Good afternoon, everyone.

Uh I am 2026.

We are meeting in person in room 500 of the John A.

Wilson building and virtually via Zoom.

The time is now 108 p.m.

Today we are conducting a public round table to consider two confirmation resolutions for new appointees to the District of Columbia Board of Library Trustees.

PR 26-0671, the Board of Library Trustees, Denise Rolark Barnes Confirmation Resolution of 2026, and PR26-0672, the Board of Library Trustees, Mary Early Confirmation Resolution of 2026.

The District of Columbia Public Library was established as an independent agency in 1896 by an Act of Congress.

Congress also created a Board of Library Trustees to develop policy for the library.

The board consists of nine unpaid residents who are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council, as well as Director Ray Zgavalon, who serves as a non-voting ex officio member of the board.

Trustees serve a five-year term and are limited to a maximum of two terms.

There are currently seven members of the board and two vacancies.

The work of our library trustees supports the maintenance of our 26 libraries, relevant programming that facilitates lifelong learning and the efficient use of public funds that support our library system.

You're a veteran at this, but please be sure to turn your microphone on in front of your seat.

And when you are ready, you may begin.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Chairman, members of the committee.

My name is Robert Benson Branham.

I am President Emeritus of the DC Federation of Civic Associations.

For Denise Roloff Barnes.

I have known Denise for many many years.

She is accomplished.

We have been involved in many civic activities in the District of Columbia.

And there was a period of time when we both served on the DC commission on the Martin Luther King holiday.

Denise is highly professional, highly accomplished, distinctive, and distinguished.

In whatever capacity she has served and will serve.

She brings intellect and integrity.

I can take a great deal of time to extol her accomplishments and virtues.

But it would only be to embarrass her with pleasure.

So I will limit my time and say this to all who hear me.

There is no final person to come before this council for confirmation for this appointment.

Then Denise Rolog Barnes.

And I urge the committee to confirm her appropriately and swiftly.

I thank you.

Thank you very much.

Well, I won't grill you with questions because then you just embarrass Denise.

So thank you very much for your testimony, and I can assure you it is certainly the intention of the committee to act quickly on these nominations.

So, message received, and thank you for coming out to testify.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now move on to our nominees' testimony, with what just one note on logistics.

Should any of my uh fellow council members join us, they will have 10 minutes each to ask a round of questions, and I will generally turn to my colleagues in the order they arrive.

Uh starting with Ms.

Rollock Barnes.

Uh, I invite you to come to the table in front of me.

Always nice to see you.

Not often that when I see you, the first thing I say is it's the practice of this committee to place our nominees under oath.

So uh please raise your right hand and state your name.

Denise Rolark Barnes.

Do you swear or affirm under penalty of law that the testimony you are about to provide to the Committee on Human Services is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Yes.

Wonderful.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Rolic Barnes.

You may begin your testimony.

Well, first I have to say thank you to Mr.

Branham.

It was a pleasant real surprise to have him uh endorse my nomination.

And we have, as he said, known each other for many years, and um it means a lot to me to hear what he's um said and his endorsement.

So thank you, Mr.

Branham.

Um, good day, Chair Person Fruman and members of the Human Service Committee.

I am Denise Rolark Barnes, award eight resident, and it is my pleasure to receive your consideration for my nomination to serve on the board of library trustees.

I'm grateful to Mayor Muriel Bowser for nominating me and honored to have this opportunity to serve the residents of the District of Columbia.

A little about me.

Uh I am publisher of the Washington Informer, a community newspaper that has served the DC area for 61 years.

I'm proudly following in the footsteps of my late father, Dr.

Calvin W.

Rolark Sr., who started The Informer in 1964.

But before then, I'm happy to say that I'm a native Washingtonian and that I have lived all across the district except in wards two and three.

I am a proud graduate of DC Public Schools, including the 1972 class of um Calvin Coolidge Senior High School in Northwest GO Coates.

Um I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Howard University and a jurisdictorate from Howard University School of Law.

I'm married to Lafayette Barnes Sr.

And we have two adult sons who also attended uh DC public schools and are continue to be DC residents.

In addition to my work at the Informer, I also chair Washington Informer Charities, a nonprofit organization, also started by my father, established to promote 21st century literacy among children and adults.

The charities is the sponsor of the DC Citywide Spelling Bee, which is going into its 45th year, as well as the Prince George's spelling Bee now in its 11th year.

We are proud to share that nearly 45,000 DC school children have competed in this competition that sends the winner to the script's national spelling bee to compete for the national title of spelling bee uh spelling bee champion.

