Category: Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library, Mattapan Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
Strong collections in urban fiction, popular music, teen fiction, anime, manga and a wide array of DVDs, from movies to popular TV series. There is also a modest collection of local history materials.

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Weekly toddler films, Fun with Books, teen movie matinee, teen advisory board, and homework assistance.
Adult Book Discussion Group - 3rd Tuesday of each Month

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
A monthly calendar of events offers a range of programs from films, author talks and readings, workshops, and educational activities for all ages. Summer reading programs are offered for children and young adults. The Friends of the Mattapan Branch also has activities throughout the year. Please consult our calendar of events for more details.

The Mattapan Branch is teamed with the Mildred Avenue Middle School and the Mildred Avenue Community Center as part of Mayor Menino’s Community Learning Initiative, a multi-department collaboration aimed at helping Boston’s youth reach their full potential by coordinating learning and recreation throughout the day.

HISTORY
As early as December 18, 1849 the people of Mattapan were concerned about library facilities. It was on that date that Increase S. Smith founded the Mattapan Library Association. On May 2, 1854, the Boston Public Library opened, and in 1870 the suburb of Dorchester, which included Mattapan, was annexed to Boston. The Mattapan Branch evolved over many years beginning with a reading room attached to the delivery station in the Oakland Hall Building in Mattapan. In 1898, the book collection consisted of ninety-eight volumes.

Around 1924, the population of Mattapan began a rapid increase. As newer groups began to establish themselves in the more central Boston neighborhoods, Jewish immigrants moved in large numbers to Mattapan.

The small reading room was granted Branch status in 1923, but could not meet the demand of the growing population. Annual circulation climbed from 20,000 volumes in 1924 to 75,010 in 1926. Mattapan residents requested a new library. Citizens' letters and petitions took effect, and on June 22, 1931 the Mattapan Library Branch at 10 Hazelton Street opened its doors.

The Hazelton Street branch served the neighborhood well for more than 75 years, but with the formation of a Mattapan Library Task Force, the procurement of necessary funding in 1997, and the perseverance of Mayor Thomas Menino and Councilor Charles Yancey a new chapter began. On February 28, 2009 the Mattapan community celebrated the opening of an architecturally-stunning, technologically enhanced, and service-rich new Mattapan Branch at 1350 Blue Hill Avenue.

Boston Public Library, Grove Hall Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
The Grove Hall collection has a strong component of African-American literature.

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Preschool story hours are offered weekly for children.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
An annual musical program of jazz has been offered over the past several years, inspiring local interest in initiating a neighborhood jazz festival.

HISTORY
The first library in this section of Roxbury opened May 1, 1898 in the rear of Mr. Mowry's Drug Store at the corner of Warren Street and Haynes Park with one table, eight chairs, two shelves and 200 books. It was so well patronized that the Trustees of the BPL voted in 1905 to open a reading room. In 1919 the building on the corner of Warren and Savin Streets officially became the Warren Street Branch Library. In 1926, this branch moved into its new quarters in the New Roxbury Memorial High School and thus became the Memorial Branch Library. The Memorial Branch was replaced in December 1970 by the Grove Hall Branch Library located at the corner of Warren and Crawford Streets.

On April 4, 2009 the new branch library at 41 Geneva Avenue, Dorchester opened. Located in the newly-renovated Jeremiah E. Burke High School, the new library was designed by Schwartz/Silver Architects. It features a designated young adult room and young adult librarian, in keeping with its unique configuration, adjacent to the high school.

Boston Public Library, Lower Mills Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
The branch has a particularly strong mystery collection, and has been building its medical study and reference collection to support the schools and colleges in the neighborhood. The fiction collection continues to expand, providing various genres for diverse readers. Books and ephemera related to Dorchester, and particularly Lower Mills, history are well represented in the collection.

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Preschool story hours are offered twice weekly for children. Trivia night is held once a month for school-aged children. Pre-school films are also shown weekly. Students who attend the Pope John Paul II Academy, Lower Mills campus and The Charles Taylor Elementary School use the branch daily. Teachers also bring classes to check out material that may support their curriculum. For adults, the Book Discussion Group meets every third Thursday of the month. Beginners Internet instruction is available by appointment.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Lecture programs are typically offered in the fall or spring focusing on a variety of topics including local history. In June, an Outdoor Music Concert is held. Summer reading programs are offered for children and additional events are scheduled during these months.

HISTORY
Library service in Lower Mills was first offered through a branch delivery post in 1875; it was open three hours each day to take requests for books and to deliver books requested from the Central Library and the Dorchester Branch Library. Full branch services began in 1876 with a dedicated collection and expanded hours. In 1883, branch service was moved into the vacated Blue Hills Bank building. In 1931, space owned by the American Legion was purchased and in 1936 a small addition was completed. Eventually the collection outgrew that building and the present Lower Mills Branch Library building was opened in 1981.

In 2005, the branch was renovated, a new façade was designed, and the heating and cooling systems were up-dated. The building in general got a “face lift” and is bright and airy.

