Grand Reopening Set for Boston Public Library

Boston, MA - The long-awaited reopening of the Boston Public Library's newly renovated central location will take place July 9, commemorated with a morning ribbon cutting.

This is the second and final phase of the years-long renovations process of the iconic Copley Square building.

The second phase includes updates to the lower level, first floor, mezzanine and the exterior of the Johnson building, which opened in 1972.

Patrons should note that the library will be closed the two days prior to its big debut, on June 7 and 8.

Highlights of the second phase of the renovation include: removal of the granite plinths that covered the Johnson building windows - reconnecting the building to the street, a revamped lecture hall, a new innovation center, new Mac and Windows computers for the public computing area, a hi-tech community learning center, an enlarged Fiction section, new ways of book browsing, digital stacks to explore the BPL’s digitized collections, a Welcome Center, a digital imaging suite and new landscaping along Boylston Street.

It will also include The Newsfeed Café, with a TBD "mid-summer" opening date at the corner of Boylston and Exeter, and a WGBH News satellite bureau and studio.

Robert Gallery, chair of the library's board of trustees, called the library "transformed," and the renovations "one of the most significant milestones in Boston Public Library history"

“The goal of the renovation was to reinvent both our building and our library services as inviting, dynamic, and modern, to be responsive to twenty first century urban civic life and to strengthen the Central Library and its connection to the City,” said David Leonard, President of the Boston Public Library, in a press release.

The two-phase reconstruction cost a total $78 million, led by the City of Boston’s Public Facilities Department, PMA Consultants, Consigli Construction Co. Inc. and William Rawn Associates, Architects Inc.

>> BPL photo by Alison Bauter, Patch staff