Los Angeles Public Library


The Los Angeles Public Library system serves the residents of the City of Los Angeles. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with over 18 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the largest population of any publicly funded library system in the United States. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the mayor of Los Angeles in staggered terms in accordance with the city charter.

Circulation and services

Library cards are free to California residents. Circulating books, zines, periodicals, computer access, and audiovisual materials are available to patrons. Books, magazines, and audiobooks are loaned for three weeks. Music cassettes, music CDs, documentary videos, and documentary DVDs are loaned for one week. Entertainment videos and entertainment DVDs are loaned for four days. Fines are charged only if materials are returned late. There is a loan limit of 10 books, 10 magazines, and 4 DVDs or videos at one time up to maximum of 30 items on the patron's record. Items checked out from Los Angeles Public Library may be returned to any of its 72 branches or to the Central Library. Most items may be renewed a maximum of two times. Entertainment DVDs and videos may be renewed one time.
The Los Angeles Public Library has many community support organizations which work with the library to raise funds and sponsor programs to enhance library service throughout the community. The Library's Rare Books Department is located in its downtown Los Angeles location. There is also an extensive selection of databases covering a wide variety of topics, many of which are available to remote users who hold an LAPL library card. Examples include full-text databases of periodicals, business directories, and language learning tools. The Central Library at 630 West 5th Street, between Grand Avenue and Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles, remains an important research library, despite the development of accessible databases and public access to the Internet.
The library also offers an online program that allows adult patrons who have not completed high school to earn their high school diploma.

History

The Los Angeles Library Association was formed in late 1872, and by early 1873, a well-stocked reading room had opened under the first librarian, John Littlefield. Aggressive expansion and growth of the system began in the 1920s. Under Library Board of Commissioners Chairman Orra E. Monnette, the system was improved with a large network of branch libraries with new buildings. Thelma Jackman founded the Business & Economics section of the library sometime prior to 1970.
The original library consisted of two rooms. The larger room was called the “Book Room,” and the smaller room was called the “Conversation Room,” which contained newspapers, tables, chairs, and spittoons for the chess and checkers players who gathered there.
Women were not initially involved in the conception and development of the Los Angeles Library Association. Mrs. John Downey was given an honorary membership out of “courtesy,” but otherwise, no women were listed in the association’s founding documents, women were not represented on the board, and women were denied access to the library’s reading room. However, this changed in 1876 when the association decided to implement a “Ladies Room.” While this new room did not offer any books, it did provide a number of magazines and comfortable sofa and chairs for local clubwomen to use.
After Mary Foy was appointed as the first head woman librarian in 1880, her appointment was viewed as an act of charity by Mayor Toberman, who may have thought Foy to be in need of a job. Joanne Passet even postited that Foy’s nomination, and librarian nominations in general, were seen as “an honorable means of assisting needy men and women in the community.” This notion was mostly confirmed when Foy was replaced by Jessie Gavitt, whose economic need was deemed greater than Foy’s by the board.
There was further speculation as to why the board decided on appointing Foy as the first head woman librarian. It may have been a political choice since she represented values that flourished in women’s organizations, aiming to please the city’s powerful women’s clubs who may have been applying pressure. It’s also suggested that Foy’s nomination was a financial move; John Littlefield earned a salary of $100 while Mary Foy earned $75, which included janitorial work.

City Librarians

Mary Jones, who was appointed Librarian in 1905, was fired by the library board in favour of Charles Fletcher Lummis. This provoked 'The Great Library War'. Women in Los Angeles petitioned and marched in support of Jones but she was finally forced out; she took up a position as head of the library at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

Central Library

The historic Central Library Goodhue building was constructed in 1926 and is a Downtown Los Angeles landmark. The Central Library was designed by the architect, Bertram Goodhue. The Richard Riordan Central Library complex is the third largest public library in the United States in terms of book and periodical holdings. Originally named the Central Library, the building was first renamed in honor of the longtime president of the Board of Library Commissioners and President of the University of Southern California, Rufus B. von KleinSmid. The new wing of Central Library, completed in 1993, was named in honor of former mayor Tom Bradley. The complex was subsequently renamed in 2001 for former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, as the Richard Riordan Central Library.

Awards

The Los Angeles Public Library received the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor given to museums and libraries for service to the community. City Librarian John F. Szabo and community member Sergio Sanchez accepted the award on behalf of the library from First Lady Michelle Obama during a White House Ceremony on May 20, 2015.
The Los Angeles Public Library was selected for its success in meeting the needs of Angelenos and providing a level of social, educational, and cultural services unmatched by any other public institution in the city. The award recognizes the library's programs that help people on their path to citizenship, earn their high school diploma, manage personal finances and access health and well-being services and resources.

