Library Stuff

“As newly appointed city librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, John Szabo runs the nation’s largest public-funded library system, measured by population served.”

via LA Times

“Los Angeles officials are considering a plan to turn the library card into a form of identification that the city’s large illegal immigrant population could use to open bank accounts and access an array of city services. The City Council unanimously voted recently to consider the proposal, which would have Los Angeles join the growing number of cities across the nation that offer various forms of identification to undocumented workers and others who cannot get driver’s licenses because of their immigration status.”

via LA Times

“The highly politicized crackdown on America’s fat people hits Los Angeles today, with a motion from L.A. City Councilman Mitchell Englander to ban all soda vending machines on city-owned property.

Englander, a physically fit frat-bro type who is clearly trying to one-up New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his proposed ban on extra-large sodas, warns in his motion that… sugary drinks can “affect young people both mentally and physically” — even cause them “to be violent against peers and in dating relationships.”

via The Informer

“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

KCET – “In the librarian history of Los Angeles, Charles Lummis and Mary Foy are two of Los Angeles’ better known librarians, though their tenures as librarians were brief compared to their larger roles in Los Angeles. Known as Miss Los Angeles, Mary Foy was the first woman to be City Librarian, serving from 1880 to 1884. She worked to preserve the city’s history in numerous ways, from organizing the Los Angeles High School alumni to organizing the First Century Families. Charles Lummis was never trained as a librarian and only served as City Librarian from 1905 – 1910. His acquisitions on the Spanish and Mexican period of California’s history are still held in the library’s collection today, and Lummis’ own private library became the foundation for the Southwest Museum Library, now part of the Autry National Center’s Braun Research Library. At the American Library Association convention in 1906, Lummis founded a briefly-lived tongue-in-cheek organization The Bibliosmiles, a “Rally of Librarians Who Are Nevertheless Human.” The organization’s motto was “To Keep the Bookdust Off Our Own Topshelves’.” (More details about the Bibliosmiles on blog “Library History Buff Blog”).”

LA Times – “Firing library aides and office assistants leaves the school district in free-fall. It’s time to tap emergency funds, cut state redevelopment agencies and discuss raising businesses’ property taxes.”

LA Times – “Flip back in time to downtown Los Angeles nearly five years ago — before tiny dogs were everywhere and fancy strollers anywhere, before you could walk 10 minutes south of City Hall and find cafe after cafe serving lattes. Picture living in a loft on a quite lonely stretch of Main Street on the edge of skid row, short on the necessities that most residential areas take for granted. Then imagine one day finding a new store full of crisp hardcovers. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, we’re civilized,’ ” said Jacqualine Mills-Lord, a writer who shed tears of joy at the sight of Metropolis Books.”

LA Times – “The new public library in West Hollywood isn’t expected to officially open until October, but at least one component of the complex is already garnering public attention: a new group of murals created by street artists Shepard Fairey, Retna and Kenny Scharf. The outdoor murals are a joint project by the artists, the city of West Hollywood and the Museum of Contemporary Art. They can be found on the library’s parking structure, near the corner of Melrose Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard, across from the Pacific Design Center.”

LA Times Op/Ed – “Soon after I became a school librarian, a teacher came to me about Mario, an eighth-grader who had never read an entire book. Mario struggled to read at all, and English was not his first language, but he was a bright kid whose teacher believed in him. I recommended a short, funny, mysterious book that appeals to reluctant boy readers. Mario took it home, read it in a week and came back with his friends in tow to check out the remaining titles in the series.”

LA Times – “If state education cuts are drastic, the librarians’ only chance of keeping a paycheck is to prove they’re qualified to be switched to classroom teaching. So LAUSD attorneys grill them.”

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