New Library Trustee

According to the town charter and Mass. General Laws, the Library Board of Trustees of the Watertown Free Public Library consists of six members who have the custody and management of the library. In January Trustee Anna Kuwabara resigned her position, because she was moving out of state. The Trustees posted the job and collected the resumes of interested candidates.

At their March meeting all candidates for the position were interviewed. At that meeting Christopher (Kip) Beach became the newly appointed Trustee. A lifelong resident of Watertown, a graduate of its schools and Bates College, Mr. Beach has most recently completed six years as a School Committee member.

Professionally, Mr. Beach is a sales executive with 25 years experience in the field; he is currently with FedEx in the position of Corporate Account Executive. He feels his skills in budget development, communication, and planning will be particularly useful in his role as Library Trustee.

In his view of the future for libraries, Mr. Beach states “The day when a person can carry around a tablet that contains thousands of books is here. How does a public library adjust to that and remain the center of the community? That is a challenge I look forward to working on.” He also comments that the state of Watertown Free Public Library is promising, and he looks forward to being part of the Library Trustee team.

Mr. Beach joins the five other currently serving Trustees on the Board –Chairperson Michael J. Hanlon, Jr., Vice-chair Gracemarie LeBlanc, Treasurer Raya Stern, Secretary Katherine Button and Timothy Tracy.

Trustee meetings are open to the public and usually occur on the first Tuesday evening of the month in the Raya Stern Trustee Room of the Library.