Architecture

Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the original Los Angeles Central Library with influences of ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Revival architecture. The central tower is topped with a tiled mosaic pyramid with suns on the sides with a hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning" at the apex. Other elements include sphinxes, snakes, and celestial mosaics. It has sculptural elements by the preeminent American architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie, similar to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, also designed by Goodhue. The interior of the library is decorated with various figures, statues, chandeliers, and grilles, notably a four-part mural by illustrator Dean Cornwell depicting stages of the History of California which was completed around 1933. The building is a designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Expansion

The Central Library was extensively renovated and expanded in a Modernist/Beaux-Arts architecture, according to Norman Pfeiffer, the principal architect of the renovation by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates from 1988 through 1993. It included an enormous, eight-story atrium wing dedicated to former mayor Tom Bradley. Now, the library contains an area of, and has nearly 89 miles of shelves and seating for over 1,400 people.

Access needs

The building's limited access had caused a number of problems. Generally, the accessible public stacks in the reading rooms only displayed about 10 to 20 percent of the actual collections of the Central Library. For anything else, a patron had to submit a request slip and a clerk would retrieve the desired material from the internal stacks. The internal stacks, contained in two concrete structures joined by a catwalk, were packed very tightly and had very little headroom. For example, while the normal reading rooms had ceilings of anywhere from 10 to 15 feet, the internal stack areas were many shelves of about six-foot height, stacked internally, so that while the public access area was about two floors plus the Science and Technology alcove, the internal stacks were approximately five or six floors. To fix this would have required substantial renovation, a cost the city was not willing to cover, especially after hours of operation were cut in response to the 1978 property tax reduction measure Proposition 13.

Arson Catalyst

The catalyst for the renovation was a devastating arson fire that began in the stacks on April 29, 1986. Although the building was safely evacuated, its vintage construction precluded the ventilation of heat and smoke, and limited firefighter access. It took firefighters over seven hours to extinguish the fire and little fires continued to sprout for several days. Some 400,000 volumes—20 percent of the library's holdings—were destroyed, with significant water and smoke damage to 700,000 more. The estimated cost for replacing the 400,000 works lost was over $14 million. A second fire, on September 3 of the same year, destroyed the contents of the music department reading room.

Project

As part of the rehabilitation plan, LAPL sold its air rights to developers, enabling the construction of the eponymous Library Tower across the street. The skyscraper was subsequently renamed the First Interstate World Center and later the U.S. Bank Tower. Additional funds were raised through corporate and personal contributions which flowed from the effort of the "Save the Books" campaign formed by Mayor Tom Bradley.
The campaign, co-chaired by Lodwrick Cook, then CEO of Atlantic Richfield Company had targeted a goal to raise $10 million through corporate and individual contributions ranging from schoolchildren's nickels and dimes to $50,000 contributions by Los Angeles businessman Marvin Davis and MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman. William Eugene "Gene" Scott, an LAPL neighbor and member of the 43 strong blue ribbon committee, donated the use of his University Network television studios and himself to what became a 48-hour telethon to raise $2 million towards the total objective.
The Library's renovation was completed in 1993. It included a large new underground parking facility, with a park designed by Lawrence Halprin over it. The Central Library reopened on October 3, 1993.

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection

The Central Library houses and archives the extensive Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection of over 3 million historic photographs from varied sources and collection acquisitions. Many images can be viewed by the public via the online photo collection. The physical Photo Collection is an important resource for researchers, writers, curators, and educators.

Shades of L.A.

The "Shades of L.A. Collection" is an archive of more than 10,000 images donated/duplicated from family photo albums that expanded the archives to include the many diverse ethnic histories of people in the city, beyond the already well represented 'Anglo' population.
The project's success expanded to the California State Library creating the "Shades of California" collection to represent the state's diverse communities, using the LAPL methods and model. The book "Shades of California: The Hidden Beauty of Ordinary Life" resulted from the successful statewide project. Over a dozen California city and county library districts also created local Shades of California collections, such as Monterey, Riverside, and Humboldt County.

