For three months last winter, people walking along Washington Street in Boston's dense Chinatown had one fewer vacant storefront glowering at them. In its place glowed a little library project, drawing people in from the sidewalk and engaging them with a packed collection of donated books, computers, inventive programming, and space to study, make art, or hold meetings.

The Chinatown Storefront Library, open from October 14, 2009, through January 17, 2010, was the brainchild of Leslie and Sam Davol of Boston Street Lab, a nonprofit focused on livable cities. Their inspiration was a fruitless wait for Boston Public Library (BPL) to respond to community advocacy for a neighborhood branch—BPL had closed the previous Chinatown branch in 1956.

Using their experience transforming urban spaces for civic purposes, the Davols, joined by program manager Amy Cheung, ventured right into libraryland to create a demonstration project for the community. They used what they knew from their involvement with the Friends of the Chinatown Library and leaned on know-how from BPL and Simmons College, then plunged ahead.

Mostly, though, they remained responsive. They made a plan, engaged Harvard students in a furniture design process even before they found the 3000 square foot space, and built grass-roots support—lots of it. Intentionally funded on a shoestring to reinforce its temporary intent and express an alternative to costly planning efforts, the project drew on in-kind services, donations, and vast volunteer time (see Storefront Stats, p. 5). Over 50 small donations met cash needs, and fellowships supported the furniture design.

Once in the space, the trio shaped the collection and programs to fulfill its potential and innovated as needed. Along the way, they learned more about Chinatown and greater Boston through patron analysis—all blogged in detail.

Perhaps most significant, the project offered real alternative insight into how to give the community a place to land and learn when full library service is out of reach. That insight, especially valuable as BPL contracts in the face of drastic cuts, will be put to use in a second iteration of the Chinatown Storefront Library, currently in the planning stages for a fall 2010 opening, says Leslie Davol, for a tentative two-year run.

1. A Street Life

The donated space on the street level facing the heavily trafficked Washington Street had been most recently used for hiring by W Hotel & Residences. It put the library eye to eye with the community, allowing for serendipitous discovery by passersby and steady outreach with signage in both English and Chinese.

2. Where Wishes Just Might Come True

Taking advantage of an existing display kitchen for the circulation area and reference desk was one of many space-based decisions made by the project leads, Boston Street Lab's (bottom, r.–l.) Leslie and Sam Davol and Amy Cheung. A Wish Tree by Yoko Ono added cultural flair and a sense of contemplative intent to anchor the deeper desire for the library space to enrich the community.


3. Furniture Made To Move

The project's temporary nature and undetermined home required shelving and furniture that could be used and reused in various settings. It inspired a stimulating set of interconnected units by students at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Curves with red accents surprised the eye as they formed distinct spaces for separate activities and united shelving and work surfaces. The remarkable children's space inside the front doors was backed by a YA collection that outgrew expectations and stretched into the highest shelves.

4. The Value of Flexibility

The shelving units provided a spine down the center of the high-ceilinged space, were flexible enough to encase a standing structural column, and included platforms for standing access to public access computers and more shelving for a well-thumbed collection, cataloged via Library Thing. The units also added significant visual interest with interior views to what was essentially a big white box.

5. An Invitation To Create

The Drawing Lab, by artist Deb Putnoi, demonstrated the project's hunger to make use of the space provided. It turned one of two existing three-walled rooms into an activity hive with a series of project-driven art experiences inspiring patrons to Touch, Look, Listen, and, ultimately, trust their artistic impulses.


6. Space Turned Reading Room

A second semi-enclosed area farther back in the library welcomed patrons, who could spread out at a big table to study or hold small meetings. Staff enhanced the room's value with a wall dedicated to local resources.

7. A Sense of Solitude

Two rooms tucked in the back provided critical break space. Library volunteers and organizers could take refuge in either a small kitchen or the printer room—turned—staff workspace, with a sliding door and a jury-rigged "alarm" made with a bell on a dolly to protect personal property.

8. A History Lesson

A neighborhood time line and an exhibit on Chinese restaurants adorned the walls, affixing the space to the past, just as the burgeoning collection required the acquisition of extra shelving from IKEA, anchoring it in the here and now.