Portuguese library in New Bedford lives to see another day
But on Tuesday the Mayor's office
The library has a deep history in the community. Founded in 1971 out of a store front,
'It was a very unique thing for the community to have a municipally funded library dedicated to a particular community, a language speaking community,' Melo said. 'And this was a cornerstone of the community, it was a gathering place.'
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The library's collection, now half in Portuguese and the other half in English, has grown to 24,000 volumes from the few thousands it started with. It also hosts archives of Portuguese cultural and historical life in the city, Melo said.
Books on shelves at Casa da Saudade Library in New Bedford. The library has been serving the Portuguese-speaking community in the city since the 1970s.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Melo's connection to the library goes way back to when she was a new immigrant in New Bedford. It was at Casa da Saudade that she fell in love with literature.
'I started to visit the library because we were not a family with money to purchase books,' she said.
She discovered she could borrow and read as many books as she wanted — in Portuguese at first and eventually in English.
The library became so important to her that she went to work there.
'My first job was here as a substitute library assistant,' Melo, who is turning 60 this year, said. 'Here I am, almost 40 years later, as the library director. Because this place showed me the magic of libraries and what it means.'
Melo said that part of the challenge the library has faced in recent years is that locals are not using it like they used to in the past.
'It still means a lot to a lot of people and it is still being used. But not to the extent that we're seeing with the other branches,' she said.
Going forward, the library will open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and close on Mondays. It was already not available on Fridays. It will also go back to its original mission of focusing on Portuguese content and act as a research center for Portuguese-American life in New Bedford.
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'[To] make sure that our new generation understands the value of the collection that's there,' Melo said.
For some, public libraries serve a special role for communities.
Sara Slymon, president of the Massachusetts Library Association and the Executive Director of The Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, said libraries should not be valued in the same way that a society does a corporation.
'We're not meant to generate revenue. . . . We are a free service to provide lifelong learning and literacy opportunities for every person in our Commonwealth equally,' she said. 'You can never go wrong funding a public library, whether it is the heaviest use public library or the lightest use public library in the state.'
Casa da Saudade operates like any other public library across the US. The only difference is things tend to have a Portuguese flavor to them there.
An American flag flies alongside a Portuguese flag outside Casa da Saudade Library in New Bedford.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
In front of the building an American flag flies alongside its Portuguese counterpart. Inside, on a shelf next to Portuguese cook books, sits a crochet of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo in his Portuguese team's red and green jersey knitted by a member of the crochet club that meets at the library on Tuesday afternoons.
Also on the shelves, visitors can find Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, Michelle Obama's autobiography 'Becoming' and the African writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novels — all available in Portuguese.
There were books in English too but a lot of visitors come to Casa da Saudade for the Portuguese collection.
Antonieta Lucas, 81, is Portuguese and has been coming to Casa da Saudade since it was out of a store front nearby. She likes the library because she can get books in Portuguese for herself and some to read to her grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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She was shocked to learn that it might close.
'Stupid idea. It's a long time, this is open,' she said on a recent afternoon.
Melo said that the reaction of the impending closure of Casa da Saudade showed that the community valued the library and its place in the city.
'That was definitely a driving force that led to the conversations of how can we do this,' she said.
Melo said that she will have to reduce some hours from other branches in the system to help keep Casa da Saudade open. New Bedford has one main library and four other branches.
But she was glad that the library will stay open.
'We are so lucky that we have this institution. It is unique in the United States for being a publicly funded library with an initial mission to serve a specific community,' she said. 'We have to support it and we're going to develop it with a collection that will continue to make it unique.'
Omar Mohammed can be reached at
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