I will just add that our one of our students who won DC and then later Prince George's actually came in sixth in the national competition that was held in June.

I've served in, I've served as a board member and chair of several local national organizations, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Events DC, and a former state president of AARP, to name a few.

I was so excited and proud to learn that Mayor Bowser nominated me to serve on the Board of Library Trustees.

I view this as an honor and a full circle opportunity to contribute to an institution that serves every DC resident in a significant way.

As a child, I found great pleasure pursuing the stats at the Petworth Library in Northwest.

That is where I discovered my love for reading.

It followed me to Rabault Junior High School in Northeast, which sadly no longer exists, but it's where I discovered a series of books called Great American Heroines, and where I was introduced to such women as Betsy Ross and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Claire Barton, Harriet Tubman, and so many others.

And that's where I discovered my love of biographies, which I still read today.

More broadly, I love books, and I'm a proud car-carrying member of the DC Public Library.

As a kid, I watched the construction of the first Martin Luther King Library at 9th and G Streets Northwest.

It was one block away from the Informer's Office at 715 G Northwest.

And I attended the opening of the newly remodeled MLK Library, not only as a journalist, but also as a potential customer of the beautifully built facility.

I confess I have not been a regular customer of my neighborhood library, the Bellevue Lockridge library in Ward 8, but I have visited the Parkland Turner Library, a storefront on Alabama Avenue in Southeast.

I personally knew Lillian Huff, a former Democratic National Committee woman, committee member, community activist, and organizer who was a close friend to my parents, Calvin and Wilhelmina Rolark, who, Willamina Rolark, who served on the council representing Ward 8 for 16 years.

So I could not have been prouder to stand among the throngs of people who attended the opening of the Lamond Riggs Lillian Huff Library on South Dakota Avenue in Northeast.

I was also at the opening of the Benning Dorothy I.

Will be a way to address equity and offer more spaces for children, teens, and adults, as well as more meeting spaces, study rooms, and other popular amenities.

Speaking of children, as the city continues to look for creative ways to address issues related to our youth, I am often bewildered by the fact that only recreation centers are offered as alternative safe places.

While the hours may be limited, libraries can have a role to play as well, especially as our school system looks for ways to tackle our city's literacy challenges with both children and adults.

Last year we took over the Martin Luther King Memorial Library for the Washington Informer 60th anniversary from the fifth floor terrace and auditorium to the first floor lobby.

It was an amazing event and introduced many DC residents to the new facility and spaces the library has to offer.

I was also happy to meet uh Michael Threats, the newest host of Reading Rainbow at a banned books event held at the library at the MLK Library.

It was a wonderful, it is wonderful to see the exciting programming held throughout the library system, although some libraries have much more programming than others.

I look forward to serving as a library trustee, knowing the potential uh this institution can contribute to improving the quality of life for children and adults.

Reading is fundamental suggests that children who can't read face higher literature higher rates of anxiety and depression.

But when they learn to read and do so regularly, just like adults, it can lower uh blood pressure, reduce stress, and improve sleep quality.

So I call libraries um uh hospitals for the brain.

Because I've watched prior hearings, I will say that if appointed, my preference would be to serve on a facilities committee, the contracts review committee, or the programs, partnerships, and per uh performance committee.

Well, I have had a library car for several years, I've only had the opportunity to use it once.

However, in preparation for this hearing, I was unsuccessful at opening my account, and I am the 20th at the time that I wrote this testimony.

I was 20th in line for a book out ordered called Happy Land.

So this is discouraging, and I would love to find ways to support uh the library and making sure that people have a positive experience.

As also, as published to the Washington Informer, I know that I will recuse myself from any decisions to approve contracts related to marketing or advertising of uh although the library doesn't spend much money with us, but still we know that could be uh um uh possibly a conflict.

Um so anyway, that is all for now.

I want to thank you, Mr.

Fuman for Fruman for the opportunity, Chairman Fruman, for the opportunity to testify before this committee, and I would be happy to respond to questions from you and the members of the committee.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Relic Barnes.

Um, your reference to the Petworth Library.

Uh it uh it was probably built in the same era as a library on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

Um, that my mother, whenever we passed it, she would say that what a refuge that place was to her as a child, which for you it's the same kind of a thing.

So that's why I'm grateful to be in this position trying to support the libraries.

Um you referenced in your testimony you have a library card, you tried to use it, you couldn't open your account.

What is that?

But it also sounds like you were successful in reserve getting in the queue to reserve a book.

