Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I pay tribute to an exceptional library advocate and public servant in Rhode Island, Howard Boksenbaum, who is retiring from his position as the State's chief library officer after a long and distinguished career. Howard graduated with a linguistics degree from Washington University in St. Louis and Waseda University in Tokyo, earned a master's degree in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, and started his career working at various library positions in Pennsylvania before moving to Rhode Island. His service to Rhode Island libraries began nearly 34 years ago at the Island Interrelated Library System, which, at the time, was one of five regional library systems in the State. In 1988, he joined the State's Department of State Library Services, which later became the Office of Library and Information Services, OLIS. After serving in various capacities within these agencies, and as assistant director for Central Information Management Services at the Rhode Island Division of Information Technology, Howard became the state's chief library officer in 2007. During his more than three decades working for Rhode Island libraries and the State's library agency, Howard helped improve Rhode Island's libraries in many important ways. His focus on and passion for technology brought our State's libraries further into the digital age.…”