The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes,[3] and with around 19 million residents in the Greater Los Angeles area, it serves the largest metropolitan population of any public library system in the United States.[4] The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the mayor of Los Angeles in staggered terms, and operates 72 library branches throughout the city.[5] In 1997 a local historian described it as "one of the biggest and best-regarded library systems in the nation."[6] It is not to be confused with the LA County Library system which operates several library branches across certain areas of Los Angeles County.
The Los Angeles Library Association was formed in late 1872, and by early 1873, a well-stocked reading room had opened in the Downey Block at Temple and Main streets under the first librarian, John Littlefield.[7][8]
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.[9]
Women were not initially involved in the conception and development of the Los Angeles Library Association. First Lady of CaliforniaMaria 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.[9]
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 posited 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.[9] Following Foy's appointment, the LAPL would go on to be "headed by a series of women administrators" for the next 25 years. These administrators included, Mary E. Foy (1880–1884), Jessie Gavitt (1884–1889), Lydia Prescott (1889), Tessa Kelso (1889–1895), Clara Fowler (1895–1897), Harriet Child Wadleigh (1897–1900), and Mary L. Jones (1900–1905).[10]
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.[9]
Tessa Kelso was appointed head librarian in 1889. She abolished the membership fee, increased membership from 100 to 20,000, increased the collection from 12,000 to 300,000 volumes, moved the books to open shelves, and permitted children to use the library. She set up an early system of branch libraries and moved the central library in to City Hall. She was forced out after a controversy over the library's acquisition of Jean Richepin's book La Cadet, which was considered indecent at the time.[7]
Mary Jones, who was appointed Librarian in 1905, was fired by the library board in favor of Charles Fletcher Lummis. The only reason given for this was that the library should be run by a man, not a woman. 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.[11][12] Lummis established several special collections, including photography, autographs, and California and Spanish history. He oversaw two moves into larger buildings, and he greatly increased use of the library through several outreach programs.[7]
c.1914, the collection numbered 203,600.[13] The central library was located in the "Hamburger Building at Eighth and Broadway" with plans to soon move to the "Metropolitan Building at Fifth and Broadway."[13] The library had 22 branch "reading rooms" including two (San Pedro and Hollywood) housed in Carnegie library buildings.[13] The library had a total of 41 "branches and distribution points" at that time, and cooperated with the "playground department" to offer "branch libraries" at "the Violet Street, Slauson, Hazard, and Echo Park playgrounds, and at the Recreation Center."[13]
Aggressive expansion and growth of the system began in the 1920s. The first building dedicated exclusively for library use opened in 1926.[7]
The Central Library Goodhue building was constructed in 1926 and is a Downtown Los Angeles landmark.[14] It was designed by architect Bertram Goodhue.[15] This was his last work, because the man died suddenly in 1924.[16] 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.[17] The complex (i.e., the original Goodhue building and the Bradley wing) was subsequently renamed in 2001 for former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, as the Richard Riordan Central Library. The building was burned out by a catastrophic fire in 1986 when a million books and many other records (patents, play scripts, photographs) were damaged or totally destroyed. Arson was suspected but never proved.[18]
Branches
Besides the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, the system operates 72 branch locations in the city's neighborhoods. Eight of the larger branches are designated "regional branches."
The library offers an online program that allows adult patrons who have not completed high school to earn their high school diploma.[19]
Special services
TESSA is Los Angeles Public Library online historical collections. TESSA is named after Tessa Kelso, Los Angeles City Librarian from 1889 to 1895.[20]
In 2023, the library issued a limited-edition library card featuring the mountain lion P-22 in a National Geographic photo with the Hollywood Sign in the background.[21]
Awards
"Parasol Library in Pershing Square" c.1938, photographed for the Federal Writers' Project
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.[22] 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.[23]
Samuel Bradford Caswell (1828–1898), one of the first trustees of the first Los Angeles public library, owned property where the Central Branch was built
Donald D. Lorenzen, City Council member who supported renovation of library
LA County Library is one of the largest public library systems in the United States which serves residents living in 49 of the 88 incorporated cities of Los Angeles County, California. United States, and those living in unincorporated areas resulting in a service area extending over 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2). The LA County Library system provides local libraries to several unincorporated areas and cities across Los Angeles County, and is not to be confused with the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) system, which serves areas within the city of Los Angeles.
