With the full support of Mayor Walsh and all of our other local and state elected officials, the Boston Public Library (BPL) has planned and executed major renovations and rebuilds to the Central Library and several other BPL branches over the past few years. In the next 3-5 years, the South End Library is slated to undergo transformative change to meet the needs of current and future growth in the community. FOSEL is excited to collaborate in planning the reinvention of the South End Library with the BPL, Boston’s Public Facilities Department, and you, the South End community.

An intensive Planning Process for the Library overhaul is scheduled to begin next year. It will be sponsored by the BPL and the City and will start with a Programming Study, to be funded in the FY 2020-2021 budget. In accordance with past practice, it is anticipated that the BPL and the PFD will hold a public information-gathering meeting with South End residents to inform the Study.

In preparation for the Program Study, FOSEL hopes to enhance the planners’ understanding of our diverse community with basic qualitative research about the residential and commercial demographics of the neighborhood, the various aims of South End-based nonprofit organizations, and the needs and expectation of South End residents vis-à-vis their use of the Central Library and the South End Branch.

A New Library Committee comprised of FOSEL board members and volunteers has begun to reach out to our various South End neighborhood associations, churches, schools, and charities and is gathering information to inform the Planning Process. Committee members include Joe Rondinelli, Yvette Jarreau, Dorothy Kelley, Russ O’Haver, Michael Hinchcliffe, and Derek Lessing.

We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about how to best improve our library. To contact us email info@friendsofsouthendlibrary.org.