In just one minute, Joey Elasmar set a vision for the future of the Brookline Public Library. Taking the floor at State Rep. Tommy Vitolo’s Spring Social on March 23, he offered his solution to a tension he’d noticed between library staff and management. What the libraries need, he said, is a fresh perspective: “leadership that listens to staff, leadership that can be held accountable and leadership that works to fix our current problems.”

A senior committed to Boston College, Elasmar is one of five candidates running for the Brookline Library Board of Trustees, a group of 12 town residents who oversee the Director of the Library and its budget, services and policies. In May, voters will elect four of the candidates, each to three-year terms.

In 2024, Library Director Amanda Hirst resigned following toxic workplace allegations and high staff turnover, vacating her position to the current interim director Danielle Savin. Elasmar said a healthy library culture had to start from the top.

“If you have weak leadership, if you have a board that cannot hold the director accountable—or the director cannot hold them themselves accountable—then the staff are going to be lost, and then they’re going to have a bad culture,” Elasmar said.

If elected, Elasmar said he would make staff well-being a priority. Even with a beautiful collection and automated technology, he said a library without staff to maintain it would be “a waste of this wonderful resource that we have in the town.”

“You got to look out for the librarians and the staff, because they’re the ones who are the library,” he said.

Molly Wallner, one of the librarians in the 115 Greenough library, works with Elasmar every day in the library and also on the Student Library Advisory Board, which he co-founded this year. She said his genuine care for the people he advocates for is an important quality for any Library Trustee.

“Something that I really appreciate about Joey is that he really makes us feel valued as librarians,” Wallner said. “It’s easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the school, and people don’t often think of the important role that librarians play, but Joey is always such a strong advocate for the work that we do.”

Fellow librarians Bridget Knightly and Shelley Mains both said Elasmar’s experience using libraries as a student would be a critical—and brand new—perspective on the board.

“When people think about libraries, they always talk about how much we want young people to be reading, and ‘young people aren’t reading enough,’ and ‘how will we bring in more young people?’” Mains said. “You need the voices of young people in order to make that happen. Joey would do that.”

A unique presence in the somewhat homogeneous Trustee demographic, Elasmar said his experience of using the library as a high school student distinguishes him from the rest of the candidates.

“I don’t want to completely bank my campaign on the fact that I’m young, but we need some diversity in this board, and we definitely need some change,” Elasmar said. “We need people who are going to be able to look at the issues of the library from a different perspective.”

Senior Brett Schneider, Elasmar’s campaign manager, agreed, citing previous internal issues the library has faced.

“Considering that the library has had a lot of institutional difficulties in the past few years, it’s really important to have a diverse perspective, and I think Joey brings that not only in his age, but in his experience,” Schneider said. “Working at the BHS library, spending a lot of time at the public library, he’s really gotten to connect with librarians on a deeper level, and I think that makes him someone that is best suited to serve the needs of the staff of the library.”

The Library Trustee position is usually uncontested, which Elasmar said contributed to a sense of ignorance around the position’s importance. Now, with serious issues at stake, he said he urges students and community members to spread the word about the seriousness of the vote.

“People need to understand that this main pillar of our community is at risk at the moment,” Elasmar said.

Speaking on his personal endearment toward libraries, Elasmar mentioned the benefit of having a place to meet, relax and do homework—as well as a love of books he inherited from his mother.

Elasmar said the value communities like Brookline place on their libraries is incredible and that the curation of a beautiful space for all is vital.

“I think the architecture of libraries really exemplifies this—how usually, they’re this big, grand building,” Elasmar said. “You’d wish your house was that grand and big, but this is everyone’s house, right? This is a house for everyone in the town.”

Wallner said Elasmar always carries a friendly, welcoming presence and a commitment to serious, healthy debate of library issues and policies. She said she was ecstatic about his decision to campaign.

“I want to cry. I’m so proud of him. It’s so great,” Wallner said. “We couldn’t think of a better representative of the BHS libraries, and we’re super excited to see all he accomplishes.”

This story was originally published on The Sagamore on April 8, 2025.