So, yeah, so uh, you know, it's been about a month or so now, but um the card would not, well, and it was late in the evening, so I was trying to use the card to just review, you know, to make sure that I could use it, right?

So uh yeah, but I was able to some kind of way I was able to reference a book that I wanted to get from the library, but I don't think I could get it without the card.

So I said, let me go ahead and get in line for this book whenever it's available, and then I'll make my way to the library just to see how what my what the glitches I think I had that too.

Yeah, not sure whether it was I have a little card on my keychain, and maybe it was an old version of it or something, but yeah, I could the um I have the in my phone, I have my username and password, but that wasn't working either.

So, we'll get that sorted out.

Yes, I will definitely get it sorted out.

Um 20th in line, is that for an e-book or for a hard copy book?

It may have been an e-book.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, I think it was an e-book.

I mean, that's an issue.

We have legislation about this because it's very expensive for the libraries to provide the e-books.

Uh we're trying to do things to bring down the cost so that they can have more, and the lines for usage will be shorter.

Once you're on the board, we'll work together on that.

Well, I am still very much a book in hand, you know, person.

I still like thumbing through those pages, but every now and then I'll get an ebook.

So I'll have something to listen to when I'm walking or doing whatever.

Okay, so um, to some of the more standard questions, can you share with me how your professional and personal experiences have prepared you for your responsibilities as a trustee?

How do you think about that?

Well, I mean, the real basic thing, which is something my father used to say, you know, people can't read, they can't write, and if they can't read or write, then they can't benefit from the work that I do, which is to publish a newspaper every week.

Uh, even if it's online, you know, you still have to read.

And so literacy has been a real important um mission for me, my family, and our business over the years.

So I would think that everything we've done from the spelling bee to um uh essay contests that we do with local students, asking them to do the research, my work uh with the uh coordinating the MLK parade where we work with the um uh mayor's uh Marion Barry Youth Leadership Institute with those young people who have to do research on the topics that we um you know ask them to write their essays on.

I think all of that ties into um the mission of the library.

Now there may be some other, you know, contractual mechanical things that you know that um well I do run a business, so I think that contributes to some of my knowledge and expertise in how uh to contribute to the operations of the library, um, and of course, you know, our use of new technology uh also I think would contribute to the work that we have to do at the library.

Um, and you know, I live in neighborhoods that need to be using the library.

I'm not our libraries need a little help.

So my I think in from a from a volunteer standpoint, you know, helping these libraries to raise their um profiles in communities, I think really would contribute to what I would hope to do on the board.

I mean, I actually think that's really really important.

What we do see in the data and you'll see in the monthly or quarterly reports about usage at different libraries.

We really need to lift up usage in some communities.

And so I think I do hope that you can bring energy and creativity to those ideas, to the ways in which we could do that.

And one of the things that you referenced was I think you used the word bewildered, that we're not using the libraries to address issues with our kids that you report on probably frequently in the Washington Informer.

When you think about that, what kinds of ideas do you think could be constructive?

I understand you're not on the board yet, but you will be, and you bring a particular perspective.

Do you have thoughts about how we might do things that would engage our young people?

Well, yeah, I think, like, for example, um, there are um friends of the library at many libraries, and they're very active.

I would go so far as to say that most of those friends are probably in my age group and older.

Uh so how do we get younger people to be a part of that friends of the library community and let them come up with ideas on how we can what what they would find to be um attractive for coming into and around library facilities.

Of course, reading is important, but knowing more about um AI and I mean just all kinds of programs that we could have in libraries, but you know, I think in this position it would make me feel that I need to communicate more or we need to communicate more with young people to find out why don't you go to the library?

You know, and what would you want to see in the library that would make you uh willing to bring your friends?

You know, it's a meeting place, right?

As opposed to not to be controversial, but as opposed to meeting in outdoor parks where people don't want them, you know, they could be inside air conditioned facilities, you know, planning school events or whatever, because the school's closed too, right?

So once they're closed, we're just left, besides recreation centers and IC libraries and libraries stay open late, um, they're safe places, and um, so the programming I think should be contributed.

The ideas about programming should be contributed to by young people that we want to spend time there.

Uh okay, wonderful, thank you very much.

Um you stated in your testimony that you would be happy to serve on the board committees such as facilities, contract review, or programs, partnerships and performance.

Why those what is it about those committees that appeals to you?

Um because they we need I think one of the terms that I keep using is bridge, right?

