While Boston Public Library branches remain closed for in-building services, Mayor Marty Walsh announced Wednesday a new library program aimed at expanding digital and online access to residents around the city, and particularly in neighborhoods where fewer residents have access to the Internet.
Starting this week, Walsh said, the BPL is providing free outdoor Wifi services outside nine branch libraries, as well as outdoor seating options, to allow residents to access the kinds of online services they might otherwise enjoy inside library buildings.
“The Boston Public Library has been a long leader in free access to technology and they’re leading again in this crisis,” Walsh said. “Digital access is also central to Boston Public Library’s plan for online learning.”
Mattapan, Hyde Park, East Boston, South End, Dorchester’s Codman Square branch, Parker Hill branch in Mission Hill, the Grove Hall branch in Dorchester/Roxbury, Egleston Square in Roxbury/Jamiaca Plain, and the Honan branch in Allston.
Walsh said the locations chosen were based on data showing neighborhood access to online services.
The Boston Public Library will also continue its “BPL to Go” program, which lets residents reserve and borrow physical books at drop-off sites at library branch locations.
Walsh said the city is currently looking at ways to provide such access to seniors and residents of senior living communities.
The mayor also addressed widely circulating video depicting Wisconsin man Jacob Blake, who is Black, apparently being shot multiple times in the back by police.
“What I witnessed on TV, and I don’t have all the facts of the case, was an atrocity,” Walsh said.
“I can’t speak for Wisconsin, I can’t speak for Georgia, I can’t speak for Minneapolis. We have not seen incidents like that happen in Boston. I’m not saying it can never happen, but I’m hoping and praying to God we never see that.”
The mayor noted that he has appointed a task force to review Boston Police Department policies and practices, and said his administration is dedicated to rooting out racism at every level of government, including policing.
Walsh also addressed the continuing trend of disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 infections in East Boston.
While the city-wide positive test rate for COVID-19, one key health metric, has dropped to just over 2%, Walsh said, East Boston has recorded rates as high as eleven percent – higher even than a week ago, when Walsh said a positive rate of around eight or nine percent could mean the delaying of reopening schools in East Boston.
Walsh said the city is working with community leaders and health experts to determine why COVID-19 infections levels remain so high in East Boston.
