Library Stuff

“Thirty-eight branches of the Los Angeles Public Library that offer homework help to poor and homeless students will receive a boost from a $1-million donation.The gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, announced Tuesday, will create an endowment for the free after school homework centers, which offer students access to computers, printers and other devices they might not have at home, if they even have permanent homes.” (via LA Times)

“Today is the 90th birthday of dear Central Library, a place that has launched a million hopes and dreams for Angelenos in its nine decades. Hardly anywhere else in the city can own the cultural credentials of this stately institution. While the history of Central is often measured only by the building and its architecture, I am compelled to remind everyone I can that Central Library has always been about books, research, ideas, liberating knowledge, and—most of all—the people on both sides of the reference desks; my own intimate relationship with the old beauty goes way beyond bricks and mortar.” (via Los Angeles Magazine)

“In 1880, Los Angeles was a young city in need of a head librarian. After formally establishing a city library in 1872, the first two picks for the top job had been duds: Newspaper editor John C. Littlefield offended patrons with the pungent odor of Jimson weed, which he smoked for his asthma; Patrick Connolly was deemed more fond of the contents of the saloon on the first floor of the building at Spring and Temple than the library rooms on the second. The City Council vowed to “elect a lady librarian” to fill the position.” (via LA Times)

“Ron Hagardt didn’t finish high school when he was supposed to, in 1985. Drinking led to pot, which led to cocaine, which led to dropping out of Sonora High School in La Habra during his senior year. Now he’s 48, four years sober — and a high school graduate. On Tuesday, Hagardt wore a blue cap and gown and moved the golden tassel across his mortarboard during a ceremony at the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown.” (via LA Times)

“After several years in the fiscal wilderness, the Los Angeles Public Library, and California libraries in general, are mounting a comeback. On Jan. 12, Sunday hours were restored at eight of the system’s 72 regional branches and at the Central Library downtown. Back in the dark days of 2010, when it seemed everyone was still trying to climb out of the hole of the Great Recession, I visited a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library in East Hollywood. It was the same one where my immigrant father learned to read English in 1962. The library system had been forced to cut $22 million and 328 full-time positions from the library’s budget and close all its branches on Sundays and Mondays. I interviewed people arriving to find a closed library.” (via latimes.com)