And so you have a library where people have to come into the library to know about what's happening in the library, um, but there are communities that need to, you know, ANCs, other organizations that can help to bridge uh or inform these committees on what will make libraries work in their communities, and so I think each one of these committees allow us, the board members and myself again the opportunity to communicate with or with community groups that may not even see the library as a resource for themselves, and so for programming, I think that's one for even um the uh what I want to call it, the um the maintenance, the facilities of the library.

Are they are they what what are people saying?

You know, are some people saying our library is a great place and it's it makes it easy because I can do A B and C, whereas my library, you know, the toilet's not working or whatever may be happening.

I don't know how that communications takes place, but um I just seed the bridge to make sure that people that our board is not just a group that meets in a room and waits for people to come in and talk to us.

There's got to be a way we can go out and talk to people in communities to make sure that the of those categories, those committees, function in a way that the community sounds feels like it's being heard.

That's a broad response, I think to that question.

No, and consistent with with everything that you've said so far is trying to break down the barrier between the library and the community, and so what are the ways in which you can do it?

And there's lots of different ways that one could do it.

I I hear you.

Facilities, if the building is not inviting and welcoming, then that then that's a barrier.

If it's not got the programs that people want, that's a barrier.

If it's not forming partnerships with the relevant community groups, that's a barrier.

So there's a theme that comes across in what you're saying.

Um can you speak to your work on the Board of Events DC?

What are the things that you're most proud of that you did there?

And um and did you collaborate with DCPL in any way when you were on in your events DC capacity?

So to answer the second question first, no, I don't call any collaboration between the library and events DC.

But I what I am most proud of, and I because I am a Ward 8 resident, was the construction completion of the um uh now it's the Care First, I think it's the Care First Arena on St.

Elizabeth's, um, you know, that took a lot of community engagement.

Um it is not as well used as it could be, so there are you know some issues there, but to have that facility built in Ward 8 and to make um it available to well, just being a part of that to me was probably one of the the most important things.

When I look at that building, I can say, you know, I was part of the conversation, part of the um evolution of bringing that to uh the St.

Elizabeth's campus.

Well, and now the Congress Heights library, which will be quite close to that.

Correct.

So it's creating a kind of center there.

Right, right.

Um what do you see as the greatest obstacles and opportunities facing the library in the next year and the next five years?

How do you see the the opportunities and challenges?

Um I haven't thought of any challenges.

Um I think you know, libraries, like you said, have lasted a long time, you know.

Uh, and then with the um, because I just met recently with the DC uh with the archives, the um there, um, and I think you know, you may hear some more about um what that offers, but I met with them because I'm considering donating, you know, to to that facility.

There's just so much, there's so much opportunity.

I think that the library has to uh continue to um promote and to collect, promote and um uh DC history, um, and I said, like I said, contributing to the the literacy rate in DC.

It's not just a school problem, it's all of our problems, and I think the library has a lot it can contribute to that.

So I I mean I could would have to really put some more thought to uh maybe the list of things that I think are opportunities for the library, which is one reason why I want to serve.

Um I just think that there's so much there.

I don't the challenges, of course, are what we are all facing.

I mean, pretty soon, you know, technology keeps people from coming out, it keeps the people from gathering in places, it keeps people, you know, that it that could be a challenge.

Um, but I think that there's still enough of us who like being in library spaces, and it's just what we do to make it uh continue to make it um uh a great place for put people to go and to spend time and to learn and share.

Okay, great.

Um your reference to the archives intrigues me, it's off topic, but when you say contributing, can considering donating, I guess I is that the materials from the informer that might go into an eventual archives?

At the library, at the library, at the library, not at the new DC archives, at the library at a separate thing.

Yeah, it's my understanding if I'm not mistaken, and I I will know I'll have very clear more clarity on this on um Friday, but I think the DC archives is for government documents.

Um the library's archives is more for community, which is why they have the Washington Star archives there.

They have a lot of um, you know, Washingtonians who uh contributed to this community, they want more, um, but to be stored there.

I had an opportunity to tour the archives at the library, so uh I'm talking about the DC Libraries' archives.

Uh interesting.

In the oversight and budget hearings, we heard about a lot of different things.

Uh one of them is long make times for ebooks, and I don't know if you have thoughts about that.

Another thing that we heard testimony about was uh the oral history projects, and I think I I mean we've been trying to provide funding for them, but we I don't I think it's been spotty, but in terms of DC history, which you bring a particular expertise to, how do you think about the library's role in DC history and how do you see the oral history projects that that the library has supported?

So uh I'll start by saying on a recent visit to the library, um, and the exhibit that was there, I was fascinated.

