Books gather dust without librarian for teens

Native Bostonians can be rhapsodic about the branch libraries where theycame of age intellectually. Forty years later they can still vividly recall spinning the desktop globe in the reference room of the Codman Square library in Dorchester or receiving awards for reading the most books in a single month in the old Colony housing project library in South Boston.Today, such memories are forming in the minds of Mattapan’s teenagers. Years from now, will they look back in anger or delight?

One year ago, a new library designed by world-class architect William Rawn opened on Mattapan’s Blue Hill Avenue, a street rarely associated with first-class anything. Much thought went into the building’s design, both inside and out. The bountiful use of glass signaled belief in the community. The earth-toned granite symbolized stability in a neighborhood devastated decades ago by real estate blockbusters looking to make a quick buck in a racially changing neighborhood. Read more