Street Lab

The Storefront Library was a temporary library in Boston's Chinatown from October 2009 through January 2010. National real estate firm Archstone donated temporary use of a 3,000 square-foot storefront space at 640 Washington Street, allowing use of the space while it was in between tenants and not on the market. The library offered approximately 5,000 books in both Chinese and English, computer terminals and Internet access, newspapers, a children’s reading area, and a mix of programs and activities—all visible to passersby on the street. Volunteer staff provided the public with translation help, general information and orientation. Ongoing library programs and services included:

• The Drawing Lab, a self-guided, interactive installation for drawing activities, created by local artist Deb Putnoi;
• The Human Development Studio, a drop-in, one-stop resource for neighborhood development information and social services, run by local nonprofit Asian Community Development Corporation;
• Multi-lingual story hours, led by volunteer staff and held twice weekly;
• Weekly drop-in English conversation group, moderated by library volunteers.

Other special programs included health education, movie nights, spoken word, cultural demonstrations and exhibitions, literacy education, and a variety of workshops and activities for children.

The purpose of the project was to give people the experience of a library, as well as model lighter and quicker ways of realizing needs for civic, cultural and community space. It was agreed that the installation would be temporary so that Boston Street Lab could borrow space and realize it quickly and inexpensively, and so that the Friends of the Chinatown Library could continue their campaign for a permanent branch of the Boston Public Library following the project.

Partners in creating the Storefront Library included students at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, art and design collective Department of Micro Urbanism, students from Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Archstone Real Estate Company, and Friends of the Chinatown Library. Program partners included the Boston Nature Center, the Chinese Historical Society of New England, the Asian American Resource Workshop, READ Boston, the Boston Children's Museum and over thirty other organizations. See a full list of partners, sponsors, advisors, staff and volunteers here.

Support for the Storefront Library was widespread throughout its three month operation. For example, the Mayor of Boston, many local and city officials, and a representative of the Governor of Massachusetts attended the Storefront Library's Oct 14, 2009 opening. The President of the Boston Public Library and members of her staff also attended and returned at a later date to see the Storefront Library in operation. Governor Deval Patrick awarded Boston Street Lab a citation for community service to the Chinatown community. The Chinese Progressive Association awarded Boston Street Lab its 2010 Social Justice and Innovation Award. All of this attention successfully generated a broader conversation about the importance of libraries to our collective public life at a time when many urban public library systems—including Boston's—are closing branches or reducing hours.

The Storefront Library closed in Feb 2010 according to plan, in order to allow the community, via the Friends of the Chinatown Library, to push for a more traditional, city-funded branch. All books were transferred to the Friends for safekeeping and use. There is still no public library for Chinatown, however the Storefront Library has reinvigorated the Chinatown community's campaign for permanent library services in the neighborhood:

• the Friends of the Chinatown Library has expanded its membership. The Friends also recently received a grant from a large foundation to plan a community-based library modeled on the Storefront Library;
• a library is now included in the community's Master Plan, intended to express the community's vision and priorities for future neighborhood development.
• there has been increased attention to the issue, including press and statements by elected officials. Groups around the country dealing with closing libraries are contacting Boston Street Lab.

See latest project updates at top right of this page.

Get a sense of the day in, day out of the Storefront Library: browse an archive of our Blog Posts about the Storefront Library.

5000+ Books Donated

4100+ Books Shelved

1374 Books Circulated—54% Chinese

1335.5 Hours of Volunteer Public Service

540 Storefront Library Cards Issued

427 Hours Open

110 Events Produced

39 Volunteer Staff

2 Paid Staff

Boston Street Lab gathered anonymous data by means of a library card application form. Feedback was also collected in handwritten form, in Chinese and English, on-site. Volunteers translated, entered, and posted the feedback. View the full data here.