President of the Mattapoisett Library Trust Bill Coquillette is looking to expand his involvement with the library by running for the open position on the board of trustees.

“I want to be more involved in managing the library,” said Coquillette.

The Mattapoisett Library Trust is a non-profit organization that is a separate entity from the Library Board of Trustees dedicated to increasing the library’s community outreach.

As the president of the Mattapoisett Library Trust, Coquillete has helped to assess the library's needs and has helped to find funding for library improvements and upkeep.

In addition to being involved with the Mattapoisett Library Trust, Coquillette also served on the search committee to hire director Jennifer Jones.

“I got a little bit of an insight as to what different libraries were like because each of our candidates came from a different library,” he said.

Coquillette has worked as a lawyer for 37 years for Jones Day and studied law at University of Oxford and Harvard School of law.

Additionally, Coquillette said that he has served on the board of directors for multiple businesses and oversaw the strategic plan process for the non-profit organization Cleveland Food Bank.

“I think I'm pretty good at looking at what's going on financially in an organization and seeing what looks good and what can be improved,” he said.

As a book collector, Coquillette said that he is appreciative of the resources that the library has to offer.

“Being able to order books from a network of libraries is a very powerful thing,” he said.

Coquillette said that providing the library with up to date technology is imperative for its future.

“Instead of making a one-time investment in a bookshelf and books, you have to continually reinvest in the technology — it's always changing,” he said.

However, Coquillette said he is wary of the focus of the library encompassing more than books.

“I think the biggest issue is this transition from being a library which is all about books to being a library which is about other things,” he said.

When it comes to the controversy surrounding removing books, Coquillette said he is firmly opposed to removing books. Coquillette said that removing books would diminish access for him and others to information and culture. 

“Each library patron should decide for themselves what they will read,” he said.

“I don't think books are becoming obsolete, but there's a lot of change going on,” he said.

Coquillette said that the library’s greatest strength is its peaceful atmosphere.

“We go back to it being kind of a place where you can go and be thoughtful,” he said.