On paper, David Leonard isn\u2019t the guy you would expect to be President of Boston Public Library (BPL), the oldest municipal library in the US. In actuality, his unique background in the seemingly opposing disciplines of philosophy and mathematics primed him perfectly for the complex but rewarding role, which sees him presiding over a collection of approximately 23 million manuscripts, maps, and other documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s actually the beauty of a good college education,\u201d he says. \u201cIt gives you a foundation and helps you find the things you care about, but that doesn\u2019t mean that\u2019s where you\u2019re going to end up. But if you\u2019re learning about something you\u2019re passionate about, then you can apply that in any field that you end up in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David is from Dublin, pledging allegiance to both the north and south sides, given his father was from Ranelagh and his mother from Glasnevin. While he originally wanted to study science, he fell a few points short in the Leaving Certificate, and ended up studying mathematics as part of an Arts degree at UCD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philosophy was simply a random choice for another first-year class, but it ended up being a serendipitous one, as David discovered a \u201clove and passion\u201d for the subject. \u201cFor me, it was the best of both worlds. It wasn\u2019t about how these are two opposite subjects, but rather two different ways of applying interest. So I think my philosophy interest was much more about, how do we think, and how do we know things? How do we understand the world?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early childhood tragedy \u2013 he lost his mother when he was just six years old \u2013 meant he was \u201calways a big thinker\u201d. \u201cThe \u2018why\u2019 question for someone who loses a parent early on is always there,\u201d he admits. \u201c\u2018Why\u2019 becomes a very important question that they live with for the rest of their life in some ways. So it tracks in terms of what I was forced to deal with as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David says his was ultimately the typical student experience of the 1980s \u2013 including living in bedsits in Rathmines which provided little in the way of comfort but total freedom. Upon graduation, he decided to delve deeper into some of the subjects he had encountered in his philosophy studies, choosing to complete a Masters degree. Then, one of his former professors at UCD, Richard Kearney \u2013 now Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy at Boston College \u2013 suggested he come Stateside to study for his Doctorate in the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For David and so many other graduates during that time, it was a no-brainer. Dublin in the 1980s, he points out, was not the vibrant, modern capital city it is today. \u201cThe Celtic Tiger hadn\u2019t yet arrived,\u201d he says. \u201cPursuing a PhD in Boston offered me two things \u2013 one, take my academic career to the next step, and two, have the experience of living somewhere else, other than Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David quickly and easily made his home in the New England city, which has a relatively small core population of 700,000. \u201cI have travelled the US extensively, and I think Boston is the most European of the American cities for many reasons,\u201d he asserts. \u201cI quickly made friends, had relationships, and built my career, and suddenly you realise you\u2019ve spent more of your adult life there than at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David never finished the PhD, admitting he was \u201cburnt out\u201d by the academic experience by the time he approached its conclusion. Timing, however, is everything, and his covetable mathematics experience was now in demand as the \u2018dot com\u2019 boom took off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was the late \u201990s, early 2000s, this is when the internet and all of the online world was getting started,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt was a really interesting time to start working in that as a career, and with the math background and the interest in science and computers, suddenly that all came back into focus for me.\u201d He worked for a number of consulting firms and non-profits before finding himself at Boston Public Library in 2009, where his first role was chief technology officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nOne of my biggest challenges is trying to describe in a simple sentence exactly what a public library in the 21st century is, because it\u2019s also constantly in motion.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, and so it was more a case of, well, where would be a good place to land for a few years?\u201d he recalls. \u201cI thought this looked interesting, and it could be a two- or three-year stint and then onto whatever was next. But I took to it like a duck to water in many ways, and loved the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, his pride at working for the venerable institution is evident as he explains his not-so-linear road to becoming President. Having spent seven years in different roles, the then-President stepped down, and David threw his hat in the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do not look on paper like I am the right qualified person for this job, but it is an educational institution,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo it\u2019s drawing on my academic background, but I also spent 15 years in the technology space proper. Libraries today are as much about technology as they are about traditional services, as most people now consume information digitally. So by some calculation, I actually ended up being the logical choice for the role, and ten years later I am still having a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s despite the job being both challenging and frustrating, especially in recent times; David discreetly notes that with the BPL being part of the government in the US, \u201cthat comes with baggage\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Boston Public Library encompasses 25 local library branches that are more akin to our own experience of a community library, the Central Library in Boston\u2019s historic Copley Square is what most people think of as the library proper. David\u2019s biggest achievement during his time as President, he says, was \u201cundoubtedly\u201d overseeing the delicate \u2013 and hugely expensive \u2013 renovation of the landmark 1972 extension to the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Central Library, he explains, is two buildings: the original McKim Building, and the modern Boylston Street Building. