Five Brookline residents are running for four seats on Brookline’s Board of Library Trustees.
The Board of Library Trustees is a 12-person elected body with four seats open for election each year. Trustees oversee the library’s budget, services and policies.
It has been a transitional period for Brookline’s library system. In February, Jill Mercurio stepped in as Brookline’s library director. The former director of the Newton Free Library, Mercurio was hired after the previous director, Amanda Hirst, resigned amid staff complaints.
Here are the candidates, ordered by how they will appear on the May 5 ballot. Click on a candidate’s name to expand or collapse.
Chris Chanyasulkit
Chris Chanyasulkit, a public health official and Brookline resident since 2003, is seeking re-election to continue her advocacy for staff support and stronger funding.
Chanyasulkit, who is completing her second three-year term on the board, currently serves as its vice chair.
As an immigrant, Chanyasulkit said she believes libraries need to exist as essential safe spaces for the public.
“I love how it’s the one true space that we have left in the world where you can go be safe and have all these opportunities that don’t cost anything,” Chanyasulkit said.
Chanyasulkit played a role in navigating leadership transitions after Hirst’s resignation. As a member of the screening committee, she helped oversee the “rigorous process” that led to Mercurio’s hiring.
Chanyasulkit’s advocacy extends to the national level as the president-elect of United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. In this role, she focuses on fighting censorship and book banning.
If re-elected, Chanyasulkit said her priorities will be securing increased funding and more competitive pay for staff.
To Chanyasulkit, the library staff are the “backbone, heart and most important part of the library,” thanks to their extensive knowledge.
““I believe that our library staff are our most important part of the library,” she said. “They make the library that home, that extra space.”
She said she also aims to leverage her background in public health to create community memberships based on health equity.
“I feel like I have so much more to give, and I continue to learn so much,” she said.
Chanyasulkit has been endorsed by Brookline PAX, Progressive Brookline and Brookline for Responsible Government.
Marissa Vogt
Marissa Vogt, a Brookline resident of 12 years and Town Meeting member, is seeking reelection to the board to improve the library’s budget and preserve it as a “fundamental community resource.”
Since joining the board in 2023, Vogt has focused on making the library more accessible by chairing the policy committee that removed late fines.
“Having [fines] serve as a barrier, especially negative barriers for lower-income folks,” Vogt said.
During her tenure, she advocated for displaying the pride flag in front of the library and helped implement a new trustee onboarding process to help newcomers learn about their role and how to do their job to the best of their ability.
Vogt described her first term as “a little rocky” with reports of staff being unhappy.
If reelected, Vogt aims to prioritize budget advocacy. She expressed concerns that the library’s portion of the town’s operating budget has dwindled and not kept up with inflation.
The library has lost about 10% of its purchasing power because funding has not kept pace with inflation, Vogt said.
“We’ve been steadily becoming a smaller and smaller priority in terms of the town’s operating budget and also the library budget,” she said.
Regardless of budget concerns, Vogt said she wishes to better communicate the library’s offerings to more Brookline residents if reelected.
“The library is a fantastic community resource. There’s something for everybody there,” she said. “It is just a critical place for us to support as a community, because it provides so much more than books. It provides educational programming, it provides civic programming, it provides a place for people to rest.”
Vogt has been endorsed by Progressive Brookline.
Petra Bignami
Petra Bignami , a Brookline resident of 14 years, is launching her bid to be a library trustee with the goal of “protecting intellectual freedom and preserving our collective memory.”
Bignami, who has been a stay-at-home mom since 2020, considers herself “fully engaged” with public service. She serves as a Town Meeting member for Precinct 12 and the treasurer of the Town Meeting Member Association. Bignami also has been with the Brookline Community foundation as a volunteer investment committee member for 13 years.
“I cultivate compromise,” Bignami said. “I resist the pull of instant judgment and polarized thinking, and I use that approach to everything that I do.”
The goal Bignami aims to meet by the end of the three-year term is to have “deepened our community engagement with Brookline residents of all ages.”
“Libraries are the great equalizers of democracy,” Bignami said. “They give every person, regardless of income, background, status, this free access to knowledge and information. And that’s essential to keep individuals fully participating in civic life.”
Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, Bignami had a career in investment consulting and management operations. Bignami worked with committees, trustees and boards on best practices for governance, institutional organization and appropriate spending.
“I deeply believe those who commit to any kind of public service and are elected to do so… they commit to doing the unglamorous, substantive work of reading reports, writing reports, listening to constituents,” Bignami said. “We hold ourselves to the promise of really approaching every vote and every task… with an open mind and not a predetermined agenda.”
Bignami is endorsed by Brookline PAX, Brookline by Design and Brookline for Responsible Government.
Amy Newell
Amy Newell , a Brookline resident since 1998, said her bid to be a trustee is fueled by a dedication to libraries, community engagement and democracy.
A former software engineer leader, Newell began career coaching in 2023. She considers herself a lifelong technologist. Right now, she’s most interested in community involvement — Newell serves as a town meeting member in the 7th precinct.
“Making sure I know my neighbors, making sure that I’m organizing for as much good stuff in town as I can, preserving our important institutions… makes me feel connected to a larger goal, which is preserving and improving upon American democracy, which is at this moment in great danger,” Newell said.
Newell said being a volunteer at the Brookline Food Pantry and a member of Brookline for Everyone inspired her to get more involved in the town, as did her child volunteering for the library.
In January, Newell made a one-page zine about Brookline politics that broke down how the government of Brookline operates in an effort to show people why they should get involved. Newell said libraries are places curated by humans — and that must remain the case.
“Libraries, I think, will only be increasingly important for [making] sense of AI slop,” Newell said. “‘Is this real?’ ‘Can I read a real article about this?’”
Reading about the “managerial challenges” faced under the previous library director underscores the importance of a good relationship between the trustees and the director, Newell said.
“Libraries are institutions that need to be nurtured and paid attention to,” Newell said. “I would like to be one of the people who pays attention to ours.”
Newell is endorsed by Progressive Brookline. Vogt and Newell endorse one another.
Shawn O’Neal
Shawn O’Neal, who has lived in Brookline for 40 years, is launching her bid to be a library trustee driven by commitment to the community that welcomed her and a desire for structure.
O’Neal has a disability and moved to Brookline from Dorchester in the 1980s after her mother sought a more accessible environment.
“My mother was finally OK with me being able to go to the store or down the street,” she said.
Eventually, O’Neal was employed by the local courthouse and police station, which solidified her connection to the town and eventually led her to become a Town Meeting member
“I really felt at that point in time, it was my town,” O’Neal said. “I was very proud to live here.”
A Town Meeting member, O’Neal said the position gave her a sense of importance, which influenced her decision to run for library trustee.
“Brookline is a small enough town so that you can participate and make a difference,” she said. “I felt my voice was important.”
O’Neal said, although being a library trustee would involve “a lot of listening,” she is interested in the role.
“I had never thought about what a library trustee did. I was just hoping it had a lot of a lot to do,” O’Neal said. “Something to keep me busy.”
O’Neal has been endorsed by Brookline PAX.
This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly used a plural noun to describe one of the candidate’s children. The article has been updated.