Of course, by you know, um the profiles on Mary and Barry and um former uh superintendent of schools, you know, there's name just escaped me.

But I was really fascinated by seeing a pair of shoes that um Congressman Walter Fontroy wore at the March on Washington.

They are in an exhibit at the library, and I just happened to have talked to him a week later.

And uh, so to me, that is the place.

That's its role in the city.

Um we need to collect those stories.

I mean, organizations throughout the city are trying to do their bit in communities.

That's why I like the fact that these some of these libraries are named after Washingtonians who've made uh significant contributions to the city, but people don't always know who these people are.

I've been part of the history makers, which is a national organization that collects oral histories on you know African Americans across the country.

Um, but we need that here.

And the library is the place to do that and to collect that history and make it accessible.

That's the most important thing, that they collect it and they make it accessible to people, to students, and I think we're going through a period right now, particularly as a country celebrates its 250 year that people were really searching for.

Well, what was my role?

What was my family's role?

How am I going to be remembered?

And I think there's a there's a movement among Gen Zers, millennials are catching up with me now, so there's a movement among Gen Zers to really kind of look back at a period of history that they probably didn't care much about before the 60s and the 70s, and that's becoming very um uh exciting to them now.

So the library can it can be the um uh I don't know it's a word I can't think of, but cook can collect that information, create it, collect it, and make it accessible so that people can uh really learn the history of the city, which, and I'll say one more thing.

Um I had a gentleman uh who moved to DC a few years ago, um Caucasian moved over into Ward uh right off of 8th Street, and he called my office, which was really interesting, and he said if it were not for the informer, I would not know much about the neighborhood that I've moved into.

I don't know the history of this community, but he ought to be able to find that at the library.

I ought to be able to say him to say to him and other newcomers to Washington DC, learn about this city, and you don't have to search hard, it's at the library, you know.

So um we need that.

What is the word I'm trying to think of?

The um anyway, the place.

Receptacle.

That's a good one.

Receptacle is another one I'm thinking of, but it's like that, um, where that information can be collected.

And um, and the library knows through its facilities how to um keep it so that it's like not the storage place where my newspapers and photographs are, you know.

They they have heat control places and you know, people who know how to go through the those archives and and um categorize things, they know how to do that, and with more money, of course, they'll do much more of it because there's so much history in this city, and it keeps changing, it's changing.

So, you know, there are periods of time that we really need to um I don't know, stick a pen in and focus on before we just let things continue.

I mean, just I was really surprised to see what's happening across the street.

I decided to walk through that new Freedom Plaza.

I don't know what it all means, but it was interesting to see some of the folks that were um uh in statues over there that I've never heard of before.

So, okay, um thank you for that.

I mean, it's interesting the outreach about I wouldn't know what was happening in my neighborhood if it weren't for the informer uh hats off to you.

Local news has been hard to sustain.

You've sustained, and that is a giant accomplishment in this era.

We lost the Northwest Current and people in Upper Northwest.

It's it's a huge loss because it we don't have something like the informer that is tracking local things in the same way, and very often people feel like I had no idea this was happening.

And then, but it's far along by the time that they learn about it, which with the informer people know earlier.

With the Northwest Current, they knew earlier.

Uh button and I would want to ask where are those issues of the Northwest Current.

Are they at um the friendship library?

Are they here?

Are they where what did Mr.

Kennedy do with those newspapers?

I don't know, but I'm gonna ask.

Yeah.

Because they're not they may not be on file at the library.

They there should be an exhibit of interesting.

Yeah.

Uh I'll see if I can find Davis.

I think he's at Engelside now.

But Chris Kane is around and doing the DC line, so he might know.

I'll reach out about that.

Thank you.

All right.

Back to my list of questions.

Um, I think that these were things that were in the written questionnaire, but uh just so we do it here at the hearing.

Do you have any interest financial or otherwise that may directly or indirectly pose a conflict of interest in the performance of your duties as a trustee?

No.

And um, I mean, if there were something that came up that might require you, might suggest the wisdom of recusing yourself, such as if something came up involving the informer.

Would you recuse yourself?

Yes, um.

Okay, I think with that that ends my questions for you today, unless there's anything else that you wanted to add.

No, I just want to thank you for this opportunity.

I look forward to serving and uh look forward to hopefully serving with my new friend, my colleague who will be testifying in a few minutes.

Alright, wonderful, thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Um we'll now turn to our second and final nominee, uh, Mary Early.

Ms.

Early, I invite you to come to the uh table in front of me.

