Library Trustee

The board that governs the Billerica Public Library. Until 1980 the Bennett Public Library was a private institution run by the board of directors of the Bennett Public Library Association (see Library Director), whose presidents reported to the town each year; those directors were not town officers and are not listed here. A 1937 warrant article proposed a town library at Pinehurst with elected library trustees, but the Association opened a Pinehurst branch instead.

When the town decided to build its own library, Chapter 320 of the Acts of 1978 provided for a board of trustees and made the Town Treasurer its treasurer. The Selectmen appointed an interim board on July 10, 1978, chaired by Helen L. Potter. The 1978 town meeting (Article 18) voted under General Laws chapter 78, section 10 to elect nine trustees, the first election choosing three each for three, two and one years, with three to be elected for three-year terms each year after. The first elected board took office in March 1979 with Sandra B. Donovan as chairperson; it set the library's goals and budget and saw the move into the new building in April 1980.

Under the town charter the board soon became appointive: from 1980 vacancies and expiring seats were filled by appointment, and the charter provides for nine trustees appointed by the Town Administrator (later the Town Manager) for three-year terms, three expiring each June 30. The trustees set goals and policies, adopt the library budget and long-range and strategic plans, and oversee the library. John Coyne was chairman for most of the years from about 1989 to 2017.

Service years here come from the annual lists of town officers, which sometimes kept a member listed after a term had expired, so some end years are approximate.

Sources: Billerica annual town reports 1937 and 1978-2025 (officer lists, town meeting records, 1979 election returns, trustees' and library reports, 1991 memorial of Charles W. MacRannolds).