Storytimes near Boston Public Library

Improve your English speaking skills in a supportive online community! Our friendly Zoom group for adult ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners offers a relaxed environment to practice. Every week, we'll read engaging news articles, explore new vocabulary, and discuss the material together. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Logic Pro is a professional grade software for songwriting, music production, mixing, editing, and more. Start to explore the interface, learn how to create and edit your own loop-based compositions, and get started recording audio tracks into your production session. About the Instructor: Jayden Nguyen is a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, and Berklee College of Music scholarship recipient with a lifelong passion for music and teaching. With over a decade of experience spanning performance, production, and education, Jayden has developed a versatile skill set across violin, piano, guitar, flute, and music technology. Beginning his musical journey at the age of six, Jayden quickly distinguished himself through his perfect pitch and deep understanding of musical structure. He has performed with various bands and collaborated with well-known Vietnamese artists, bringing both stage and studio experience into his teaching. As an educator, Jayden is dedicated to making music accessible, engaging, and practical for students of all levels. He specializes in helping beginners build strong foundations while also guiding more advanced students in creativity and musical expression. His teaching style emphasizes hands-on learning, real-world application, and confidence-building. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Are you ready to get a car but don't know where to start? Join us to learn how to get the best deal on a car and the pros and cons of borrowing vs. leasing. The Babson Financial Literacy Project (BFLP) is a not-for-profit initiative designed to help individuals acquire the necessary financial knowledge and skills for long-term independence and prosperity. An important part of their mission is to fill the financial literacy gap for underserved populations. The BFLP prepares individuals for their financial futures through engaging, interactive workshops that teach highly relevant financial lessons in a community setting. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Kanopy is a free on-demand movie and documentary streaming platform offered through the Boston Public Library. Watch Journey to Italy  (1954) on Kanopy at any time, then join our virtual discussion on Thursday, July 9 at 7:00 pm. About the film: Among the most influential films of the postwar era, Roberto Rossellini’s JOURNEY TO ITALY ( Viaggio in Italia ) charts the declining marriage of a couple from England (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) on a trip in the countryside near Naples. More than just the anatomy of a relationship, Rossellini’s masterpiece is a heartrending work of emotion and spirituality. Considered a predecessor to the existentialist works of Michelangelo Antonioni and hailed as a groundbreaking modernist work by the legendary film journal Cahiers du cinéma , JOURNEY TO ITALY is a breathtaking cinematic benchmark. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes; No rating. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info." Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website:  https://bplfund.org/

Website-building platforms such as Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, and WordPress are rising in popularity and universality, allowing anyone to make a website in hours, no technical knowledge required. But making a good website goes beyond learning the tool to create the site. Great websites require thinking ahead and planning before you even choose a site builder.  In this course, we will cover everything you should consider before embarking on a website project. We'll explore different types of websites, the purposes of each, and how to choose which one is right for you to make an incredible site. We'll break down what makes a website great, including practical tips for layout and design, site navigation, color palette selection, typography, imagery, and written content.  Throughout the course, an emphasis will be placed on creating websites that are accessible, mobile-friendly, optimized for performance and search engines, and future proof. We'll also talk about setting goals for your website and how to measure your site's effectiveness.  Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Practice speaking English with other adult ESOL (English as a Second Language) learners in a relaxed and friendly online group via Zoom. This group is led by a volunteer instructor. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Join Walden Mutual Bank to learn about different types of bank loans available to small businesses, from small-dollar equipment financing to large-scale mortgages for property acquisition.  The Walden Mutual Business Development and Loan Officers will give an overview of the options that are out there and answer your questions about which are right for your business.