Science, Technology & Patents Department

Located on Lower Level 2 of Central Library's Tom Bradley Wing, the Science, Technology & Patents Department's diverse collection covers agriculture, automobile repair, computers & computer science, cooking, construction, consumer information, cosmetology, engineering, mathematics, medicine, nutrition, pets, psychiatry, UFOs, zoology, and more.
In partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Science, Technology & Patents Department is a United States Patent & Trademark Resource Center, offering resources to assist with patent and trademark research. The department holds a complete collection of all Patent and Trademark Office publications including the complete Patent Gazette and Trademark Gazette issues from the opening of the PTO, and a complete set of registration books published by the United States Copyright Office starting from Volume 1. The patent collection also includes United Kingdom Old Law Patents 1617–1981 and United Kingdom New Law Applications 1979–1994.

Feathers map collection

In 2012 Glen Creason, the map librarian for the central library, was invited to the Mount Washington home of John Feathers, who had died at age 56 with no known relatives. According to Creason, the cottage contained approximately 100,000 maps and the library was delighted to accept their donation. "This dwarfs our collection," he said, "and we've been collecting for 100 years."
The maps were stored on shelves, in boxes, in file cabinets, and even in the cabinet of an old stereo system with its electronics removed.
Creason said it could take a year to catalog and organize the maps and of shelving would be needed, but the library would then have the fifth-largest map collection in the country. The collection has been sorted and organized by volunteers C.J. Moon and Audrey Dalton.

