A Neighborhood Jewel

Today, Kate recommends a visit to the new and fabulous Mattapan Branch Library:

“We're in a period where everything seems to be going in the wrong direction. Crime is up, the economy is down, and government seems unable to understand let alone meet the needs of the people it is supposed to guide and serve. In the midst of all of this, something new and good has appeared in Boston: the Boston Public Library has recently opened the latest addition to its system of neighborhood branches, a new multiservice library in the neighborhood of Mattapan.
Mattapan has long been served by libraries - the Mattapan Library Association was founded in 1849 - and the Mattapan Branch Library carries on the tradition by being not only an architectural gem but a fully modern facility that is intended to both respond to and shape the desire for information on the part of its patrons. Located on Blue Hill Avenue - the scarred and storied thoroughfare of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan - the library is just north of Mattapan Square.

Suffused with natural light and colors and filled with a sense of peace, the library offers a full adult collection as well as a computer room, a community room, and a special collection of French materials. Best of all for families, the library has a wonderful Children's Room, with soft carpets, lots of kid-level shelving, charming purple seating, private bathrooms, and an experienced staff.

The Mattapan Branch Library is everything a neighborhood library should be: both of the neighborhood and its people, but also offering the implicit suggestion that life can be better, richer, fuller with the fellowship of books and music and lectures and reflection.”

Mattapan Branch Library, 1350 Blue Hill Avenue, Mattapan; 617-298-9218