Practice speaking English with other adult ESOL (English as a Second Language) learners in a relaxed and friendly online group via Zoom. This group is led by a volunteer instructor. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Improve your English speaking skills in a supportive online community! Our friendly Zoom group for adult ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners offers a relaxed environment to practice. Every week, we'll read engaging news articles, explore new vocabulary, and discuss the material together. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

The Parker Hill Book Discussion Group meets every third Thursday of the month to exchange views about literature. Join us on Zoom when we review  Through my Eyes.  Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Learn how Abilities Dance Boston uses storytelling to make dance more inclusive for students and audiences and find out more about the work of this local dance company in celebration of Disability Pride Month. Listen to Founder/Executive & Artistic Director of Abilities Dance Boston Ellice Patterson discuss how reading has influenced her life and work, as well as how it tangibly supports accessibility for audiences within our performing company and students within our community engagement program.  The program will include an audience Q&A.  Ellice Patterson is the founder/ executive and artistic director of Abilities Dance, a Boston-based dance company that welcomes disabled and diverse artists. She currently serves on the board of Massachusetts Cultural Council and the editorial board of the Journal of Arts and Special Education. She was an artist in residence with the City of Boston’s transportation department, using dance as a way to promote more accessibility on the streets and sidewalks of the city 2022-2023. She has won the 2020 Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award from Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; the 2024 Bill Allan Award for Grassroots Advocacy from Disability Policy Consortium; and the 2025 Bioeticando Award in honor of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, a cultural keeper, philosopher, and advocate for historically marginalized communities from Prospera Institute. Abilities Dance under her leadership has won the 2020 UP Award from Mass Cultural Council for our achievements in accessibility across the Commonwealth and the 2023 Equity Award from Boston Cultural Council for our commitment to equity in the arts. Outside of self-produced Abilities Dance's shows, her Abilities Dance choreography has appeared in the MFA, Links Hall in Chicago, Gibney Dance in NYC, The Series: Vol IV at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre in NYC, and more. Outside of Abilities Dance, her choreography/performances have appeared in MeshGround in Sri Lanka and has received a Choreography Fellowship through the Mass Cultural Council. She has given lectures and workshops at schools, universities, and organizations across the country, including Harvard Graduate School of Education, Fidelity Investments, Boston University, and more. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Wellesley College and her Masters of Science in Management Studies from Boston University Questrom School of Business. Patterson sailed from Massachusetts to Ireland and conducted research in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans on coastal runoff, sponge species, and spider habitats! She is a passionate researcher and science communicator, dedicated to uplifting Black women in STEM through her ongoing series with the Discovery Museum. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Radical Reads is an online book club focusing on literature that critiques and challenges current feminist topics.  Join us for a vibrant discussion of Katherine Brabon's  Body Friend , in which a twenty-eight-year-old woman with chronic illness has twelve weeks to heal, or rather, to acclimate to her new body and prepare herself to leave the routines, comforts, and interiority of her convalescence. All book club titles are available in a multitude of ways. For more information on using our online books, please visit the  BPL's Stream and Download page. About the Book: In the wake of a major operation, a twenty-eight-year-old woman with chronic illness has twelve weeks to heal, or rather, to acclimate to her new body and prepare herself to leave the routines, comforts, and interiority of her convalescence. In the hydrotherapy pool, she meets Frida, a young woman who looks strikingly similar to her and is also in a state of recovery. But Frida sees her chronic illness as something to overcome and her body as something to control. She adores the pool and pushes the narrator and herself toward an active life, relentlessly pursuing the prevailing narrative of illness followed by recovery.  But the narrator also happens upon Sylvia, another young, convalescing woman, resting on a bench in a nearby park, which the narrator frequents on the days she is too ill to swim. Sylvia understands her body and the narrator's in a different way, gently encouraging her to rest, to perceive illness as something happening to her, but which does not define her. Throughout the narrator's recovery, these women shadow, overlap, mirror, and complicate one another, and what begins as two seemingly undemanding friendships is challenged by what each woman asks of the narrator, of themselves, and of their bodies.  "The novel's emotional core is heated by lyrical musings on the body and its relationship to language and narrative. This is an illuminating reflection on what it means to live with pain." - Mary Krienke , Sterling Lord Literistic Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Practice speaking English with other adult ESOL (English as a Second Language) learners in a relaxed and friendly online group via Zoom. This group is led by a volunteer instructor. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about ten key moments in disability history, ranging from the 1800s to the present. Particular focus will be given to Boston and Massachusetts.   ASL interpretation and CART services will be provided.  About the speaker   Sylvie Rosenkalt is the Accessibility and Inclusion Training Specialist for the City of Boston Disabilities Commission. She is a disabled educator, organizer and cultural worker.   Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, please contact Dana Grey at computerworkshops@bpl.org or 617-859-2323 by July 9. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange  for accommodations. 

