Central 100 Presents: The Library Book Club With Map Librarian Emeritus Glen Creason

Join us for our ongoing celebration of the centennial year of the Central Library! In September, we’ll be reading and discussing The Library Book, Susan Orlean’s acclaimed account of the still-unsolved 1986 arson fire that devastated the Central Library, and the massive recovery project that followed. 

We will discuss the book with the Central Library’s map librarian emeritus, Glen Creason, who experienced the fire firsthand and then joined the intense effort to save the collection and reopen the library in 1993. Glen will share memories and photos of the fire, and discuss how its aftermath shaped the Los Angeles Public Library we know and love today. Glen features prominently in The Library Book, as Susan Orlean interviewed him extensively while researching it. As she writes of Glen: "Over the years he has become a sort of library himself: he is a repository of endless stories about the library's most interesting patrons."  

Pick up a lending copy of The Library Book at the Edendale reference desk starting September 1 (or borrow one of the many available at Library locations, in various formats), and then join us to discuss it.

Glen Creason was the Map Librarian in the History & Genealogy Department at the Central Library from 1979 until his retirement in 2021. He is the author of Los Angeles in Maps, a survey of some of the many beautiful and historically important maps in the LAPL collection. He has written for many publications, including Los Angeles magazine, and has made frequent appearances speaking about maps, local history, and music. 

Email eden@lapl.org for more information.