JACK REED, NOW A "ROCK STAR" TO LIBRARIANS, FORCED TO MISS A RECEPTION IN HIS HOME STATE

Flight delays blamed for Reed's absence. But we wondered:
Is R.I.'s senior senator coveted by librarians in other states?

WHERE'S JACK REED? Not at this Providence reception in his honor Oct. 21 by Rhode Island library community. Reed was forced to miss the gathering at the Rhode Island School of Design library. CREDIT: Rhode Island Library Report Photos by Brian C. Jones

By Brian C. Jones
Rhode Island Library Report

PROVIDENCE – (Oct. 21, 2012) At first the story that librarians gave for the absence of U.S. Sen. Jack Reed at a reception – honoring his work as a champion of libraries and attended by about 130 members of Rhode Island’s library community – sounded plausible:
     

        His plane’s takeoff from Washington, D.C. was said to have been delayed for several hours.
      But as the reception got underway without Reed at the cavernous Rhode Island School of Design’s library in downtown Providence, alternative theories presented themselves.
      One possibility – that Reed faced fines for overdue books dating back to his boyhood visits to his neighborhood library in Cranston – seemed unlikely.
      A West Pointer and Harvard Law School graduate, Reed is widely regarded as one of Rhode Island’s most trusted politicians, hardly the kind of library patron to skip a fine, to say nothing of ever having returned a library book late.
      Another, more alarming, theory developed as national speakers took the podium: Could it be that Reed is so highly admired throughout the country that librarians from another state had spirited him away to claim him as one of their own?
      Far-fetched?     

MAUREEN SULLIVAN, president of American Library Association, says Senator Reed makes a difference not just for Rhode Island children, but all the nation's children.

"HE IS PROBABLY one of a limited number of people in federal service who understands how libraries make a difference and will make a difference” in children’s lives, Maureen Sullivan, president of the American Library Association, told the crowd.
      More ominously, Sullivan went on to say that she wished that “every single state” had a Jack Reed of its own, and that “he makes a difference not just for the people of Rhode Island, but the people of this nation.”
     

THE ALA'S DESIGNS on Reed were made known earlier this year, when the group made Reed an honorary member, a rare tribute acknowledging Reed’s record in sponsoring every major piece of legislation helping libraries since he was elected to the Senate in 1996.
      Even more alarming was the account of a second national figure, Susan D. Ballard, president of the American Association of School Librarians, which this year awarded Reed its “Crystal Apple,” the second time that group has so honored Reed.
      Ballard called Reed a “treasure,” and not just for Rhode Island or even New England, but for the nation, and she went so far as to say that Reed has achieved “rock star” status among librarians across the country.     

SUSAN D. BALLARD, right, president of the American Association of School Librarians, offered to trade Senator Reed for a historic home that New Hampshire residents still resent being moved from their state to Little Compton in the 1930s. With her is Harriet LaPointe, librarian at the Colt Andrews Elementary School in the Bristol Warren Regional School District.

        HER MOST INCRIMINATING testimony took the form of a story she learned working in the Londonderry, N.H., school district.
      The New Hampshire town, Ballard said, still holds a grudge against Rhode Island because a much-prized historic building, dating back to the 1730s and known as the “Ocean Born Mary” house, was suddenly moved to Little Compton, R.I. in the 1930s.*
       “Keep the house and give us Senator Reed,” Ballard declared.
      No one in the audience – which included Howard Boksenbaum, the state’s chief library officer, plus representatives of every major state library group, including the Rhode Island Library Association, the Coalition of Library Advocates and Ocean State Libraries – seemed inclined to take up Ballard’s suggestion. After all, months of planning had gone into this reception specifically so that Reed’s home state could honor him for his long work on libraries’ behalf.       

NOT IN THE SPOTLIGHT - Sen. Jack Reed had to miss the reception in his honor. Speaking here is Jenifer Bond, president-elect of Rhode Island Library Association.

  FINALLY, JACK CASEY,  a member of Reed’s staff, set matters straight.
      Indeed, mechanical problems on the airliner the senator was about to board had kept him and other passengers at the gate area for hours, Casey said. By the time the plane left the capital about 5 p.m., the reception was halfway over.
      Casey, who diplomatically declined to name the airline, said that Reed was sorry to have missed the reception, and was “humbled” by the gathering in Rhode Island.

* Footnote: The historic “Ocean Born Mary” house referred to by Susan Ballard traces to this story: Mary Wilson is said to have been born on a Boston-bound ship in 1720 just as it was boarded by pirates. The lead pirate heard the infant’s cry, and he said if the baby were named for his mother, Mary, he would spare the ship’s occupants. Mary’s parents settled in Londonderry, N.H., and constructed the house, which was relocated in 1937 to South of Commons Road, Little Compton, where it is privately owned and known as the “Sea Bourne Mary” house).