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful 1895 building, with its more European-style architecture, and then the other half, which was the result of the first major renovation, was a 1970s proto-brutalist building that was pretty dark and not the most welcoming experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A $78 million transformation has changed all that, producing a \u201cdynamic, warm, welcoming space\u201d that Bostonians, initially sceptical of the high cost, ultimately fell in love with, he says. \u201cWe tracked the foot traffic to the building, and it was up by 40% over what it had been before the renovation. So, it became a destination in a new way, simply because we had transformed the experience, not just the building.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As UCD continues its own redevelopment of the 1970s brutalist building that houses the James Joyce Library, David recalls his meeting with University Librarian \u2013 and fellow mathematician \u2013 Dr Sandra Collins, during a visit to Dublin two years ago. \u201cIt was a lovely opportunity, as two heads of libraries, to share stories of embarking on a renovation from about the same period,\u201d he says. \u201cBPL is a library but also part archive, part museum, and we are also a research library, so we have as much in common with a university library as we do with your local library down the street.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David is still grappling with the big questions, admitting there is a constant tension that comes with balancing the weight of history with the persistent drive for modernisation. \u201cOne of my biggest challenges is trying to describe in a simple sentence exactly what a public library in the 21st century is, because it\u2019s also constantly in motion,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, the question is how do we serve our community today, not, what do we have and how do we preserve it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlthough those are important questions too, we have to consider what the modern society, the urban environment, and the democracy itself wants from a library, particularly right now when the world is in such a crazy state and people don\u2019t know what to expect from the government or even from their own society. How does the library today promote dialogue around these things?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Boston Public Library is an educational, cultural and civic centre that has thrived throughout its 170-year-old history; David believes he is the person to continue to help it reach its full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the oldest Municipal Public Library in the United States of America and it holds the third largest collection of objects. It is a very important place and that responsibility weighs on me every day, but I\u2019m not done yet \u2013 there\u2019s nowhere else I would rather be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAI AND LIBRARIES<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Libraries today, like all other institutions, are tussling with the possibilities and problems posed by artificial intelligence. Clarivate\u2019s Pulse of the Library 2025 report found that 67% of libraries say they are exploring or implementing AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a collection of more than 23 million documents, AI dangles tantalising possibilities for BPL, particularly because, as David Leonard notes, just 12% of that enormous archive is currently digitised. Yet he is circumspect about a wholehearted embrace of the divisive technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAI is a tool,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can use a tool for good, or you can use it for bad \u2013 you can let a tool run rampant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the BPL, he believes it faces three main challenges when it comes to AI. \u201cOne, of course, is where and when we should adopt it for our own internal systems, and of course, that\u2019s the same question any company should be asking,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe second thing is, as we serve our users and residents, particularly those who come from an economically challenged background, they will turn to the library to help them develop new skills to understand new technologies and we already have some offerings in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third question, according to David, is whether AI can help the library deliver answers for its patrons who want to do reference or research. \u201cAnd what we\u2019re seeing right now is that some of the tools are really good at simple questions, but the more complex ones require a little human intelligence to go along with the artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AI is only as good as its prompts, David points out. \u201cIf you want a successful result from an AI tool, whichever one you\u2019re choosing to use, how you ask the question is the essential determinant of whether you get a successful result back or not,\u201d he says. \u201cThat is something librarians have been working on for decades \u2013 how does a human ask a question when they\u2019re trying to do research or obtain a piece of information, so we are completely prepared for dealing with this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On paper, David Leonard isn\u2019t the guy you would expect to be President of Boston Public Library (BPL), the oldest municipal library in the US. In actuality, his unique background in the seemingly opposing disciplines of philosophy and mathematics primed him perfectly for the complex but rewarding role, which sees him presiding over a collection…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-246"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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