The last day of the Storefront Library at 640 Washington St. will be Sunday, January 17, 2010. If you haven’t had a chance to come by, please do! This weekend, in addition to storytime and a special science activity, we’ll be giving tours for the American Librarians’ Association Midwinter Conference.

Thank you to our host Archstone for extending the donation of the storefront space into 2010. The extension let us serve more patrons, gather more evaluation data, and capture the attention of librarians nationwide coming to Boston. We’re optimistic about what happens next—both for Chinatown and for other experiments in the model of the Storefront Library.

Click “Continued” below for a detailed description of how we will disperse some of the components of the Storefront Library to seed emerging projects in the neighborhood, including a new community reading room in development by Friends of the Chinatown Library. We’ll continue to report on the progress of these projects and ongoing efforts to bring library services to the neighborhood at storefrontlibrary.org.

Although it’s time for us to move on from this space, Boston Street Lab is already working on several new projects that build on what we’ve learned. Watch for a new outdoor project based on the language learning programs and translation services you experienced in the Storefront Library. So, although we’re moving on, we’re not going away—let’s keep in touch.

It has been a thrill and an honor to work on this remarkable project with all of you.

Leslie and Sam Davol
Boston Street Lab

BOOKS, FURNITURE & PROGRAM OF THE STOREFRONT LIBRARY TO SEED NEW COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN CHINATOWN

When the three-month experiment called the Storefront Library moves out of its borrowed space at 640 Washington Street in Boston’s Chinatown, its components will be dispersed. However, nothing will go to waste. In keeping with the mission of Boston Street Lab, the Storefront Library will seed new community programs and help build the capacity of existing organizations:

1) BOOKS TO THE FRIENDS OF THE CHINATOWN LIBRARY for a community reading room:
The Friends of the Chinatown Library advocacy group has recently decided to expand its activities and organizational capacity to include running a “community reading room.” The Friends will also work with the BPL to explore ways to better deliver library services to the Chinatown community, using the main Copley branch, and continue to advocate for a permanent branch library.

Boston Street Lab will support Friends by boxing, cataloging, and delivering to Friends the majority of the Storefront Library Collection for use in their new reading room when launched. We’ll also provide Friends with technical advice about the planning and operation of their project. We’ll use storefrontlibrary.org to keep the community informed and connected to the Friends’ efforts.

2) FURNITURE & “STARTER BOOK KITS” TO EMERGING LIBRARIES IN NEIGHBORHOOD
Buds and Blossoms is a new daycare facility opening soon in Chinatown, being run by the Asian American Civic Association. Buds and Blossoms will put the Childrens’ Pod furniture and shelving immediately to use in their new facility. We’ll also pass along a “starter kit” of board books from the Storefront Library.

The Josiah Quincy Upper School will take the remainder of the furniture, as well as a selection of books identified by Simmons interns as useful for the grades served by JQUS (6-12). JQUS is trying to establish a working library in order to obtain their International Baccalaureate accreditation.

A small selection of children’s books will be given to the Quincy Elementary School c/o Jane deBros, the Elementary School Librarian. We’ve been doing class visits from grades 2-4 recently, so these kids know the Storefront well.

A small selection of books related to the Chinese-American experience will be delivered to the Chinese Historical Society of New England. The Storefront Library hosted a CHSNE exhibit and CHSNE is exploring new ways to bring its materials and programs to the public.

3) REPORT TO ANALYZE PROGRAM AND USE OF STOREFRONT SPACE
Boston Street Lab is committed to sharing a detailed report and operations plan for how the Storefront Library was run during these months, including data on usage by patrons, community groups, and visitors. The upcoming report will include a discussion of bilingual issues, volunteer staffing, programming partners and costs, insurance, security, and permitting. All of this can help inform decisions about how the community wants to move forward with plans for a permanent branch, and also to create a smaller, interim community reading room.

Some initial data from this report are available here. Some of the threads we’ve been following about small-scale libraries are collected here.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR BOSTON STREET LAB

The mission of Boston Street Lab is to produce educational, cultural, and civic programs in dense urban environments. As cities grow, it can become more difficult to carve out space for these uses. Boston Street Lab wants to address this problem by creating well-produced, rigorously evaluated, demonstration projects at street level, which point the way towards solutions that other organizations, communities, and cities can implement. In a sense, we’re looking to be “test pilots” who push the envelope of traditional institutions and help inform the development of new, successful urban solutions.

In the case of the Storefront Library, we wanted to stretch the concept of an urban library. Currently, we’re working on a new “flight plan” that takes some of the more successful aspects of the Storefront Library program and pushes them further.

