assistance for other library programs.

• The library now offers free access to Lynda.com for those seeking to improve their professional skills.

• Math kits and games have been added to support school curriculum and math literacy as well as to encourage the creative exploration of math.

• The number of early childhood and youth programs have dramatically increased - all free to the public with much assistance from the Friends of the Dedham Public Library.

This impressive list of accomplishments is par for the course with Roalsen. Before coming to Dedham, she was working as Head of Youth Services at Dover Public Library, where her hard work over her 15-year tenure helped the library earn recognition by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as one of the best small libraries in North America in 2012. She was honored by the Library Journal as a 'Mover and Shaker' in 2007 as an emerging leader and changemaker in libraries for her work transforming libraries and helping them move forward, and is now a nationally recognized speaker, innovator and educator in the library science field.

While Roalsen prepares to move on to her next professional opportunity, she is hugely appreciative of the collaborations that have produced such dramatic and positive change in Dedham’s public libraries. Roalsen shares, “It has been a distinct pleasure to work for the Library Board of Trustees and with the Dedham community as we transformed the Dedham Public Library into the highly utilized community resource that it has become. The Dedham Public Library is now a vibrant institution and a nationally recognized example of excellence, demonstrating how libraries can thrive and prosper in the digital age. I wish Dedham and the Library the best of success in the future.”

As Roalsen departs, an Interim Director will be appointed by the Library Board of Trustees for the transition. A search process will soon be underway to identify the next Library Director who can continue the dramatic evolution of Dedham’s libraries as best-in-class learning centers for all of its patrons.

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