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Films and their adapted books
Elizabeth Graney, Librarian, Literature & Fiction Department, December 5, 2025

If you've heard it once, you've heard it a million times—the book was better! There's nothing like debating the differences between a favorite book and its translation to the screen. But if you don't know your beloved series is coming out as a movie or that the fun-looking preview you saw was adapted from a book, how can you join the debate? The Library is here to the rescue! Here, we will be...

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Author Erin Kelly and her book Hello Universe

Representation Matters: An Interview With Erin Entrada Kelly

Keith Kesler, Social Media Librarian, Public Relations Department, Thursday, October 18, 2018

Erin Entrada Kelly, the author of the Newbery Award-winning book Hello Universe, spoke at the Central Library a few months ago as part of our Summer Author Series. Audience members wrote questions for Kelly on index cards.


Author Rebecca Serle and her book, The Dinner List

Interview With an Author: Rebecca Serle

Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library, Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Rebecca Serle is a full-time writer, which means she gets to wear pajamas to work. She went to the University of Southern California, then got her MFA from the New School in NYC.


Cindy Holsey

What a Library Means to Me: Save the Books Essay Contest Winner Now a Librarian

Cindy Holsey, Young Adult Librarian, Northridge Branch Library, Saturday, 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

Video: Firsthand Accounts of the Central Library Fire and Recovery

Neale Stokes, Senior Librarian, Digital Content Team, Saturday, 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

History of Central Library's Grand Reopening in 1993

Curtis Livingston Edwards, Messenger Clerk, Adult Literacy Services, Thursday, 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

Translogic: Central Library's Forgotten Book-Mover

Kelly Wallace, Librarian, History Department, Wednesday, 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.


Octavia E. Butler seated by her bookcase, 1986

Spotlight on Octavia E. Butler

Julia G, Young Adult Librarian, Robertson Branch Library, Saturday, October 6, 2018

Temperatures are rising, the environment is suffering, and income inequality is widening. Amidst the confusion, a charismatic politician takes the presidency with the promise to, “Make America great again.”


Author P. Djeli Clark and his book "The Black God's Drum"

Interview With an Author: P. Djèlí Clark

Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library, Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Born in New York and raised mostly in Houston, P. Djèlí Clark spent the formative years of his life in the homeland of his parents, Trinidad and Tobago.


Jubilant participants during the 1987 Save the Books telethon.

Save the Books!

Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction, Friday, 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.


Glen Creason and his daughter Katya celebrate the re-opening of Central Library on a closed-off 5th Street

Central Reopens: Reflections

Glen Creason, Librarian III, History & Genealogy Department, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

The day my own dear Central Library reopened I got my name in the L.A. Times which elicited ragging from pals around the city.


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