Based on a number of suggestions and ideas from our volunteers, one of the projects we’re developing is a “Language Lab” that will build on the language learning programs and translation services in the Storefront Library. We’re seeking to fund and create an experimental, outdoor walk-up program for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway that combines:

• language learning opportunities (English Language and Chinese Language conversation groups, bi-lingual readings for children and adults, vocabulary building sessions and activities)
• basic translation services (pro-bono translation of written materials, reading aloud of letters and documents, homework translation help for students and parents).
• innovative, feather-weight, physical design solutions which facilitate productive use of outdoor space for learning.

The project seeks to create a mix of walk-up/drop-in programs that pair people with language skills with people with language needs in a flexible, outdoor setting. To keep in touch with Boston Street Lab and learn about other upcoming projects, visit www.bostonstreetlab.org.

As always, we’re open late on Thursday until 8PM. And we’ve got your favorite bilingual storytime at 6PM featuring Jan Brett’s “The Mitten” and “The Hat” and a hedgehog craft.

Join us, and do your thing.

MAKE YOUR MARK and DRAW in the Drawing Lab! Come DRAW and EXPLORE with artist, Deb Putnoi. You will: Draw to music and different sounds; Draw using your sense of TOUCH as your guide; Experiment with DIFFERENT DRAWING MATERIALS; Draw on different kinds of papers and surfaces. This workshop is for EVERYONE to DRAW: young and old, experienced artists and beginners. It is for those who love to draw and for those who may be afraid to draw.

Discussion on the History of Chinese Restaurants
Sunday, January 10, 2PM.

Join in for a facilitated discussion on the history of Chinese restaurants. This event is presented by the Chinese Historical Society of New England in conjuction with the exhibit “Chow Mein Sandwiches, Chicken Wings, and Cheese Burgers,” which is on view in the Storefront Library through January 17. Curators of the exhibit, John Eng-Wong and Heather Lee, from Brown University, will be on hand to facilitate.

Then, from 12PM-1PM, join educators from Opera Boston for an hour of special storytelling and craft workshop inspired by one of China’s most beloved stories, Madame White Snake. Madame White Snake, a powerful white snake demon, wants more than anything to become a human and experience love. After meditating for one thousand years, Madame White Snake is granted her wish. Come and learn about the many adventures that she and her maid, Lady Blue have as they begin their human lives in Hang Zhou, China. We’ll also make Chinese opera masks to take home.

Join readers Sharon Tomasulo and Annie Wu at 6PM for Moose Tracks by Karma Wilson and If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff. We’ll make our own antlers to wear. Bilingual reading (Cantonese).

The Library is open Thursday nights until 8PM. When you visit the Storefront Library and give us feedback, we learn more about what a future, permanent library could be like in the neighborhood. Come down and tell us what you think!

“In the absence of informal public life, living becomes more expensive. Where the means and facilities for relaxation and leisure are not publicly shared, they become the objects of private ownership and consumption.” – Ray Oldenburg

As we enter the home stretch for the Storefront Library at 640 Washington St, Boston Street Lab is running evaluation interviews with staff and patrons. A frequent theme emerging from these discussions is the unique role of the Storefront Library as a safe, engaging social space where patrons can linger.

For example, we’re hearing that the Storefront Library is a preferred meeting location for friends going out, because you can read a book, visit the Drawing Lab, or join a program underway while waiting for your companions to show up. Alternatively, some patrons simply drop in after work or school before heading home for dinner, usually for newspapers or internet access. Others of you have discovered that we’re open late on Thursday and that we have a collection of donated board games. And everyone knows that you can sit and read anytime, without have to buy a cup of coffee, or shop, (or pretend to shop).

Third places is a term used by urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg referring to a type of social space lying between home and work—the two places where we generally spend most of our time. Importantly, third places can provide an opportunity for creative interaction and civic engagement on a level playing field. Here are a few links exploring the concept in relation to libraries (and coffee shops) from bloggers in Boston (MA) and Maricopa County (AZ).

We’re inspired by the concept of third places, but, as any librarian, cafe owner , or postmaster will tell you: the devil is in the details. Right now, Boston Street Lab is analyzing quantitative and qualitative data about how people use the Storefront Library. Our goal: uncover and document how to lower costs, reduce risk, remove operational impediments while simultaneously improving guest experience, raising program attendance, and increasing positive community impacts. We think a rigorous evaluation of this temporary project can inform and inspire advocacy for a permanent library branch in the neighborhood. We also think it will help Boston Street Lab and other producers seeking to develop other street-level cultural and civic uses of space in urban neighborhoods.

Do you have thoughts about the Storefront Library? Here’s how you can contribute:

• Feedback online
• Leave a message for us at the Storefront Library Hotline (617) 466-9171
• Drop in and feedback in person

1PM—English Language Conversation Practice. Join a guided conversation to practice your English skills. All levels—drop in anytime from 1-2PM.

