Press Release

Mary K. Conwell Named New Deputy Director of The Branch Libraries; Bernice MacDonald Retires

Mary K. Conwell, Manhattan Borough Coordinator of The New York Public Library since 1985, was named Deputy Director of The Branch Libraries effective October 1, 1996. She succeeded Bernice MacDonald who retired after 44 years of distinguished service to The New York Public Library.

Ms. Conwell will assist Norman Holman, Director of the Branch Libraries, in overseeing 2,400 staff members in a system of 84 branches throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. The New York Public Library serves a more varied set of constituencies and has the broadest mission of any library in the nation. The branch library system was established by a grant from Andrew Carnegie in 1901 and is predominantly funded by the City of New York. Each year, more than 11.5 million books, films, records, magazines, and pictures circulate among the Library's 2.1 million cardholders. Through LEO, its fully-integrated online information system, every branch provides free online access to the Internet, and to The Branch Libraries' catalog, to CATNYP (the online catalog system of The Research Libraries), and to databases with indexes to 2,600 periodicals and full-text articles available from more than 1,000 sources.

Ms. Conwell has served as a librarian and administrator within The New York Public Library since 1966, where she began working as a librarian at the Fordham Library Center. Her experiences there established a precedent for her later work, with a consistent emphasis on community outreach and focus on children. Ms. Conwell worked as the Senior Children's Librarian for the South Bronx Project, collaborating with community agencies in designing outreach services for children, and then as Supervising Children's Specialist in the Bronx Borough Office, working with the Coordinator of Children's Services on all aspects of library services to children. Her appointment to Principal Librarian at the Hunt's Point Regional Branch in the South Bronx in 1977 would give her three years of hands-on experience running a regional library.

In 1980, Ms. Conwell moved to the Library's Manhattan Borough Office, first as Assistant Borough Coordinator and then as Borough Coordinator. Her responsiblities included overseeing the operations and policies of the 33 Manhattan branches of the Library, and working closely with community boards on budget action efforts. Ms. Conwell's contributions to and activities in the American Library Association (ALA) have included chairing the Legislative Assembly, and the Committee on Library Services to the Disadvantaged Child.

Bernice MacDonald retired from The New York Public Library after a 44-year career, the last 20 years as Deputy Director of The Branch Libraries and the last six months as Acting Director. In an interview in September she said, "It's been a very full career for me... I've really loved all my positions here, and the move from Deputy Director to Acting gave me the opportunity to provide a smooth transition from one administration to the next."

Ms. MacDonald decided on her career at age 16, working in the town library of Beacon, NY. She graduated from Simmons College with a B.S. in library science in 1952, and joined The New York Public Library first working with the Bronx Bookmobile, and later with the Reader's Advisory Service. These early experiences sparked a lifelong interest in adult education, that included her own schooling, receiving a Master's degree in Adult Education from Columbia University. Among her many accomplishments included an appointment by the ALA to head a nationwide survey of literacy programs in libraries in 1966. The document produced, Literacy Activities in Public Libraries, remains a standard resource to librarians. Ms. MacDonald was named Coordinator of Adult Services where she established a number of key library programs including The Early Childhood Project, Connecting Libraries and Schools Project (CLASP), and an in-service training program for staff. She has been honored nationally through several awards including the ALA Margaret Monroe Award for Excellence in Library Adult Services and an award from the National Aid to the Visually Handicapped.

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