New chapter for the library

ON PAPER and by her reputation, Amy E. Ryan seems a wise choice to lead the Boston Public Library system. Ryan, the director of the Hennepin County library system serving Minneapolis and 46 suburbs, enjoys a reputation as a strong manager and planner. She also looks capable of navigating Boston's slippery political paths.

Mayor Menino didn't appear to pressure the trustees who chose Ryan unanimously from a group of four finalists that included two other professional librarians and former state Senate president Thomas Birmingham. Library operations have been anything but quiet for the mayor. In recent months, former library president Bernard Margolis has accused Menino of an "anti-intellectual bent," and three library trustees were criticized for failing to disclose business ties to the city as required by state law. Thursday's day-long public interviews of the four finalists helped to give the library system a fresh start.

Like her predecessors, Ryan will face a struggle between the needs of Boston's 26 neighborhood branch libraries and the system's marquee downtown research library that includes many rare collections. Menino is clearly more invested in neighborhood library service than he is in the central library's first edition folios of William Shakespeare.

His concerns are valid. A 2006 study ranked Boston 59th in per-capita circulation out of 77 big-city libraries, while showing that one-third of Bostonians don't use their libraries at all. Ryan will need enough finesse to strengthen the branches without alienating the scholars and donors who cherish special collections. And she may need the courage - and the mayor's backing - to improve overall programs in some neighborhoods with more than one branch through closings or consolidations.

Ryan offered some insights into her priorities and management style during the public interview process. She hopes to lead a library that "touches every Bostonian at least once a year," not only through books but with career and literacy centers. She warned that undervaluing the branches could create "a hollow system" while stressing the role for libraries in advancing the citywide priorities of closing the academic achievement gap and reducing crime. And she wants to elevate Boston to the top five systems for access to electronic information.

Ryan is also unlikely to rely exclusively on her senior management team for information. In Minneapolis, she said, she learned a lot about the quality and courtesy of branch service by speaking regularly with the driver of a truck delivering library supplies. Such lessons should travel well to Boston.