Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library was established in 1848 as a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The Boston Public Library is also the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (previously the Library of Last Resort); all adult inhabitants of the Commonwealth have borrowing and research privileges, and the library gets state financing. The Boston Public Library, with approximately 24 million items, is one of the largest libraries in the world, after the federal Library of Congress and the privately endowed New York Public Library. In fiscal year 2014, the library hosted over 10,000 free public programs and lent 3.7 million volumes.

The library has several branches, the most important of which is the Central Library, which is located in Copley Square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood and is divided into two structures: the McKim structure, which was built in 1895 and was inspired by the armature in Rome and Paris, and the Johnson structure, which is a more ultramodern addition.

Location: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S