Museum director breakfasts at White House
By Rachel Haynie

Karen Brosius

Karen Brosius, executive director of the Columbia Museum of Art breakfasted at the White House recently. She is on the board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

"Service awards were given to the top three museums and libraries in the country," said Brosius. "These awards were for 2006, and since I wasn't on the board until late 2006, I wasn't part of the selection process but will be for this coming year." She ate in the East Wing with approximately 150 people: dignitaries, board members, and awardees.

Each awardee could have with them someone whose life had been changed by that organization. Brosius was touched by the presentation.

The community representative was an architect who had gone to public school and wanted to go to college. He thought he wanted to be an architect, so he went to the library. He thought about methodology, poured over the designs in the books, and did the sample projects. He determined he wanted to be an architect.

He was selected to take the exam. He passed that exam without a college education. Because of what he gleaned from that San Antonio library, he started his firm, has hired people, and is a respected architect there."

Brosius noted that First Lady Laura Bush, who was a librarian herself, holds this program very near and dear. "She presented the information about each of the winners with such caring, and conveyed genuine pride in what differences they had made in their communities."

The First Lady also noted the impact of museums and libraries in our nation, not just our cultural life, but also our civic life. "She has an unswerving commitment to museums and libraries for what they do for lifelong learning," Brosius said.

"What I came away with was an awareness that schools are places of formal learning and museums and libraries, places of informal learning, can be transformational.