Boston Public Library
Neighborhood Branch Libraries
Neighborhood Services Initiative
A Word from the Chair
The BPL Trustees’ Neighborhood Services
Committee has been privileged to have a broad view of the extraordinary
work of the Boston Public Library in its branches across the city. The
vitality of the library’s intellectual, social, and cultural engagement,
across boundaries of age, location, and background, is a tribute to
the dedicated BPL staff, hard-working volunteers, and library users.
But all that has gone before to make the branches strong is mere prelude
to the coming renewal of neighborhood services, as innovation and improvement
take fresh hold. Transformations in technology have spawned revolutions
in the way humans take in information. The arrival of immigrants has
reinvigorated Boston, and brought the far world near. A shrunken globe
expands the meaning of literacy. The book, which, from the Latin
gives us the word “library,” remains central, but now it symbolizes
an imaginative cosmos – audio, video, digital – making the BPL more
precious than ever, and more challenged. The Neighborhood Services Committee,
representing each of the library’s constituencies, has listened and
learned. A new vision has come into focus. And now a forward-looking
commitment is being made. The future is here. The committee’s work,
represented by this statement, is just the beginning. But because that
work has been so good, the promise that is made in what follows is already
being fulfilled.
James Carroll
Trustee
Chairman, Neighborhood Services Committee
Boston Public Library
Planning Process
The Trustees’ Neighborhood Services
Committee was established by the Board of Trustees in the Fall of 2006,
and the Internal Staff Neighborhood Services Committee began its work
in August 2007. Both Committees have worked independently and collaboratively
with an outside facilitator. For the first few months the committees
spent their time reviewing Boston Public Library historic branch documents,
Boston Redevelopment Authority demographic reports, professional library
association reports on branch libraries, and strategic plans for other
urban branch systems across the country. This document completes the
first phase of a multi-faceted planning effort. Beginning in the fall
of 2008, further definition of the next steps, defined goals and objectives,
and an implementation plan based on the needs described in the initiatives
and the standards will be developed and completed in 2009.
A Vision for the Neighborhood Services
The Boston Public Library will be an
innovative leader and community partner in providing outstanding library
services that connect people, information, and ideas. Neighborhood libraries
will serve to bridge the digital divide, connecting Boston residents
with the broader global community.
All Boston Public Library branches will
provide a robust set of services to their communities, one that encourages
lifelong learning and supports the year-round educational, cultural,
and recreational needs of their unique neighborhoods. Library programs
and services will be delivered by a highly-trained, customer-focused
staff that is fully integrated into the life of the community.
These services will be provided throughout
the day and evening. Customers of all ages will have the opportunity
to participate in engaging educational programs and to have the advantage
of the many services and collections offered by the library. Through
strong relationships and collaborations with community stakeholders
including schools, businesses and merchants, neighborhood groups, non-profits,
and others the neighborhood branches will continue to occupy their spaces
at the heart of Boston’s diverse neighborhoods.
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