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Providence Athenaeum Director Resigns Amid Audubon ControversyJonathan Bengtson, executive director of the Providence (R.I.) Athenaeum, announced December 5 he was resigning to take a position as chief librarian of the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, effective in February. The move comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed in August by a group calling itself the Save the Athenaeum Association, which seeks to block the sale of the 250-year-old private library’s double-elephant folio of Birds of America by John James Audubon. In October, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge ordered an injunction on the sale pending a resolution of the suit, which is scheduled for a hearing February 11–12. According to the December 12 Providence Journal, the lawsuit alleges the Athenaeum’s board took office illegally, mismanaged the library’s finances, and strayed from its mission as a conservatory of rare books and art. It also claims that the library has no legal authority to sell the Audubon volume, one of only some 120 sets in existence. Athenaeum officials insist that proceeds from the sale, decided upon in December 2002, would prevent it from closing its children’s library, abolishing its public programming, and slashing its hours and acquisitions budget. Board President Susan Kertzer said in a December 5 open letter to Athenaeum members that Bengtson’s “efforts have more often than not been frustrated by the enormous amount of time and emotional energy he and the staff have had to devote to fending off this destructive attack on the library.” Bengtson, who has only served as executive director for two years, said in his resignation statement that he hoped the “handful of individuals” involved with the lawsuit would “realize that their actions have only hurt the library that they profess to love.” The board has appointed as interim director Richard A. Olsen, who recently retired after 34 years as director of the Rhode Island College library. Posted December 12, 2003. |
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