It is the practice of this committee to place our nominees under oath.

Please raise your right hand and state your name.

Mary Early.

Do you swear or affirm under penalty of law that the testimony you are about to provide to the committee on human services is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I do.

Uh Ms.

Early, you may begin your testimony.

Good morning, good afternoon, Councilmember Friman, members of the committee and staff.

I'm Mary Early, a ward six resident, and it's my pleasure to receive your consideration for the nomination to serve on the board of the DC Public Library.

I'm grateful to Mayor Mirrell Bowser for nominating me and honored to have this opportunity to serve the residents of the District of Columbia.

My direct engagement with the library began in 2022 when I joined the newly formed Arts Advisory Council of the DC Public Library.

The council was established to support the library's art and exhibits program with the vital goal of making arts and culture inclusive for all district residents.

Over the last four years, I've worked closely with library staff, collaborating artists and local art organizations to bring two major exhibitions to fruition.

Checking out Mingering Mike, DC's Imaginary Soul Superstar in 2023, and the Washington Sculptors Group's 40th anniversary exhibition in 2025.

Both exhibitions showcased artistic practitioners who call Washington, DC home, and both drew directly from historic materials preserved within DCPL's own people's archives.

My professional career has successfully followed two parallel paths.

I am the director of Hempel Artworks, a contemporary art gallery and art advisory business, and I maintain an active studio practice as a sculptor and installation artist, exhibiting my work regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Through my work at Hemp Hill, I advise collectors and institutions on collection management and art acquisitions, and I've collaborated with government agencies and museums to acquire significant artwork for their permanent collections.

My studio work is included in several permanent collections, including the U.S.

Department of State, the American University Museums Corcoran Collection, and the District of Columbia Art Bank.

I'm also a multi-year recipient of the Artist Fellowship Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Beyond my studio and gallery work, leadership and community engagement are central to my career.

I've served on the board of the Washington Sculptors Group since 2006, served on the Board of Hamilton Artists from 2015 to 2024, and regularly partner with local organizations to provide professional development programming for working artists.

I'm currently serving on the planning committee for the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly's 2026 Art Fundraiser to benefit the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly Scholarship Fund and also serving on Hamiltonian's Artists' Kinetic Event Committee.

I'm excited to join the Board of Library Trustees to bring this multifaceted experience as both a practitioner and an arts advocate to the library's core mission to foster lifelong learning, celebrate diversity, and enhance the city's quality of life by providing accessible spaces and resources for reading, education, and open discussion.

My background reflects a deep commitment to making contemporary and historic materials accessible to the public with a special focus on artists of the District of Columbia, as well as guiding practicing artists to resources that may serve their research interests and professional advancement.

My career in the visual arts has equipped me with unique skills in connecting disparate communities and bridging economic and social gaps by connecting artists and nonprofit organizations to sponsors, spaces, and development resources.

I'm positioned uniquely to contribute to the board by facilitating arts policy to best anticipate and support the needs of artists and effectively utilize organizational resources.

As a fifth generation district resident and DC public library cardholder, since before I could read, I know firsthand that the DC Public Library is one of our city's most essential educational and cultural assets.

I also recognize that the role of a modern library is constantly evolving.

Balancing the diverse needs of our patrons with rapid technological advancements, budgetary responsibilities, and infrastructure improvements is a complex task, and it's one I'm fully prepared to take on.

If confirmed, I hope to contribute to the programs, partnerships, and performance committee and work with my fellow trustees to oversee public policy and monitor the general public use of the library.

As an existing member of the library's arts advisory council, I've already committed to forging connections between the library and artists, as well as networking amongst potential philanthropic supporters and partner organizations and will continue to do so.

I look forward to putting to use my interest in special collections, archives, and local history in support of accessibility of the People's Archive and other local history collections, both to researchers and future contributors.

The meeting of artists, writers, and creators, and the library's archive resources provides an essential access to information.

In this role as a member of the Board of Trustees, I'll work to ensure that the library's cultural programming is equitably distributed across all neighborhood branches, and that the library remains a vital incubator for Washington's broad community of arts practitioners and audiences.

Thank you, Councilmember Friman and the committee for the opportunity to testify.

I would be happy to respond to questions from you and any members of the committee.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Fifth generation Washingtonian.

We heard Colts, but which high school did you go to?

Sorry.

Ms.

Relic Barnes shouted out her high school, Coolidge High School.

Yeah.

Um I went to Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School.

But I spent my entire high school career in awe of the Duke Ellington students up the street.

Have you seen the new Duke Ellington?

