Boston Public Library

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The Boston Public Library is the largest municipal public library in the United States and is the third-largest library in the country. It was the first public library to allow people to borrow books and other materials and take them home to read and use.

When it opened in 1895, the building was proclaimed a "palace for the people." It included the first Children's Reading Room in the nation and a sculpture garden in its central courtyard surrounded by an arcaded gallery.

Bates Hall is the great reading room of the library. It is rectangular but has a semi-circular apse on each end, much like a Roman basilica.