Library hires librarian from Minn. as new chief

The Boston Public Library board of trustees has chosen Amy E. Ryan, a librarian from suburban Minnesota, to take over as president of the city's library system.

The eight trustees unanimously selected Ryan, director of the library system in Hennepin County, Minn., after publicly interviewing her at the Copley Square branch.

Library officials offered her the job last night, and her decision is expected to be announced today.

Ryan told the Globe earlier this week that she loved her job in Hennepin County but that the Boston post was "too compelling an opportunity to not explore."

"From the point of view of the library, Boston has it all," she said. "And then, of course, there's the city, Boston. Both my parents are from Boston. Although I've never lived in Boston, it's always been part of my heritage."

If she agrees, Ryan would replace former president Bernard A. Margolis, who was ousted by the trustees after years of discord with City Hall. Margolis compared Mayor Thomas M. Menino's administration to an authoritarian regime with an "anti-intellectual bent," and city officials complained that Margolis paid too much attention to the Copley Square library and not enough to the 27 neighborhood branches.

Ryan spent 28 years working at the Minneapolis Public Library before taking her current job in 2005. In Minneapolis, she held leadership posts overseeing community branches, fund-raising, and administration.

"The community library system is something that I'm just passionate about," Ryan said earlier this week.

The other finalists were former state Senate president Thomas F. Birmingham, former Greenwich, Conn., library director Mario M. Gonzalez, and California state librarian Susan Hildreth.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.