Boston Public Library
Sign in to saveAlso known as Library of Last Recourse, BPL, bpl.org, Adams, John (1735-1826) Library
library system in Boston, Massachusetts
OverviewAI-generated
The Boston Public Library, also known as the Library of Last Recourse, is an active archive located in Boston, United States. It is commonly referred to by the acronym BPL. The institution was established in 1848, with its inception recorded on March 18 of that year.
The library serves as a significant cultural resource, attracting approximately 3,818,883 visitors annually. In addition to physical attendance, it engages an audience of 467,265 viewers or listeners through its digital or broadcast platforms. These metrics reflect the institution's ongoing operational status and public reach within its community.
Synthesized by Vinony from 15 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, ROR. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Location
- Boston , Massachusetts, US
- Type
- Public
- Size
- 24,079,520
- Circulation
- 7.6 million (FY 2025)
- Population served
- 6,547,629
- Budget
- $49.5 million (FY 2026)
- Director
- David Leonard, President , Ray Liu, Chair of the Board
- Affiliation
- Boston Library Consortium
- Public transit access
- Copley
- Website
- bpl.org
via Wikipedia infobox
Research organization · ROR
- Type
- Archive
- Founded
- 1848
- Location
- Boston, United States
- Also known as
- BPL, Library of Last Recourse
- Status
- Active
GRID grid.446357.7 · ISNI 0000 0001 2287 3150
Wikidata facts
- Official name
- Boston Public Library
- Country
- United States
- Located in
- Boston
- Headquarters
- Boston Public Library, McKim Building
- Revenue
- 52087654
- Official website
- www.bpl.org
- Image
- USA Boston Public Library 2 MA.jpg
Show 15 more facts
- Commons category
- Boston Public Library
- topic's main category
- Category:Boston Public Library
- Commons Institution page
- Boston Public Library
- visitors per year
- 3540693
- inception
- 1848-03-18
- native label
- Boston Public Library
- official blog URL
- www.bpl.org/blogs
- website account on
- Unsplash
- total expenditure
- 45708824
- social media followers
- 33780
- collection or exhibition size
- 14900000
- P8168
- Fanny Cerrito
- P13311
- Aëtius of Antioch
- number of viewers/listeners
- 467265
Sources (14)
via Wikidata · CC0
~30 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Chavannes Gallery at the McKim Building with murals painted by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes The Boston Public Library (BPL) is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly library of last recourse), meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. The Boston Central Library in Copley Square was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2000.
Overview
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Boston Public Library” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.