5PM—Workshop on ESOL Courses & Scholarships at The American Chinese Christian Educational and Social Services.  Come learn about Intensive courses for improving pronunciation and English for Restaurant Workers, scholarships, and a school “Enrichment Program” for grades 2-5. Presented in English and Cantonese. 免費講座﹕基督教華人社區服務中心成人英語冬季強化班和春季班及獎學金. 基督教華人社區服務中心將詳細介紹它們開設的成人英語課程。本講座重點介 紹提高讀音水平和針對餐館工人開辦的冬季強化班﹐以及從初級到中級水平的春 季班。最後﹐還將介紹有關申請春季班全額或半額獎學金的情況,以及面嚮K2至K5 年級的放學後豐富課外活動的計劃。講座以及散發材料均為中英文。

While the shift to digital media will cause library organizations to become larger through mergers, it will also allow branches to be effective at smaller sizes. Without the need to store a critical mass of books, tiny, storefront branches will become more practical and cost efficient. Guys in vans carrying books will become more important. When people go to their local branch, they’ll be able to use the free Google Books terminal (libraries are to get one free for every building) or other computers, check out some books, then have a coffee and socialize for an hour or so until the van makes its hourly delivery. Or they’ll do their shopping rounds and come back to pick up the bag of books waiting for them. Establishing branches in shopping areas is not only a smart thing for libraries to do, it’s also very cost-efficient.

In my own town, it seems that almost every year there’s talk of closing the branch to save money. If you look at it, you can see why—the building is massive and has to be very expensive to operate. Eventually it will be shuttered and sold, but a storefront branch down the block could deliver the same services and cost much less to run. Does it make sense for the town high school to run its own library? Not really, but that could be another branch. We’ll have fewer libraries, but more locations.

Read Eric Hellman’s full post here.

Interested in more?  Check out some of the threads we’ve been following about libraries and small-scale, street-level cultural use of urban space.

All workshops conducted in both English and Cantonese. Free and open to the public.

On Sunday, Hope Nguyen entered the 4000th donated book in the Storefront Library Online Catalog, as Amy Cheung, Program Manager, looked on.

In two months, more than 40 volunteers have contributed nearly one thousand hours of public service in the Storefront Library, and it’s fitting that Hope was there to mark our latest milestone. Hope has a remarkable combination of kindness, good humor, and tenacity that she lends to the library every Sunday. Her extensive work with the collection means that any book you borrow has probably passed through her hands.

We love data in the Storefront—cataloging donated materials means we can circulate books efficiently and learn about what the community wants in a library. But the success of this institution depends on something more important: the dedication and generosity of our volunteer staff. Thank you to Hope Nguyen and all the Storefront Library Volunteers for their service.

Chinatown Storefront Library from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.

1. Listen to Storytime at 11:30AM.
2. Join Be the Match and learn how easy it has become to become a bone marrow donor (and how critical your donation can be for Asian Americans and people of mixed-race descent). 12-4PM.
3. Check out Chinese Shadow Puppets with hands-on activities using kits provided by the Boston Childrens’ Museum. 2-4PM.
4. Attend a special bi-lingual tour of the Copley Branch of the Boston Public Library, arranged by the Storefront Library. 3PM at Copley.
5. Publish yourself in a hand-on workshop from the experts at the Papercut Zine Library. 3-6PM.

Or just stop by to use the internet, read a newspaper, or borrow a book.

The Storefront Library is run by volunteers—come by, meet the team, and cheer them on as they produce another Saturday in the Storefront.

The Chinese Historical Society of New England brings to Boston an exhibit that originally was on display at the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. The exhibit will also feature historic restaurant photos and materials from the CHSNE collection.

The Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) will host an opening ceremony that includes a brief presentation by Heather Lee and Amy Johnson, co-curators, and comments by John Eng-Wong, visiting scholar from Brown University’s Center for the Study of Race & Ethnicity in America. The opening is free and open to the public. Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 5:00-7:00 pm. Contact Chinese Historical Society of New England at 617-338-4339 or email info@chsne.org

“We hope this will be the first in a series of “Immediate Zine” group zine-making experiments hosted by The Papercut Zine Library, in collaboration with the Storefront Library.

Papercut staffers will lead a conversation exploring the big questions of whats a zine? Where do zines come from? Why do people make them? What do they look like? If I were to make a zine, how big should i make the margins? How do I work this long-arm stapler? etc.

Participants will then be asked to build themselves a page or two for a group-zine on the topic of: Free Expression. Take some time to write something up, draw a cartoon, build a collage, whatever. The results will be laid-out, photocopied and collated on the spot, giving participants a full seed-to-cabbage type of zine-making experience–plus a new zine full of original art and ideas.

