The Boston Globe published an editorial this morning proposing that the city, Boston Public Library and members of the Chinatown community sit down with developers of a lot on Washington St. and renegotiate a public benefits package to re-direct funding towards the creation of new branch of the BPL in existing underutilized space in the city-owned China Trade Center, across the street from the Storefront Library location. We’re glad to see creative thinking about these issues following the Storefront Library.
The Storefront Library was a challenge to all stakeholders—the city, developers, planners and residents alike—to reimagine the size, the scale, and the operation of future library branches in Chinatown and Boston generally. Recession aside, the concept of the traditional library branch itself is already evolving in response to technological and social changes, opening new possibilities for where and how library spaces can be created.
Even as we consider innovative long-term solutions, let’s remember that there are ways to get books and library services to kids in these neighborhoods long before a developer’s benefits package can be available. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be featuring examples from other cities of small scale, high impact, even mobile approaches to delivering library services and other civic, cultural, and educational programs. (Follow us in your feed reader here: rss, atom.)