A Wish List for L.A.’s Libraries

Los Angeles Public Library patrons and staff are reaping the fruits of a $178.3-million bond voters passed in November 1998 to build four branches and remodel or renovate 28 others citywide.

In the San Fernando Valley, the Canoga Park and Chatsworth branches are set to be rebuilt on new sites. New facilities are being built on existing lots at the Encino / Tarzana, Northridge, Pacoima, Sun Valley, Sylmar and Woodland Hills branches. Facilities that will be expanded include North Hollywood, Valley Plaza, Sherman Oaks and the West Valley Regional Library. Lake View Terace will get its first library. Studio City will get a new library, but financed with construction funds from a 1989 bond, officials said.

KARIMA A. HAYNES asked a librarian and patrons for their library wish lists as well as how to make them reality.

TINA HANSON

Senior librarian, Granada Hills branch

At the Granada Hills library we would very much like to have a computer aide--a person hired primarily to explain the computer system to the public. When we are trying to answer reference questions, it is hard to stop and give first-time users a detailed explanation. Other than that, I think this library is fairly well-off.

We dedicated the virtual library last month. It’s a computerized library that ties every branch and the main library together so that [patrons] can access what is available at each library. They can see if a book is on the shelf, what’s been checked out and what the library owns. It replaces the card catalog, but there are more enhancements. For example, a patron had a very specific business question. Our librarian was able to go into the business database that was available through the computer and was able to answer the question. In the past, we would have had to send the person downtown.

I have a good friend in Virginia whom I went to library science school with, and through the years we have compared library services. This is the first time I can say we are more advanced than her library.

The Friends of the Library did most of the fund-raising for the virtual library. One of the library staff members was aware that the Sunshine Canyon trust fund [as part of a court-ordered agreement] had to put funds into the community because [Browning-Ferris Industries] operates a landfill in Granada Hills. She found out about the process and presented it to the Friends.

LUCY ALVAREZ

Member, Friends of the Pacoima Library

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I would like to have more Spanish-language books because the selection we have now is very small. There are older people who cannot read English, and we would like to have more Spanish-language books for them. Maybe the books would draw them into the library and they would become more interested in looking at English-language books.

There should be a tutoring program for children whose parents are unable to help them at home because of the language barrier. Volunteers could come and help them with their homework.

I would also like to see more computers, a quiet area for high school students, security guards and maintenance people to make sure it stays clean. I just want the new library to have a little bit of class.

I have been with the Friends of the Library for 15 years, and we’ve done all kinds of things to raise money. We’ve sold books and we’ve sold food. The library is so important to me because it represents knowledge. If you are not a college graduate, you still can go there and learn. A library helps you to reach out beyond your circumstances. It opens its arms to you and says, “Come, so that we can see beyond the clouds.”

AMBER ZEIDLER

President, Friends of the West Valley Library

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I would like to see the old card catalog brought back for people like me who just can’t seem to find anything on the computer. My brain just doesn’t work like the person who programmed the computer. But I don’t think too many people think the way I do.

I would also like see programs that would draw more teenagers to the library and show them why the library should be part of their regular rounds. I don’t know what that would be, but we have some pretty creative librarians and I’m sure they would come up with something to attract the teens.

Also, programs that would raise the literacy level and get adults to read more instead of watching television would be great--a readers theater, where people gather and read drama out loud. Something like that might be entertaining.