Nirav Desai, staff writer
The library and its occupants are currently dealing with a slew of changes which include impending construction, a recently filled position vacancy and a search for paid students assistants.
Library technician Barbara Jebejian retired over the summer, taking Head Librarian Karen Boyarsky by surprise.
“I didn’t know [Jebejian’s retirement] was coming, but I was happily surprised because I think retirement is a happy time of life for people,” Boyarsky said.
After a three-week period of Boyarsky working both jobs, Jebejian’s absence has since been filled by substitute library technician, who will remain in that position for at least 30 days.
The librarians are also bracing for a temporary relocation of the their books and equipment.
“This time we are moving for possibly six years, and that makes it a little more frightening to determine what we can take with us and what has to go into storage. But this is the second time that I have moved this library, so I feel like I have a little bit of experience,” Boyarsky said.
Boyarsky endured the library’s prior move during the mid-1990s, an experience that allowed her to continue serving the students and staff of Beverly throughout nine months of construction. This time around, she hopes to replicate that success.
“This is the second time, [so] I know what can go wrong and I’m hoping this move will be smoother. [Previously], a lot of the books themselves were damaged. In addition to that, about 300 books never came back, and there was school equipment left in some of the offices that disappeared and were never able to [be] replace[d]. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen again,” Boyarsky said.
Any potential temporary storage system may present an obstacle for students hoping to complete assignments at the last minute, as books will need to be requested in advance in order for them to be shipped out of the library’s storage. Boyarsky made it clear that she hopes this kind of storage system is not necessary.
While Boyarsky is anxious about the role these challenges would present in students’ perception of the library, senior Alex Alcalde expressed less concern.
“It would be inconvenient. [The library] wouldn’t be as useful for students. That’s life, deal with it, [stuff] happens,” Alcalde declared.
With the sudden span of obstacles spilling into the current affairs of the library, Boyarsky has attempted to take the initiative in overcoming them.
“One job keeps me busy enough. Hopefully in a month or so [a permanent technician will be hired], that’s just my estimate. I’ll probably go cuckoo, so I hope it happens by then. I should mention that in the next few weeks we’re getting ready to hire three student, paid library assistants. It would be one hour a day; it’s more than minimum wage. I don’t have too many applications yet so if anyone’s reading this article and wants to apply, they need to come into the library right away and talk to me,” Boyarsky announced.
Still, difficulty extracting answers sometimes impedes her progress.
“Nobody’s really been able to give me any information. I believe we’re going to be moving into bungalows like the classrooms. I don’t know, the arsenic field? Hopefully they’ll cover that up before they put some buildings on top. Truly, this sounds like something in one of my novels by Agatha Christie, a great mystery story. Hopefully that will not be a problem.”
Despite these ongoing trials, Boyarsky will not need to readjust herself in order to still enjoy her job.
“Oh gosh. I just think I have the best job in the world. I’ve always felt really, really lucky. I still love [librarianship] just as much as I did my very first year because there are always so many exciting and new challenges. I think I’m working harder right now than I ever have, so I don’t really feel like I’m slowing down much. But we’re going to have a very busy year this year moving the library and things like that, so ask me again in June,” Boyarsky said.