Branches

Besides the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, the system also operates 72 branch locations in the city's many neighborhoods. Eight of the larger branches are designated "regional branches":
No.NamePhotographAddressZip CodePhoneAreaNeighborhood ServedNotes
Benjamin Franklin2200 E. First St.90033-3902323-263-6901NortheastBoyle Heights
Lincoln Heights2530 Workman St.90031-2322323-226-1692NortheastLincoln Heights
Pío Pico-Koreatown 694 S. Oxford Ave.90005-2872213-368-7647HollywoodKoreatown
Vernon4504 S. Central Ave.90011-3632323-234-9106Central SouthernSouth Central
Arroyo Seco6145 N. Figueroa St.90042-3565323-255-0537NortheastHighland Park/GarvanzaRegional Branch
Exposition Park3900 S. Western Ave.90062-1111323-290-3113Central SouthernExposition ParkRegional Branch
Junipero Serra4607 S. Main St.90037-2735323-234-1685Central SouthernSouth Park
Echo Park1410 W. Temple St.90026-5605213-250-7808NortheastEcho Park
San Pedro931 S. Gaffey St.90731-3606310-548-7779Central SouthernSan PedroRegional Branch
Wilmington1300 N. Avalon Blvd.90744-2639310-834-1082Central SouthernWilmington
Goldwyn Hollywood1623 Ivar Ave.90028-6304323-856-8260HollywoodHollywoodRegional Branch
John C. Fremont6121 Melrose Ave.90038-3501323-962-3521HollywoodHancock Park
Westchester-Loyola Village7114 W. Manchester Ave.90045-3509310-348-1096WesternWestchester
Vermont Square1201 W. 48th St.90037-2838323-290-7405Central SouthernVermont Square
Pacific Palisades861 Alma Real Dr.90272-3730310-459-2754WesternPacific Palisades
Donald Bruce Kaufman Brentwood11820 San Vicente Blvd.90049-5002310-575-8273WesternBrentwood
Jefferson-Vassie D. Wright2211 W. Jefferson Blvd.90018-3741323-734-8573Central SouthernJefferson Park
Malabar2801 Wabash Ave.90033-2604323-263-1497NortheastBoyle Heights
Robert Louis Stevenson803 Spence St.90023-1727323-268-4710NortheastBoyle Heights
Cahuenga4591 Santa Monica Blvd.90029-1937323-664-6418HollywoodEast Hollywood
El Sereno5226 S. Huntington Dr.90032-1704323-225-9201NortheastEl Sereno
Palms-Rancho Park2920 Overland Ave.90064-4220323-840-2142WesternPalms & Rancho Park
Van Nuys6250 Sylmar Ave.91401-2707818-756-8453East ValleyVan NuysClosed for renovations until Summer 2020.
Canoga Park20939 Sherman Way91303-1744818-887-0320West ValleyCanoga Park
Studio City12511 Moorpark St.91604-1372818-755-7873East ValleyStudio City
Angeles Mesa2700 W. 52nd St.90043-1953323-292-4328Central SouthernHyde Park/Leimert Park
West Los Angeles11360 Santa Monica Blvd.90025-3152310-575-8323WesternWest Los AngelesRegional Branch
Cypress Park1150 Cypress Ave.90065-1144323-224-0039NortheastCypress Park
Wilshire149 N. St. Andrews Pl.90004-4019323-957-4550HollywoodMid-Wilshire
Ascot120 W. Florence Ave.90003-1805323-759-4817Central SouthernFlorence
Will & Ariel Durant7140 W. Sunset Blvd.90046-4416323-876-2741HollywoodHollywood
Eagle Rock5027 Caspar Ave.90041-1901323-258-8078NortheastEagle Rock
Hyde Park-Miriam Matthews2205 W. Florence Ave.90043-5101323-750-7241WesternHyde Park
John Muir1005 W. 64th St.90044-3605323-789-4800Central SouthernVermont-Slauson
Sunland-Tujunga7771 Foothill Blvd.91042-2137818-352-4481East ValleySunland & Tujunga
Los Feliz1874 Hillhurst Ave.90027-4427323-913-4710HollywoodLos Feliz
North Hollywood Amelia Earhart5211 Tujunga Ave.91601-3119818-766-7185East ValleyNorth HollywoodRegional Branch
Mar Vista12006 Venice Blvd.90066-3810310-390-3454WesternMar Vista
Panorama City14345 Roscoe Blvd.91402-4222818-894-4071East ValleyPanorama City
Venice-Abbot Kinney501 S. Venice Blvd.90291-4201310-821-1769WesternVenice
Washington Irving4117 W. Washington Blvd.90018-1053323-734-6303HollywoodArlington Heights/Mid-City
Robertson Branch Library1719 S. Robertson Blvd.90035-4315310-840-2147WesternBeverlywood/Cheviot Hills/Pico-RobertsonClosed Saturday and open Sunday due to widespread observation of Shabbat in this neighborhood
Alma Reaves Woods-Watts10205 Compton Ave.90002-2804323-789-2850Central SouthernWatts
Atwater Village3379 Glendale Blvd.90039-1825323-664-1353HollywoodAtwater Village
Mark Twain9621 S. Figueroa St.90003-3928323-755-4088Central SouthernVermont Vista
Baldwin Hills2906 S. La Brea Ave.90016-3902323-733-1196WesternBaldwin Hills
Encino-Tarzana18231 Ventura Blvd.91356-3630818-343-1983West ValleyEncino & Tarzana
Felipe de Neve2820 W. 6th St.90057-3114213-384-7676HollywoodWestlake
Memorial4625 W. Olympic90019-1832323-938-2732HollywoodCountry Club Park
West Valley19036 Vanowen St.91335-5114818-345-9806West ValleyResedaRegional Branch
Sherman Oaks14245 Moorpark St.91423-2722818-205-9716East ValleySherman Oaks
Sun Valley7935 Vineland Ave.91352-4477818-764-1338East ValleySun Valley
Pacoima13605 Van Nuys Blvd.91331-3613818-899-5203East ValleyPacoima
Sylmar14561 Polk St.91342-4055818-367-6102East ValleySylmar
Playa Vista6400 Playa Vista Dr.90094-2168310-437-6680WesternPlaya Vista
Granada Hills10640 Petit Ave.91344-6452818-368-5687West ValleyGranada Hills
Valley Plaza12311 Vanowen St.91605-5624818-765-9251East ValleyValley Glen/North HollywoodFormerly known as Vanowen Park Branch
Woodland Hills22200 Ventura Blvd.91364-1517818-226-0017West ValleyWoodland Hills
Northridge9051 Darby Ave.91325-2743818-886-3640West ValleyNorthridge
Chatsworth21052 Devonshire St.91311-2314818-341-4276West ValleyChatsworth
Fairfax161 S. Gardner St.90036-2717323-936-6191HollywoodFairfax
Lake View Terrace12002 Osborne St.91342-7221818-890-7404East ValleyLake View Terrace
Chinatown639 N. Hill St.90012-2317213-620-0925NortheastChinatown
Little Tokyo203 S. Los Angeles St.90012-3704213-612-0525NortheastLittle Tokyo
Platt23600 Victory Blvd.91367-1349818-340-9386West ValleyWest Hills
Mid-Valley Regional16244 Nordhoff St.91343-3806818-895-3650West ValleyNorth HillsRegional Branch
Porter Ranch11371 Tampa Ave.91326-1729818-360-5706West ValleyPorter Ranch
Harbor City-Harbor Gateway24000 S. Western Ave.90710-1741310-534-9520Central SouthernHarbor City & Harbor Gateway
Edendale2011 W. Sunset Blvd.90026-3122213-207-3000NortheastEcho Park
Pico-Union1030 S. Alvarado St.90006-3712213-368-7545HollywoodPico-Union
Westwood1246 Glendon Ave.90024-4914310-474-1739WesternWestwood
Silver Lake2411 Glendale Blvd.90039-3217323-913-7451NortheastSilver Lake