Boston Public Library Public Buildings

Description

The Boston Public Library, situated in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston in 2287, served as the primary public library in the city and was the second-largest library in the United States.

Background / History

• Before the Great War, the Boston Public Library was a vibrant institution offering various cultural events and housing an extensive collection of books and historical records.
• After the war, Curator Givens led a team to salvage surviving information, but the library suffered from neglect, water damage, looting, and super mutant attacks, which eventually led to the team’s demise.

Layout

• The library is occupied by Mk 1 turrets, Protectrons, and super mutants of varying levels.
• The main entrance, an Advanced-locked door on the west side, can be unlocked via an easy speech check at the nearby intercom, tricking the security system into recognizing the player character as an employee.
• Inside, a tripwire triggers a grenade bouquet, and the entrance room houses a book return terminal.
• The main hall, to the north, contains enemy corpses, turrets, Protectrons, and Curator Givens’ corpse.
• Additional areas include a computer room with a Master-locked storage room, a courtyard accessed via a collapsed floor ramp, reading rooms, restrooms, and offices.

Notable Loot

• Massachusetts Surgical Journal issue #13: Obtained from the book return terminal in exchange for 50 book return tokens.
• Vault-Tec lunchbox: Found on a table in the room with the book return terminal near the main entrance.
• Library storage room key: Located on a table in the main hall next to Curator Givens’ terminal.
• Intelligence bobblehead: On a large computer in the northwest corner’s computer room.
• Stealth Boy and bottlecap mine: In a small Master-locked storage room off the computer room.
• Overdue books: Nine can be found throughout the library, which are relevant to the “Public Knowledge” quest.

Related Quests

• Public Knowledge

Notes

• Passing the speech check at the library entrance intercom reveals Mayor Hildenbrand’s six-digit access code.
• Bypassing the intercoms or lockpicking the entrance doors will make turrets permanently hostile.
• Triggering the super mutant attack in the storage room can be challenging if turrets are already hostile.
• Some cut content involves a hidden terminal accessed via clipping or jetpack.

Bugs

• Various bugs are reported on different platforms, including getting stuck in rooms and freezing when obtaining the Massachusetts Surgical Journal.

Trivia

• The in-game library is based on the real-world Boston Public Library McKim Building in Copley Square.