Tessa is a feminine given name, sometimes a shortened form of Theresa. It may refer to:
Charles Fletcher Lummis was a United States journalist, and an activist for Native American rights and historic preservation. A traveler in the American Southwest, he settled in Los Angeles, California, where he also became known as a historian, photographer, ethnographer, archaeologist, poet, and librarian. Lummis founded the Southwest Museum of the American Indian.
The Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) is a public library that serves Victoria, British Columbia and the surrounding area.
Mary Emily Foy was the first woman head librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, appointed to the job in 1880 at the age of 18. She had graduated the year before from Los Angeles High School. She served for only four years but left a legacy for Los Angeles librarians to remember.
Cahuenga Branch is the third oldest branch library facility in the Los Angeles Public Library system. Located at 4591 Santa Monica Boulevard in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, it was built in 1916 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie. One of three surviving Carnegie libraries in Los Angeles, it has been designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Lummis House, also known as El Alisal, is a Rustic American Craftsman stone house built by Charles Fletcher Lummis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Located on the edge of Arroyo Seco in northeast Los Angeles, California, the house's name means "alder grove" in Spanish.
Adelaide Rosalie Hasse is listed as one of the "100 most important leaders we had in the 20th century" in the December 1999 edition of American Libraries. She is credited with having developed the Superintendent of Documents Classification system used by the Government Printing Office and Federal Depository Library Program.
Tessa is a feminine given name. Tessa or TESSA may also refer to:
Miriam Matthews was an American librarian, advocate for intellectual freedom, historian, and art collector. In 1927, Matthews became the first credentialed African American librarian to be hired by the Los Angeles Public Library.
Althea Hester Warren was the director of the Los Angeles (California) Public Library from 1933 to 1947 and president of the American Library Association in 1943-1944. She was inducted into the California Library Association's Library Hall of Fame in 2013.
This is a timeline of women in library science throughout the world.
Tessa Kelso was an American publicist, journalist, and head librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library. A local Methodist minister accused her of "sin" when the library stocked a book that offended him. She sued him for malicious slander, and the case was settled in her favor, in 1895.
Mary L. Jones was the Los Angeles City Librarian until she was fired in 1905 to be replaced by a man, Charles Fletcher Lummis. This decision would set off a firestorm across the city called the Great Library War of 1905.
Evelyn May Seymour was an American librarian who collaborated closely with Melvil Dewey on the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). Seymour edited eight editions of the DDC.
Glen Creason was the map librarian in the History & Genealogy department at the Los Angeles Central Library, a post he held from 1979 to 2021. He is also the author of Los Angeles in Maps and is a guest writer for many publications such as Los Angeles Magazine, additionally serving as a public speaker on the topics of maps, local history, and music. Creason is featured in Susan Orlean's chronicle of the Central Library, The Library Book. Since 2014, Creason has been the star of a Los Angeles Public Library series called Stories from the Map Cave. He retired in October of 2021.
John F. Szabo is an American librarian, library executive, and the twentieth City Librarian of Los Angeles, the chief executive of the Los Angeles Public Library. He previously served as the Director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, Clearwater (FL) Public Library System, Palm Harbor (FL) Public Library, and the Robinson (IL) Public Library District. In 2015, the Los Angeles Public Library won the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor for a library or museum. Awarded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the medal was presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at a White House ceremony.
Gladys Ann English was an American librarian and editor known for her work as Head Librarian of the Children's Department at the Los Angeles Central Library and roles as Coordinator of Children's Services and Director of Work with Children for the Los Angeles Public Library system. In 1939, English served as chairperson of the Newbery Medal Selection Committee, and sat as a member of the committee for the years 1936 and 1945. In October 1942, she became the first-ever editor of Top of the News, an eight-page news quarterly serving the ALA Division of Libraries for Children and Young People (DLCYP).
Richard J. Riordan Central Library, also known as the Los Angeles Central Library, is the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), in Downtown Los Angeles. It is named after Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan.
Lankershim and West Lankershim are historical names for an area in what is now the greater North Hollywood section of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California.
↑ Pitt, Leonard; Pitt, Dale (1997). Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. p.300>. ISBN0-520-20274-0.
↑ Soter, Bernadette Dominique (1993). The light of learning: an illustrated history of the Los Angeles Public Library. Los Angeles: Library Foundation of Los Angeles. pp.19–20.
↑ Hansen, D.G.; Gracy, K.F.; Irvin, S.D. (1999). "At the pleasure of the Board: women librarians and the Los Angeles Public Library, 1880–1905". Libraries & Culture. 34 (4): 311–346.
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