Meet the Mayor: Boston Public Library

Welcome to "Meet the Mayor," a segment in which we interview local Foursquare Mayors in their natural habitats.

Boston Public Library
Gina Perille

Are libraries putting bookstores out of business? All the books here are free ...
I think there's room for everybody, but we have definitely gotten busier since times have gotten tighter. But there's a whole range of things people do at the library. We're sort of in the information business. Books are a big part of what we do, but we also host lectures and musical performances, and help people do research, as well as check out millions of books every year.

They were talking about closing the library in my neighborhood last year. We were planning to riot if they did. Is there a precedent for library riots?
Not that I know of. Certainly, libraries across the country have faced hard economic times, but I don't know of any riots, per se.

Was it harder to become the Foursquare mayor, or the chief communications officer of the library?
There's pretty healthy competition for the BPL foursquare mayorship. I'm looking forward to seeing how the competition heats up in the next few months. I would actually take it as a good sign if my mayorship was ended by a user.

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