Vi Ha, Senior Librarian, International Languages Department

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Julius Levitt is pictured on this coloring page in front of Breed Street Shul

Julius Levitt, Community Activist

May 17, 2022

Julius Levitt (1885–1952) was a promoter of Yiddish culture and a community activist, most importantly through the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) to bring attention to the horrors of Nazism throughout the world.


Norma Merrick Sklarek in front of the big blue whale

African American History Month Coloring Pages

February 15, 2022

In order to showcase the technology available in the Octavia Lab, celebrate the diversity of Los Angeles, and demonstrate how library resources, such as Tessa, the library's online digital archive, and historical newspaper databases, can be used towards social justice, Octavia Lab staff have been creating


You Chung Hong and the gateway to LA Chinatown

Y.C. Hong - A Biography

February 01, 2022

You Chung (“Y.C.”) Hong (1898–1977) was a community booster, social activist, and immigration lawyer based in Chinatown in Los Angeles and is profiled as a part of Archives Alive: Stories and Voices from L.A.


The holiday tree in the Central Library Rotunda

Ornament Making in the Octavia Lab

December 03, 2019

Each December we face a design challenge of decorating a 15-foot noble fir tree in the Central Library’s rotunda.


close up to the gumball machine in the octavia lab

Turn the Knob: Find Inspiration

June 10, 2019

Looking for Inspiration for a project? Need a good fortune to help you out on a bad day?


drawing of Octavia Butler

On Persistence: Octavia E. Butler & Central Library

June 11, 2019

“Habit is persistence in practice.”—Octavia E. Butler


Chinatown in the seventies.

Textiles

December 04, 2015

My parents worked in the garment industry. My father started out doing bespoke suits in the 1970s and had to constantly reinvent his career as the clothing tastes changed.


Surfer Beetle

World Water Day, Innovation, and Southern California

March 31, 2015

World Water Day was celebrated this past March 22. It is a day created in 1993 by the UN to bring to light the importance of water to life among people. This year’s celebration was dedicated to Water and Sustainable Development.


Etymology

November 10, 2014

Recent conversations with the teenagers that visit Teen’Scape revolved around the history of words.


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