Ode to the Boston Public Library

Whether you march into the modern (as in, 1960s modern) cement doorway on Boylston, or prance up the granite steps to the ornate original entrance on Dartmouth Street, this is a building you should visit frequently. Here is a list, in no particular order, of why I love the Boston Public Library.

• Free access to books, audio books, internet, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, CDs, and restrooms. Cheapskates love free! And overdue fines, at least for books, are $0.10 per day, $5 max per item.
  
• Nowhere else do I feel as smart or as productive as I do when I work in Bates Hall. There is something about those vaulted ceilings, those green shaded lamps, those 60 other studious people giving me a dirty look if I so much as cough...
• For the three months of the year when its fountain is not frozen, the courtyard of the library is a delightful place to read, type on your laptop, sketch, bring a date with a picnic lunch, and pretend you are in Rome.
  
• If you bring your laptop, the internet is free all over the building. Free, free, free. If you don't have a laptop, you can sign up at the library to use their computers (for free) for 1-hour blocks.
• Despite cutbacks all over America, the BPL still keeps respectable hours of 9 - 9 Monday - Thursday, 9 - 5 on Friday and Saturday, and 1 - 5 on Sundays in the winter.
• Lazy readers can request materials from any branch using the online catalog. (I am currently 83rd in line for "The Happiness Project", but "The Audacity of Hope" was available immediately... What does that say?) Books will be held for you at the branch of your choice for a week until you can pick them up. And they will email you when the book is there. Such service!
• Yes, as mentioned above, they have DVDs, CDs, and other forms of media. It's a pain in the a** to dig through their stacks, but if you request them online, they will be ready and waiting for you! Watching all seven seasons of the West Wing this way definitely beat streaming grainy, pirated versions online.
  
• Free Art & Architecture tours of the Main Library are offered almost daily. Be a nerd by yourself, or unburdern yourself for the afternoon and send your visiting parents.
  
• In addition to the library on Boylston, there are 26 other branches, and you probably live near one of them.
• The BPL Main Branch offers frequent (free) speakers, events, and exhibits, including my recent favorite: Arthur Frommer's presentation on the 10 best and worst recent developments in travel. All of the upcoming gems are listed on their home page.
• If they don't have what you're looking for, chances are the BPL can find it for you. They are part of a huge regional interlibrary loan system and the Boston Library Consortium which covers just about every library around here except Harvard's.
  

Convinced? Still don't have a library card? All you need to take advantage of these wonderful perks that your tax dollars pay for is some ID indicating that you are a current Mass resident. Hop to it!