Boston Public Library, Fields Corner Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
This branch has a growing collection of Vietnamese materials - including books, DVDs, CDs, and magazines. There is also a strong children's and young adult fiction collection, featuring a wide variety of summer reading list titles. There is also a large selection of popular dvds in all genres, best-sellers, romances, mysteries, African-American fiction, classics and audiobook/music CDs.

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Preschool Films and Fun, a storytime and film program for children under the age of 6, is offered every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. year-round. Local teens from the Homework Assistance Program (HAP) are available five afternoons a week to help younger students with homework. A Boston Teachers’ Union teacher also provides homework help on Tuesdays from 4-6 p.m.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
The Fields Corner Branch hosts a free art enrichment program for children every summer, in collaboration with DotArt. Drop-in science and craft programs are offered several times during the year, along with school vacation programming and vibrant summer reading programs.

HISTORY
The Fields Corner Branch opened in 1969. It was the successor to the old Dorchester Branch which was also located in Fields Corner.

Boston Public Library, Adams Street Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
The Adams Street Branch supports the broad interests of a passionate reading neighborhood with outstanding mystery, history and summer reading collections. The branch has been complemented on its eclectic and varied audio-visual collection and extensive list of films. They also have a wide range of CDs to borrow!

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
The Adams Street Branch is more than a library: it is a community gathering place for the local business association, many neighborhood organizations including a women’s writing group, and three Girl Scout troops that use our community room on a regular basis. Adams Street offers a variety of programs, from well-attended toddler, lap sit, Reading Readiness and Pajama story times to a busy Friday morning Play Group, and for adults a Monday afternoon film series.

The Adams Street Branch is teamed with the Richard J. Murphy School and Murphy Community Center as part of Mayor Menino’s Community Learning Initiative, a multi-department collaboration aimed at helping Boston’s youth reach their full potential by coordinating learning and recreation throughout the day.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
During the spring, summer and fall months, a reading garden provides a beautiful setting for special children’s events, musical performances for adults and kids, and piñatas on occasion. The branch regularly schedules lectures on a variety of topics in the community room, and offers special programs for children during school vacation weeks as well as an active schedule of summer reading events. The Adams Street Branch is also the hub for BPL participation in The Big Read, a program designed to restore reading for pleasure to the center of American life.

HISTORY
Service to the Adams Street neighborhood was first provided in 1875 through a delivery station on Walnut Street. A reading room was opened at 362 Neponset Avenue in 1947. The present branch library building was opened in 1951, and represented the first new neighborhood facility built in 20 years. In 2004, through the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Adams Street Library, a portion of the library’s yard was transformed into a Reading Garden, featuring decorative brickwork, colorful landscaping and wrought iron benches, a peaceful oasis in the midst of a busy urban neighborhood.

Boston Public Library, Upham's Corner Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
The Uphams Corner Branch has a collection which reflects the needs and interest of the surrounding community. In addition to a core group of popular fiction and representative nonfiction, there are materials in French, Portuguese and Spanish languages, well rounded African American authors and reference sections and a large DVD collection.

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Preschool, Reading Readiness and toddler programs are offered weekly. Teenagers are available four afternoons a week to help children with their homework through the HAP program.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
The branch hosts monthly programs for adults and families alternating between informational and entertaining offerings. During the summer Uphams Corner participates in the Read Your Way to Fenway and Statewide Summer Reading programs.

HISTORY
In 1904 the Uphams Corner Branch Library moved from a temporary store-front location on Dudley Street to the two-year-old municipal building on Columbia Road. Upon entering the building, the adult room was on the left, a floor above the swimming pool, and the children's room used a common area on the right side of the hall. When the swimming pool developed leaks and fell into disuse for some time, the children's room took occupancy in this space. It maintained a separate entrance and circulation desk until the 1970s. After renovations to the building in 1989, only one entrance to the Library remained -- through the adult room. Many residents still recall the swimming pool and public showers of their childhood.

Boston Public Library, Codman Square Branch

Location

DISTINCTIVE ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
The branch holds a very good reference collection on African-American history. There is a large Children's section of biographies as well as an excellent collection of material in large print format. We have a large urban fiction collection. Local History collection is for in-library use and cannot be borrowed. Additional copies, if found elsewhere in the library, may be available for borrowing. Codman Square has medium sized collections of Spanish and French language materials.

RECURRING PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Preschool Story hours, Toddler Tales, Chess and Movies programs are offered weekly for children.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING OFFERED
Book readings by local authors and programs that respond to the community interests and hobbies. Summer reading programs are offered for children.

The Codman Square Branch is teamed with the Joseph Lee Elementary School and the Lee Academy Pilot School and the Perkins Community Center as part of Mayor Menino’s Community Learning Initiative, a multi-department collaboration aimed at helping Boston’s youth reach their full potential by coordinating learning and recreation throughout the day.

HISTORY
Opened in 1905 the branch was named for John Codman a local preacher and patriot. Originally housed at 6 Norfolk Street, the branch moved to its present location in 1978. The building was designed by Eco-Texture, Inc.