Brad Ryan discusses his book,  Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing, One National Park at aTime . Join us on a multi-generational family journey—experience the heartrending, transformative travels of a grandson and his grandmother, who embarked on a quest to visit every US National Park. Over seven years, they healed generations of family struggles and misunderstandings. Raised in Appalachia, Grandma Joy lived a life shaped by constraints and hardships, while her grandson Brad Ryan grappled with the weight of family rifts and unresolved pain. Together, they set off on a journey not only to witness the majesty of America’s wild landscapes in all 63 US National Parks, but to come to a new understanding between themselves, to learn more about human nature and family. Each park became a classroom, teaching them profound lessons about nature, resilience, and each other. Grandma Joy and Me  follows Brad Ryan and Grandma Joy’s seven-year adventure of intergenerational healing and reveals the unique bond between a young man and his ninety-three-year-old grandmother—the oldest person to visit every US National Park. Don’t miss hearing from Brad and, briefly, from his grandmother, about their travels and this unique travelogue—an emotionally charged exploration of love, forgiveness, and resilience. Presented in partnership with American Ancestors. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Practice speaking English with other adult ESOL (English as a Second Language) learners in a relaxed and friendly online group via Zoom. This group is led by a volunteer instructor. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Ready to turn your screen on and get moving? Join us for SIGNING Rocks!, a high-energy "Anything Goes" virtual event designed to get you excited about American Sign Language. Forget the traditional classroom –– this session is all about learning through play. Led by an experienced ASL instructor, you’ll dive into a "no-voice" environment where interactive activities help you build confidence and vocabulary. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an advanced signer looking for a fun way to practice, there is a place for you in this community! What to Expect: Learn Through Play: Master essential signs while playing fast-paced, interactive games Total Immersion: Build your skills in a supportive, immersive ASL environment Community Connection: Meet others interested in ASL and Deaf culture Note: This class is taught entirely in ASL; interpreting is not provided. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Improve your English speaking skills in a supportive online community! Our friendly Zoom group for adult ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners offers a relaxed environment to practice. Every week, we'll read engaging news articles, explore new vocabulary, and discuss the material together. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Practice speaking English with other adult ESOL (English as a Second Language) learners in a relaxed and friendly online group via Zoom. This group is led by a volunteer instructor. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Join us at the Kirstein Business Library for a personal budgeting workshop presented by the City of Boston Credit Union. In this program we will cover some of the basics of personal finance including: Establishing and maintaining a budget Debt repayment Credit building and repair Establishing savings goals No matter where you are on your personal finance journey, there will surely be something to take away from this workshop! A Zoom meeting link will be delivered with registration confirmation.  Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Are you interested in learning how to communicate more effectively and inclusively? Join us for this interactive, virtual workshop designed to bridge the gap between hearing, Deaf, and hard-of-hearing community members. Whether you are a business owner, a public-facing employee, or simply curious about ASL, this session provides a welcoming introduction to the language and the culture behind it. What you will learn: Deaf Culture Basics: Gain insight into Deaf history, community norms, and communication etiquette. Practical ASL: Learn essential "functional" signs that you can use immediately in your daily life or at work. Communication Best Practices: Discover tips for navigating interactions with Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals with confidence and respect. This workshop is perfect for beginners and those looking to foster a more accessible and inclusive environment in our community. Join us and start building your ASL foundation! Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .

Practice speaking English with other adult ESOL (English as a Second Language) learners in a relaxed and friendly online group via Zoom. This group is led by a volunteer instructor. To get the most out of this group and feel comfortable participating, a basic level of English speaking (Level 2+) is recommended. Registration is needed. Please fill out this form to sign up. Staff will contact you before adding you to the class list. For any questions, please email the Literacy Services department at literacyservices@bpl.org or call us at 617-859-2446 and leave a message. Accessibility Notice : We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact the department listed in the "Contact Info" pane on the right. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation. Programming at the Boston Public Library is funded through private support. To learn more about supporting the Library, please  visit the Boston Public Library Fund's website .