I'm sure you have.

Recent news?

I don't know if I have.

No, well renovated in the last 10 years.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Major, major, major progress.

Yeah.

That'll blow your mind.

Yeah.

It's a great history.

Similar to Ms.

Relic Barnes, uh, you stated you have a have a library card and have had one since you were very young.

Do you use your library?

Which libraries.

I do.

My library is the Southwest branch library, which is a rebuild.

It's a complete rebuild, which is probably about five, maybe five years old right now.

It is an amazing piece of architecture designed by an internationally recognized architect.

So it also contributes aesthetically to the building stock in DC and helps to extend the modernist and architecture tradition in that Southwest community.

So I use the Southwest neighborhood library sometimes as a meeting spot for to meet with someone for, you know, actually just to talk.

Both to see exhibitions and sometimes to check out an art resource.

And often check out books digitally.

So I'm a big user of Libby.

I will confess that I have other cities' library cards, and I use everybody's resources.

So if a book is not available at DC, it might be available at another library that has an open system to other to other state residents.

But I find the I find the digital checkout process really works great, whether you're getting an e-reader book or whether you're getting a copy in person.

So I feel like I feel like my use of the library is not just reading, it is also to look at things.

And that might be exhibits, it might be a display case with ephemera or historical material.

I am always encouraging to people to see what their local library is like, even if they're not looking for a book to read, because there is always a lot going on at the library.

So I'm also both parents were in different fields, but strangely enough, my mom spent part of her career working career as a community college librarian.

And my dad's work was included helping to plan and build library facilities and entertainment facilities on military basis.

So like I kind of come from a library family.

So we were as a kid, the library was just another stop, you know, museum, library, grocery store every week, all the time.

And I did spend a lot of time in the neighborhood library as a kid, and then as a teenager, when I had a little freedom to make my way about the city for better or worse, I did spend a fair amount of time in the the pre-renovation uh Martin Luther King library.

Um so I have a I feel like I have a long view of the services that the library provides and how it provides services to all generations of Washingtonians.

Um and I feel like we need to look at it as like from cradle to grave, because the infant and toddler programs teach families that the library is a resource, and then as kids get older, the needed resources change, uh, the services that can advance their education and recreation opportunities change, and then they start again to change later in life.

So things like providing um literacy and education resources to adults who need them, whether it's English as the second language or whether it's other literacy resources, that, and then also the resources that retirees need to navigate, um, basic technology access and to continue reading well into the later years.

Wonderful.

I think my wife has multiple library cards.

Maybe I shouldn't say this.

Loyalties in that regard.

And I think she finds my sense of loyalty somewhat absurd, which is troubling, really.

But in any case, that is what it is.

So you bring an arts, obviously, an strong arts background to the board.

How do you view that expressing itself through your role on the board?

Wouldn't what or maybe maybe that isn't what you want to focus on, maybe it isn't that you want to draw on your professional experience, you want to draw on your personal experience, but to what extent in your role on the board do you want to draw on your personal experience and to what extent do you want to bring in whatever your experience in the arts world says about?

I definitely feel that my arts background and the contributions I've made already through the arts council are my launch pad onto the board.

I do feel that my contributions can be much greater beyond simply arts programming and ideas and that includes facilities and operations, services.

I am definitely interested in helping to see how the arts help the broader mission of the library in order to serve the community.

And then also kind of on the flip side, how the arts can educate people about what the library is and what it can do and how they can use the library in different ways.

Whether those were objects, family documents, artworks, you name it.

You could submit material to this portal, and then they reviewed it for a session to the collection.

They have thousands of objects now, and each one is cataloged with record information and has a database access point, meaning that information can be accessed almost anywhere.

And they're working on it, they'll they want to do it too.

But it does really take it takes resources, and you can't just you can't just say, oh, it's at the library.

People need a research tool, they need a they need a it used to be a to know what file to go to and open and look in the file, but now it's a little bit different.

Um I'm definitely interested in how the library can position itself to properly collect and then organize and present useful information, because we produce new digital material every day.

Not all of it needs to be archived, but what does certainly things like news, community information, the proceedings of this room belong somewhere, and that's the city's archives naturally, but there are things going on in rooms and art studios and businesses all over town, and along with the life cycle of a business or a cultural space, there then becomes this volume of information.

And where does it go?

So it does take lots of staff and time to interpret that, even to even to create oral histories again, which is a big topic, I think, for all of us.

Even to create an administer and then file an oral history is there's a lot of steps involved to it.

