Imagine a child telling a librarian all about a story she just read while watching the librarian type every word that she utters. This is a treasured memory from the Uphams Corner Summer Reading Club.  Oh, how I loved the stories of the twins from different counties. As I grew up, the library remained an integral part of my life.  I found new authors, new ideas, and more through the wonderful librarians’ suggestions, The library became an important resource to me while I attended a commuter college. Today, my library is the Jamaica Plain Branch of the BPL and it is still a big part of my life.  I get excited seeing and choosing new books, CDs, and DVDs. I appreciate the convenience of using the online library reservation system, but it is the librarians whom I cannot live without. And I have another favorite memory to treasure – my grandson participating in Barbara’s pajama story time at the Jamaica Plain Branch.

I left a job a few years back and assumed I would get another at the same salary quickly.  The economy turned and that didn’t happen.  One of the things I had to do to make ends meet was to stop buying books, a practice that seemed indispensable.  This made me return to the most active use of my library as I had since I was a child.

Growing up in St. Louis, I went to the library every week and checked out as many books as allowed.  I now do the same at the Adams Street Branch in Dorchester.  The librarians and other staff are friendly, give great customer service, and make suggestions of books.  The suggestions have expanded my reading.

I am also a short walk away from the other Dorchester branches which makes it convenient to return books to Field’s Corner when I’m doing errands in that area.

The library not only enriches my mind, it helps me stick to my budget and it has given me social connections.  I am deeply grateful.

I was raised in libraries–we went all the time, where ever we were living, in the US or overseas. As my mother approached the end of her life, she planned her memorial service, and we discussed where it might be held.  I suggested the library! Each time my children learned to write their name and were old enough for a library card they got one. During the almost 50 years I lived in Boston, I loved the Copley Square library and often went to special events there.

Thank you for helping the Boston Public library launch its “BPL Stories” page. We created this page in honor of National Library Week in April 2012 and plan to keep it as an ongoing feature of our website.

You are invited to submit your story below by clicking on the “share your story” button. Please tell us what the library means to you, what sorts of programs make a difference in your life, and how a staff member has helped you. We’ll post excerpts here. We look forward to reading.

Thank you.

I don’t think I truly appreciated the value of BPL until I started a family. Now I realize what tremendous resources our local branches are. The playgroups, story times, sing-a-longs and other children’s activities are on our calendar every week. We love being part of our local community and my family enjoys learning, playing and making new friends at the library. Thank you to BPL and especially the Faneuil, Brighton and Honan staff for all they do.