New facility to open to public on Saturday, November 2, at 11:00 a.m.

The opening date for the new East Boston Branch is Saturday, November 2, at 11 a.m. The new facility, currently undergoing construction, is at the corner of Bremen and Prescott Streets in East Boston and faces Bremen Street Park.

In order to prepare for the opening of the new branch library facility, the two existing library branches in East Boston will have staggered ends to their public service hours in September and October. The final day of public service at the Orient Heights Branch, located at 18 Barnes Avenue, will be Friday, September 6. Service hours will end at 5 p.m. that day. The final day of public service at the current East Boston Branch, located at 276 Meridian Street, will be Friday, October 4. Service hours will end at 5 p.m. that day. Read more »

Hands-on activities offered in July and August

Teens are beating the heat this summer at a range of Boston Public Library locations where they can build small-scale bridges, test chemistry concepts, learn about the global impact of hip-hop, and produce their own zines.

These free, educational activities are available for teens in conjunction with visits from organizations like Beyond Benign, Boxxout, Dr. Can-Do Science, and the Papercut Zine Library. Specific library locations are also hosting gaming and movie afternoons as well as arts and crafts programs. The annual Read Your Way to Fenway essay contest is in full swing as the application deadline approaches on Friday, July 26, at 5 p.m. Participants have the opportunity to win three tickets to the August 17 Red Sox game. Read more »

Community updates on master planning and upcoming phases

Boston Public Library will host a series of four roundtables to update library users and interested residents on the Johnson Building Improvement Project.

The first roundtable will feature an overview of the master planning process. The meeting will take place on Thursday, August 15, at 6:00 p.m. in the Boston Room at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Read more »

Best of Show honors awarded during American Library Association annual conference

Boston Public Library received national recognition for outstanding public relations efforts at this year’s American Library Association annual conference. The Library Leadership & Management Association, a division of the American Library Association, presented the “Best of Show” awards at the PR Xchange at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, on June 30. Read more »

First 18 collections include American, European, and New England historical treasures 

Boston Public Library unveiled its initial Collections of Distinction this week, a group of eighteen collections that represent the most outstanding, expansive, and renowned of its holdings of more than 22 million items. The collections include Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts, Maritime Charts and Atlases, and American Civil War 20th Massachusetts Regiment materials as well as holdings related to Shakespeare, John Adams, and William A. Dwiggins. Within the collections is an array of books, maps, manuscripts, letters, drawings, and other original works dating back as early as the 10th century. Read more »