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Central Library

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a librarian using a library photo as virtual background
Madeline Peña Feliz, April 14, 2020

Are you using Zoom to communicate with colleagues, family, and friends while staying safe at home? Here's a gallery of library photos you can display as virtual backgrounds during your next meeting.


close up of card catalog
Central Docents, March 04, 2020

While it's true that information on the 2.8 million items in the Central Library is on computer servers that take up a tiny space compared to the hundreds of drawers of catalog cards once used, one can still view some of our collections the old-fashioned way, complete with Dewey decimal number, title, auth


Boxing of damaged books
Central Docents, September 30, 2019

I have always loved books. When I was five, I pleaded with my mother for books...Little Golden Books, about lambs and engines and whatever...and she helped me learn to read them. In junior high and high school, I was a library helper.


drawing of Octavia Butler
Vi Thục Hà, June 11, 2019

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


Cindy Holsey
Cindy Holsey, October 13, 2018

It was a typical day in my 11th grade English class, except my teacher offered a rare extra credit opportunity—to write a 100-word essay on the topic, "What a Library Means to Me." She explained that our essays would be submitted to the "Save the Books" essay contest, part of an effort to raise funds for t


firefighters climbing ladder with equipment
Neale Stokes, October 13, 2018

October 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the LA Central Library reopening seven years after a catastrophic fire in 1986. In this short film, three people who were at the fire share their memories of the fire and the effort to recover and rebuild.


Families fill the Maguire Gardens on Central Library's reopening day
Curtis Livingston Edwards, October 11, 2018

A month after the first of two fires burned through the Central Library in 1986, a collective effort by the City of Los Angeles raised $3.2 million. This was yet another plus in a major reconstructive campaign lasting 7 and a half years.


TransLogic system tracks running through the library
Kelly Wallace, October 10, 2018

When the gleaming “new” Central Library opened its doors on October 3, 1993, seven years after the devastating fires of 1986, it touted the latest innovations in computer automation.


Jubilant participants during the 1987 Save the Books telethon.
Sheryn Morris, September 28, 2018

In retrospect, it is ironic that the fire took place when it did: April 29, 1986. On that day, progress was quietly continuing with plans for a renovation of the original Central Library and a new multi-level addition.


Tom Bradley on an escalator at the opening of the Red Line subway downtown, 1-30-93.
Central Docents, September 06, 2018

"Never give up. Keep your thoughts and your mind always on the goal."—Tom Bradley


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