Lesson not to be ignored

The trustees of the Boston Public Library are facing their most important decision in years this week, and I hope they don't blow it.

This Thursday at the McKim Building, they will interview the finalists for the vacant president's slot. They may vote on a president that day as well, though they have not committed to that.

The finalists to replace the ousted Bernard Margolis reportedly include four professional librarians, and Thomas Birmingham, former Senate president. Birmingham is believed to be the only local in the mix, as well as the only nonlibrarian.

The trustees will have plenty to chew over as they hold their public deliberations. Margolis, who arrived in Boston with a sterling reputation as a librarian, fell out of favor with City Hall. That was supposedly for supporting the main library in Copley Square at the expense of the branches.

I say supposedly because that explanation is code for the real problem. Mayor Thomas M. Menino decided Margolis was not a man of the people. He was "elitist." He cared about things like the library's special collections, which don't attract much attention from the general public. Margolis was said to be arrogant, by which the mayor's minions mean he didn't jump high enough, fast enough, and sometimes even dared to disagree with the mayor. Being a professional librarian meant nothing in the end.

At the beginning of the search process, the trustees laid out the qualities they were looking for in a new head. They included leadership qualities, personal commitment to the mission of a library, and proven fund-raising ability. Tellingly, the description does not say that the next president has to have run a library.

Birmingham was believed to have been the early front-runner, but no more. The board's thinking changed after a report that three trustees have been doing business with the city without properly disclosing it. It left the board open to the charge of being overly influenced by the mayor.

And with that, Birmingham's relationship with Menino - which isn't even all that close - became a liability.

It's a nice idea that the library is independent of the mayor, and I wish that it were true. In reality, it is about as independent as the Boston Redevelopment Authority - which is to say, not at all.

There is a reason that the stated qualifications for the job don't specifically call for library experience: it's not required. What the library needs, especially now, is someone with a vision for its future and the management and financial skills to bring ideas to fruition. If that person's background equips him to deal with City Hall, so much the better.

Birmingham was a Senate president with an unusually strong interest in education, which is part of the core mission of the library. He ran an institution full of outsized egos and big personalities. Managing librarians sounds like a vacation by comparison.

He raised $6 million for his failed gubernatorial bid, so obviously he can raise money.

He has quietly done his homework in preparation for the job, interviewing heads of libraries in other cities, visiting every branch as well as libraries in other cities. Even though the job would include a steep pay cut, he obviously wants it badly.

Since leaving public life, Birmingham has been a senior partner at a major law firm. He has also been an adviser to Menino, mostly on labor issues.

Certainly, Birmingham isn't the only person who could do the job, and I'm sure the other finalists, whose names have not been announced, are distinguished. But to eliminate him for having held office would be stupid, not to mention gutless.

I was a Margolis supporter. But the fact is, bringing in a professional librarian from elsewhere didn't work out because understanding libraries is only part of the job. Understanding Boston is the crux of the job.

There is a lesson in the Margolis debacle, and the trustees would be wise not to ignore it.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.