Library board elects French recording secretary

Library · Meeting of March 25, 2026

WORCESTER — The Worcester Public Library Board of Directors elected Liza French as recording secretary and heard details on a planned acquisition of the Telegram & Gazette's historical newspaper archive. Executive Director Jason told the board the library has negotiated down from an original $1.2 million sticker price for permanent digital access to about 3.5 million archive pages spanning the 1860s to 2016, though he declined to state the current figure publicly, citing ongoing talks with colleges and donors. A brief, unpromoted staff test of the archive drew more than 116,000 article accesses in a single month.

The board also approved $87,500 in trust-fund requests through its finance committee and heard the Friends of the Library raised $2,851.70 in February sales while approving a $52,500 annual budget. The board is also forming ad hoc committees on safety and library bylaws, the latter addressing a draft policy on challenged and banned books.

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• Worcester's community access TV: Library meeting, March 25, 2026
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Source: the Library meeting of March 25, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.