Library Stuff

“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)

“Gale, part of Cengage Learning and a leading provider of educational content, tools and services to libraries, schools and businesses, announced today the launch of Career Online High School to its public library partners. Now available to public libraries nationwide, this groundbreaking program allows libraries to demonstrate their critical impact on the quality of life and economic growth of their communities by enabling library patrons to earn an accredited high school diploma and credentialed career certificate. Part of the world’s first accredited, private online school district, Career Online High School is specifically designed to reengage adults into the education system and prepare them for entry into post-secondary education or the workforce. Los Angeles Public Library, one of the largest public library systems in the United States, is the first institution to deliver Career Online High School to its community.” (via Cengage Learning)

“Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has selected a new librarian to head the city’s sprawling, $113-million-a-year library system. John Szabo, whose appointment was announced Thursday, comes from Atlanta, where he has been the director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System since 2005. While there, he implemented an online learning program, established an archive of material related to gays and lesbians and expanded the system’s African American culture and history archives, according to a statement released by the Los Angeles Public Library. Villaraigosa said in the statement Szabo is uniquely qualified to lead Los Angeles “into a new era of innovation, expanded services and enhanced accessibility.”

via LA Times

LA Times – “Young scholars face more demands, and more distractions, than their parents did. Reducing library hours doesn’t help.”

LA times – “Those who’ve been to William Andrews Clark Memorial Library love its intimate, elegant grounds and trove of historical writings. Run by UCLA but tucked away in Jefferson Park, it gets few visitors.”

 Los Angeles Times – “Budget contractions are squeezing the Los Angeles Public Library, which begins a new schedule of reduced hours this Sunday, July 18. Going forward, the Central Library and all 72 LA Public Library branches will be open just five days, Tuesday through Saturday.  This means that students who need the computers or Internet access will have to queue up for places on Saturday. People who work regular hours and want to stop at libraries on the weekend will now have to remember Saturday is their only chance. And for many — students, people with daytime jobs — getting to the library at all will be a challenge. While the new hours seem paltry, the budget crisis might force even more drastic cuts in service in the future.”

LA Times – “The Los Angeles City Council abandoned a plan Tuesday for putting a tax on the Nov. 2 ballot to raise money for city libraries, but left the door open for a similar proposal to go on the municipal ballot in March. The decision came roughly two weeks after the council moved ahead with the layoffs of 98 library employees. Proponents of the levy said it would provide money to restore those positions and have six days of library service per week, instead of the five that were put in place on July 6. But several council members said the city could not afford to risk spending the $4.2 million that county elections officials would charge to put the measure on the ballot, only to see it fail.”

LA Times – “Anyone who conducts serious research about Los Angeles and Southern California will tell you that our history is spread among a nearly uncountable number of libraries and archives, as reflected in the annual Archives Bazaar. One of the Daily Mirror’s primary resources is the Los Angeles Public Library, which provides access to the only available copies of historic newspapers like the Examiner, the Herald-Express, the Daily News, the California Eagle and the Los Angeles Sentinel. In addition, we rely on the public library for city maps, rare and obscure books, digitized phone books and city directories going back to 1915, an online photo archives, and — most of all — advice on how to conduct research that is acquired only through many years of experience.”

Doug McIntyre – “Every library has a section devoted to crime novels, but leave it to Los Angeles to have libraries that are crime scenes.”