Background: The Papercut Zine Library, booted out from the rad free space it occupied in Harvard Square for four years, was this fall graciously offered some shelf-space by the Chinatown Storefront Library. The Storefront asked Papercut to run a zine-making workshop, and this is what we came up with. It could turn out prettty good, we think.”
—Papercut Zine Librarians

Monday evening, the Storefront Library hosted a rousing spoken word performance sponsored by students of a Storytelling, Performance and Production class at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in collaboration with the Asian American Studies Program at U. Mass.

Open to the public until 9PM, the Library was packed and standing room only—which is good thing for poets and also our expectations about what a library, a storefront, and a city can offer.

Join us Sunday for Chinese Celebrations from 2:00pm – 4:00pm where you can drop in and learn about Chinese celebrations through hands-on activities. For all ages.

Please note we’ll open 15 minutes late on Sunday at 11:15AM. Closing time remains 6:00PM.

Wrap it up with Home Movie Night—a celebration of amateur film where you are invited to show and watch your old home movies on super 8, 8mm, 16mm, DVD, and VHS. Local film archivists will be on hand to help. Film check in 5PM. Viewing starts 6PM.

And of course, we’ve got books you can borrow, newspapers, magazines, and a Drawing Lab.

Come to think of it, you could really spend your whole day in the Storefront Library.

[Update 6:30PM] Home Movie Night is underway—thanks to everyone for coming out on a snowy evening.

Tonight was record-breaking—three simultaneous events and scores of people using the library into the evening. But why is busy important to us?

In short, the more you use the Storefront Library, the more we learn from this experiment.

Boston Street Lab and the Storefront Library Interns and Volunteers are committed to documenting the broad demand for library services in the community. But we’re also committed to uncovering specific data about exactly what works best, when it works best, and how to produce it efficiently. We believe that a fine grained understanding of how the community uses this temporary library can inform and inspire advocacy for a permanent library branch in the neighborhood. We also think it will help us develop other small-scale, street-level cultural uses of space in downtown Boston.

In the summer of 2001, urban planning students Beatrice Chen and Jasper Goldman, traveled to China to document the rapidly disappearing urban fabric of historic Old Beijing. Amidst observations in the hutongs (narrow lanes) and the siheyuans (courtyard houses) that are unique to Beijing and conversations with Beijing residents, they discovered an escalating debate about the endangered fate of these historic neighborhoods that extended beyond the technical issues of architecture. The people, the community, the lifestyle, the culture, the politics and economics were all central to the debate that could easily tip the scale between the preservation of a neighborhood and the demolition of a neighborhood.

About the filmmakers:
Jasper Goldman is an urban planner and film-maker based in New York City. He graduated with a Master’s in City Planning from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning in 2003. ‘From Hutong to High Rise’ is his third film; his previous film ‘The Truck’ screened at London’s Electric Cinema in 2001. Beatrice Chen currently works at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. ‘From Hutong to Highrise’ is her first film that she co-produced and co-directed as a graduate student at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Storefront Library staff sought out Peter Chan, a chemistry teacher at the Quincy Upper School, (photo above) who is spearheading an effort to create a library for the school’s students. (They have a room which long ago served as a library, but it is not yet operational.) Peter accepted the books on behalf of the Quincy School. We are considering other ways that the Storefront Library can help the Quincy Upper School Library get up and running.

Stay tuned for more news about how the Storefront Library will be collaborating with the Quincy School in the months ahead.

Amy Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library, dropped in at the Storefront Library during our open hours today. She spent time talking with staff and volunteers, and we showed her some of our initial usage data and described our operations. We also talked about how operating in a street-level storefront space encourages us to think like retailers—we can see immediately how the placement of signage, books, and materials in the window affects whether or not people stop to look inside and visit.

Ms. Ryan was last in the Storefront Library at its opening ceremony. She and her staff also met with us several times prior to that, in the spring and summer of 2009 when we were planning the project. We were excited to show her the library in action and appreciate the time she spent visiting.

Are you interested in libraries? Drop in or drop us a line—we’ll show you around.

[Photo left to right: Shu Juan Yu, Library Assistant; Amalia Child (Simmons GSLIS ‘11); Amy Cheung, Program Manager; Melissa Saggerer (Simmons GSLIS ‘10); Amy Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library]

This Monday, a group of nearly 40 ESOL students from the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center dropped in for a tour of the Storefront Library, and they joined Emily’s group. A gentleman brought in the song “Que Sera Sera” which helped start off the discussion on one side of the room. On the other side, Storefront Library Volunteer Valerie Wong, a former teacher, stepped in to help with the crowd and lead a second circle discussion.

Thanks to BCNC for dropping in and experiencing the Storefront Library. Thanks to Kwan Cheung for sending in photos for the album above.

We gave the 8centric volunteers a brief introduction to the Library, and they swept up our sidewalk on their way out. Nicely done.