Digitization & Special Collections | Los Angeles Public Library

Located on Level Three (L3) of the Goodhue Building | phone: 213-228-7350

For general queries please contact rarebook@lapl.org

Hours of Operation

The Rare Books Reading Room is available by appointment between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m, Monday-Friday.

Please note that materials are not available for check-out.

To Make an Appointment

Please fill out the Online Appointment Form. A staff member will contact you within 24 hours, Monday-Friday. We do not accommodate same-day appointments. Virtual appointments (1 hour max.) and weekend appointments are available for patrons unable to visit the library during regular hours.

Department Staff

Ani Boyadjian, Department Manager, Research & Special Collections | 213-228-7223
Angi Brzycki, Senior Librarian, Digitization & Special Collections | 213-228-7545

Materials & Collections

The two largest special collections of the Los Angeles Public Library are the Photo and Map Collection. The map collection is located in the History Department and contains more than 225,000 physical items, including local, national and international cartography.

The Digitization & Special Collections Department manages Los Angeles Public Library’s rare books, archives, and many of the library’s digital collections viewed on LAPL's digital collections, TESSA. Reproductions and reuse requests can be made by visiting tessa.lapl.org.The Los Angeles Public Library finding aids are available here: Online Archive of California.

The Rare Books Reading Room holds rare and archival materials on a wide variety of subjects, with a focus on Los Angeles communities.

Collections include:

African American history
Autograph Collection
Book Arts Collection
Bookplate Collection
Brockman Gallery Archive
California Prints Collection
Culinary history
Fruit Crate Labels
George B. Smith Biblioteca Taurina (Bullfighting Collection)
Gladys English Collection of American Children’s Book Illustration
Japanese Prints Collection
Leo Politi Collection
Los Angeles history
Los Angeles Public Library Institutional Archive
Los Angeles Resistance Collection
Lydia R. Otero Archive
Lummis’s Californiana and Mexicana Collections
Menu Collection
M.F.K. Fisher Correspondence Collection
Photographs
Rare Books
Rare Maps

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Hours of Operation

To Make an Appointment

Department Staff

Materials & Collections

Subject Departments