And when it's done right, those oral histories can be used by a lot of different people for different purposes.

I think sort of stylized photographs of figures from the community who had made significant contributions both locally and nationally, and then they had a event where those people spoke, and so it brought community history and arts together, and so it was a great thing, and maybe there are other places that things like that might be able to be done.

The Washington Sculptors Group, Nick Femia, do you know Nick?

Yeah, I do, yeah.

Uh, did you know Nancy Frankel?

I did, yes, I did really well.

Uh Nancy was my mother-in-law's roommate in college.

Oh, wow.

Wow, that's amazing.

Yeah, I did get to know her very well.

So we we probably overlapped on our board activity for about maybe 10 or 12 years.

Oh, is that right?

Yeah, yeah.

And she was a great sculptor, yeah.

Really love the person.

Uh yeah, totally lovely.

It's just an unbelievable tragedy.

Uh, so the arts advisory councils, in in a way, you want to bring whatever it is.

Well, I'm putting words in your mouth, but you've you helped me here.

Is it that you want to bring the functions that you've been doing in that capacity onto the board?

What is it that you've been doing on the Arts Advisory Council, and how does that relate to what you hope to do on the board?

Yeah, the Arts Advisory Council is pretty um, it's a pretty conversational entity.

We meet about four times a year, and we are our purpose is to help guide the arts and exhibitions policy.

Um we provide feedback to library staff, and then they make decisions on what to do.

Um, there's a member of the public library foundation on the arts council, so they serve in a way as an informal liaison between the foundation and the arts committee.

Um we had a previous board of trustees member on the council who rotated out, and part of the goal is to always, I believe this is correct, have a member of the board of trustees on the arts council just to provide some continuity.

Um, my intention is not to bring the activities of arts council to prominence on the board, but just to be able to speak on that subject matter.

It is my my area of expertise and it represents kind of one aspect of the library's function that I'm really interested in.

So the advisor arts advisory council is relatively young, um, it's only I believe four years old.

So they've made a lot of progress in a few short years towards firming up an exhibition and collections policy, and there's still more work to do.

So when it when it comes time to formalize policies around art accession and collection management, that is when the board of trustees will have, I think, big decisions to make.

And where if if I'm involved in those conversations, I can help provide the experience of actually object handling and collection and the art market and art handling and exhibition planning experience.

All right, very helpful.

So I asked Ms.

Rolic Barnes, you know, what do you see as the big challenges and the big opportunities in the next year, five years for the library, and then and then how do you see the board supporting addressing those challenges or capitalizing on those opportunities?

I think a big challenge libraries everywhere are facing right now is the eclipsing of social media and device use and entertainment.

That has begun to eclipse other things that we used to do for entertainment.

We used to read the newspaper, we used to read magazines, now people scroll media.

So a big challenge for the library is how to provide people with access to quality resources in media formats that they can easily tap, easily access through a mobile device, and also how to provide activities and programs at different library locations that bring audiences together in person for a real life tactile experience.

So I think that's number one a big challenge is how to get people immersed in media that can support creativity, provide an escape when needed, but not overwhelm the senses.

How the board can support those concerns, I think is by helping to guide, helping to get guide decision making about what resources go in what direction for community programs, because there's there's so much more to the library than simply books on a shelf or books on an e-reader.

You mentioned the Cleveland Park display about noted residents.

Exactly those kinds of things are the types of activities that help people find a reason to engage with the library as a place of learning.

And the resources for learning are changing pretty fast, and I think it will just get faster.

So that I think the big challenge for the board and the library is to have the decision making keep pace with changes in technology so that our patrons, especially school-aged patrons who are using the library for learning resources, can access things quickly.

Okay, great.

Do you have any interest financial or otherwise that may directly or indirectly pose a conflict of interest in the performance of your duties as a trustee?

No, I do not.

And if you were advised to recuse yourself from any subject matter in front of the library board of trustees, as it might relate to your previously held position as a member of the Arts Advisory Council, would you?

Yes, I would recuse myself if necessary.

Okay, so with that, thank you, Ms.

Early, for your service to our library and your time today.

Those are all the questions that I have for now.

Is there anything else you would like to state?

Nothing to add.

Just thanks to you all and for your questions and thank you to Denise.

Uh I if I learned a lot listening to her testimony as well.

So I I know this is a start of a great conversation.

Thank you.

All right, well, thank you.

This concludes today's public oversight roundtable.

If you plan on submitting written testimony for the record, please do so by uploading it to the council's electronic hearing management system before the close of business on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026, twenty twenty-six.