John Ruch
Web Exclusive
The Boston Public Library (BPL) board of trustees will vote April 9 on the fate of the branch libraries, and appears to be leaning toward closing some of them.
On March 31, the BPL will publish a list of various criteria that will be used to rank branches. The ranking will determine which branches are up for closure or consolidation into “paired” facilities operating on reduced hours.
The local Connolly, Egleston Square and Jamaica Plain Branches are now officially in danger of closure. The BPL still has not released a list of branches up for possible closure. But at a March 24 BPL trustees meeting, BPL President Amy Ryan released a list of “lead libraries” that will be immune from closure or cutbacks. No local library is on that list.
The key April 9 decision-making meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the main Copley Square library. There are several other upcoming meetings and protests about the possible closures. See the JP Agenda for more information.
For full coverage of the library situation, see the April 2 issue of the Gazette.