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The Boston Public Library is very pleased to announce that its newly renovated and easier-to-use Parker Hill branch will once again be serving the Mission Hill neighborhood, beginning Wednesday, September 28.

Neighbors have already noticed a welcoming new entrance and enhanced landscaping at the popular branch. Inside, customers will be delighted to find an airy, open space with new flooring and freshly painted walls.

Returning customers will notice many additions to the branch including a handicapped ramp, new elevator and renovated restrooms. Improvements they may not notice but will certainly benefit from include better lighting and superior wiring.

The extensive project required closing the building last October. Several months of bad weather as well as unexpected problems the contractors encountered in the 74-year-old building delayed the project for several months.

While the library regrets the delays, customers will find it was worth the wait. Parker Hill is now a modern, fresh, safe, full-service facility that the whole community can access and enjoy.

The staff is busy at the branch preparing the space, planning programs for all members of the community, and readying the collection for the re-opening. They are eager to welcome Mission Hill neighbors to the newly renovated, brighter, more easily accessible facility.

The branch will soon be bustling once again with customers taking part in children’s programs, after-school homework help and free computer access, as well as browsing current and classic books, DVDs and videos.

Parker Hill, and all Boston Public Library branches, offer a wide variety of programs that include story times and a Homework Assistance Program for children, as well as book discussion groups, ESL and computer classes, and films, concerts and lectures for teens and families.

Many programs will take place in the branch’s meeting room which for the first time is accessible to all via a new elevator.

A grand re-opening to welcome the community back to its neighborhood library will be planned for later this fall.

Further schedule details will be forthcoming on the BPL website www.bpl.org, as well as in local newspapers.

The branch will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays through Wednesdays, noon to 8 p.m., Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The branch is located at 1497 Tremont Street in Roxbury.

Parker Hill is one of several Boston Public Library branches that has benefited from the Library’s and the City of Boston’s capital improvement efforts. The Codman, Connolly and Lower Mills branches have been improved in recent months as part of a plan to ensure all of the Library’s 28 branches are safe, clean and exceed our customers’ expectations.

Plans are also underway to bring new, bigger, and modern facilities to the Mattapan and Grove Hall neighborhoods.

For more than 150 years, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America with revolutionary ideas and famous firsts. Established in 1848, the BPL was the first publicly supported municipal library in America, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library and the first to have a children’s room. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning!

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Prepared by the Boston Public Library's Communications Office. For more information about news, programs and events at the BPL, call 617-859-2212 or send a message to the Communications Office.