Forest Park Branch

380 Belmont Avenue
Springfield MA 01108

Parking: On-street parking is available on Belmont Avenue and Oakland Street. There are time limits on Belmont.

PVTA Bus Route: G2

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413-263-6843

Manager: Maeleah Carlisle
Supervisor: Anne Hrobsky

The Forest Park Branch will be closed for the following holidays:

The libraries will be closed on the following 2018 / 2019 holidays:
September 3, 2018 (Monday)	Labor Day
October 8, 2018 (Monday)	Columbus Day
November 11, 2018 (Sunday)	Veterans Day
November 12, 2018 (Monday)	Veterans Day (observed)
November 21, 2018 (Wednesday)	Thanksgiving Eve: All libraries close at 5 pm
November 22, 2018 (Thursday)	Thanksgiving Day
December 24, 2018 (Monday)	Christmas Eve
December 25, 2018 (Tuesday)	Christmas Day
December 31, 2018 (Monday)	New Year's Eve: All libraries close at 5 pm
January 1, 2019 (Tuesday)	New Year’s Day
January 21, 2019 (Monday)	Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
February 18, 2019 (Monday)	Presidents’ Day
April 15, 2019 (Monday)	Patriot’s Day (MA holiday)
April 21, 2019 (Sunday)	Easter: Central Library closed
May 27, 2019 (Monday)	Memorial Day
July 4, 2019 (Thursday)	Independence Day

Computers: Twelve internet computers, one iPad pre-loaded with preschool games. Each session lasts one hour. Children may have one session per day. Headphones are only provided for the preschool computer, not the internet ones. Earbuds are available at the Circulation desk for $1.

Fax Service: Fax service is available. There is a $1 per job charge for a traditional fax. We cannot receive faxes. There is no charge to scan your document to an email address, USB, tablet or smartphone. To scan to your smartphone you must have a QR code app.

 

To promote neighborhood culture and development, the library makes its community room available for educational, social service, and other organizations. Visit the Meeting Room page for information about booking the Community Room, to review our meeting room rules and policies, and submit a meeting room request.

Forest Park neighborhood residents outgrew the provisional circulating library that was set up at Park Memorial Baptist Church and residents wanted a full service branch library. In 1908, industrialist Andrew Carnegie provided $50,000 for three branch libraries that included Forest Park Branch Library. Carnegie required that neighborhood citizens subscribe for land to match his donation of money for the building. Over 500 prominent Forest Park citizens subscribed for land and soon Forest Park Branch Library was completed in 1909.

The renovated Forest Park Branch Library children’s area, now the Charlie & Joan Ryan Family Place, was made possible through the generosity of the Barker Foundation and Troy and Pat Murray. Honoring former Springfield Mayor Charles V. Ryan and his wife Joan, the creative new space will provide inspiration and learning opportunities for so many area children, just as the original room did for young Charlie and Troy.

Thanks to our benefactors the changes are astonishing, the room looks phenomenal, and the Charlie & Joan Ryan Family Place is ready to welcome all ages.

For more information about the history of the Forest Park Branch, download our brochure.