Latest news with #LosAngelesPublicLibrary
The Hindu
16-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Books without Borders
Published : Jul 16, 2025 19:45 IST - 6 MINS READ Dear reader, Mayyil in Kerala's Kannur district is my favourite place for many reasons—and if you're expecting beaches or backwaters, you will be gently disappointed. It's my favourite because this tiny local panchayat has 35 public libraries. It's startling to see a community with around 20 schools and 20 temples have almost double the number of libraries: which is either a testament to Kerala's commitment to literacy or proof that the people have collectively decided that books are more reliable than Gods when it comes to life advice. My first visit in 2019 felt like coming home to a memory I hadn't known I had—a biblio-sojourn in the truest sense, where on every bend of the dusty road there stood a library, not a café, not a mall, not another temple. I wondered how many communities could claim such a density of literary sanctuary, then discovered that Kerala—with about 8,500 public libraries—is second only to Maharashtra in raw numbers, but leads the nation at approximately 23.4 libraries per 1,00,000 people. The unseen hand behind this proliferation is the Kerala State Library Council, which has apparently been more successful at empire-building than most actual empires. I visited Mayyil's Velam Vayanashala (library in Malayalam) a few years later. The library had invited me to speak on an oddly beautiful occasion. Pusthaka-kani, as they called it, is modelled on the traditional Vishukani (an arrangement of auspicious items such as an idol of Krishna, a mirror, golden shower flowers, cucumber, and viewed at dawn on Vishu, the Malayalam New Year, to ensure prosperity.) But in this library, the kani (or view) was that of books, neatly arranged. That's how they welcomed the New Year. Standing that morning in the gentle hush that only libraries can create, I told them of a book I had just read: Susan Orlean's 2018 work The Library Book, which is about the devastating fire that gutted the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986. 'I grew up in libraries, or at least it feels that way…The library might have been the first place I was ever given autonomy,' writes Susan Orlean in the book, which is an elegy doubling as an ode to belonging—the kind of belonging that asks for no passport, no ideology, only the willingness to get lost in another's words. And that sense of belonging is something that, as Velam's library members showed me, goes beyond religion, caste, or class. I don't know if any institution has such powers in our world. Libraries act like wayward trains, delivering travellers to destinations they didn't know they were seeking. The sheer feeling of serendipity is thrilling. In those small village libraries, whether it was the Kuzhikkattussery Grameena Vayanasala or the Aloor Grama Panchayat Library, the two libraries that powered my childhood, I had discovered in them, by accident or divine intervention, books I never imagined existed. I'd come expecting comfort; I found astonishment. The kind that makes you believe in benevolent universe conspiracies—the way a random book falls off a shelf just when you need its particular brand of wisdom, or how you stumble upon exactly the right metaphor for your existential crisis hiding between cookbooks and poetry collections. In those early pages of our library addiction, didn't we all feel we had unearthed old therapy salons? Places where readers arrived seeking only knowledge or a pastime, but found something more therapeutic than actual therapy and at a cheaper rate. We like-minded souls drunk on words and stories sat close, mostly silent, connected by grief or laughter at the trials of Raskolnikov (who really needed better life coaches), Tess (who deserved better than Hardy's relentless doom), Quentin Compson (whose stream-of-consciousness was more coherent than most Reddit feeds), Meursault (the original emotionally unavailable protagonist), and Okonkwo (whose story hits differently when you're navigating your own cultural dislocations). There were times when a turning page carried the weight of collective tears, and we would emerge, replenished, ready to meet the mundane again with something approaching grace. We didn't need a psychologist—just a shelf, a chair, and that unspoken fellowship of readers who understood that sometimes the best conversations happen in complete silence. Eric Klinenberg wrote in Palaces for the People that libraries are a social infrastructure, the connective tissue of resilient democracies. In their soft light, strangers become neighbours not through forced small talk but through the gentle recognition that we are all just trying to figure out the business of being human. Immigrants find voices; the unemployed find career choices; senior citizens grasp at companionship; teenagers meet alter egos who mirror their confusion, and realise they're not uniquely broken. The history of libraries is a saga that stretches from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to dusty scrolls in Alexandria (history's greatest literary tragedy), from fluorescent-lit reading rooms in 20th-century Carnegie libraries to today's digital archives. Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen chronicle this in The Library: A Fragile History, asking us to see libraries not as static institutions but living organisms: moulded by power, censorship, and the changing media of their times. Libraries today teeter under pressures we once thought unimaginable. Across the globe, funding for public libraries is waning. In the US, a Trump administration order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services—responsible for about $300 million in grants for libraries and museums. In India, Maharashtra alone has seen at least 1,000 public libraries shut down in the past three years. Community libraries need a continuous feed of resources, community trust, and institutional goodwill. If the funding fails, the aisles will go dark, the story hours will cease, the teenagers will drift elsewhere, and those shared moments will vanish like clouds, leaving behind only the hollow echo of what democracy sounds like when it's dying. But a current of human determination and gentle rebellion makes you believe that some people will always refuse to let good things die. This example, too, comes from Trump's America. In New York City, when Mayor Eric Adams proposed a $58 million budget cut to the public library in 2024, authors, celebrities, neighbours, and strangers organised campaigns that restored many services. Similar to what civil society participation and the Library Council's support still do for the many libraries in Mayyil. If ever you find yourself there—or in any other town or village you visit—pay attention to the hush. Follow it like a curious cat. Turn the corner. There, under a low canopy of books, you may discover what I found: home. And with it, an entire world waiting for you, page by page, question by question, revelation by revelation, in the most democratic spaces that humanity has ever created. I was reminded of Mayyil and those many other libraries I have visited when I read this lovely photo essay by Nabeel Ahmad about how three community libraries are making a difference in Delhi, a city where I worked for nearly a decade but missed the libraries of my Kerala childhood. Delhi's libraries were all elite, access dictated by privilege and metal detectors, and I hated them, yearning for the little open spaces of the community library. Which is why I felt so happy and at home when I saw this photo essay. Do read the piece, and if you are in Delhi, pay a visit. If you are not in Delhi, check out your local libraries and tell us about them. Wishing you a lovely week ahead, Jinoy Jose P. Digital Editor, Frontline We hope you've been enjoying our newsletters featuring a selection of articles that we believe will be of interest to a cross-section of our readers. Tell us if you like what you read. And also, what you don't like! Mail us at frontline@
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Los Angeles Public Library to close downtown branches on Saturday amid safety concerns
Citing anticipated protests and ongoing safety concerns in the downtown area, the Los Angeles Public Library announced Friday it will temporarily close three of its branches on Saturday. The closures affect the Central Library, Chinatown Branch, and Little Tokyo Branch. The library also closed the branches on Monday due to ongoing protests. City officials issue curfew guidance for downtown L.A. ahead of the weekend In addition, the 3rd annual June Jubilee: A Celebration of Black Excellence, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed. A new date has not yet been announced. Library officials stated that they hope to reschedule the event in the near future and will provide updates when available. For updates on rescheduled events and reopening information, the public is encouraged to check Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
9 News
17-05-2025
- General
- 9 News
America's most famous celebrity Christian disappears
1 of 14 Attribution: Los Angeles Public Library Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson was one of the most famous people in the US in the 1920s and 1930s. Known as "Sister Aimee", she pioneered the use of mass broadcast technologies such as radio to send her Pentecostal message to people around the country, and she drew tens of thousands of people to her faith healing events. So when she disappeared on May 18, 1926, it caused a huge commotion. McPherson vanished from Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica, California, prompting fears she had drowned. However, a search was unable to find any sign of her. On June 23, her church, Angelus Temple, held a memorial service for her - only for her mother Mildred Kennedy to receive a phone call from officials in Arizona to tell her that McPherson was alive and in hospital.
New York Times
17-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
$4,750 Rentals in Los Angeles
To provide a resource for those displaced by the Los Angeles fires, this edition of 'What You Get' focuses on rentals rather than properties for sale. Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David Jo David This two-bedroom, two-bathroom house, being rented fully furnished, is a few blocks from the heart of the NoHo Arts District, and within walking distance of an independent movie theater, a diner, and a horror movie-themed coffee shop. Also a few blocks away are the North Hollywood Recreation Center, with sports fields, a pool, and a gym, and a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. The house is also a 10-minute walk from a Metro station, putting it within a 45-minute train commute to downtown Los Angeles. By car, Burbank Airport is a 15-minute drive. Size: 1,020 square feet Indoors: A red brick path leads from the sidewalk to a front porch trained with flowering vines. Inside is the living room, where there's tiled fireplace with a wooden mantel and a window overlooking the front yard. Through a wide passage is the dining room, which, like the living room and bedrooms, has hardwood floors. Off one side of the dining room is the kitchen, with butcher block countertops and a blue tile backsplash behind a stainless steel gas range. A door on one side of the kitchen opens to a back patio, and around the corner is a laundry room. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Where can L.A. immigrants go for help under Trump? Try the public library
Among the bookshelves at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, Ramón Hernández sits in a cubicle a few days a week, holding hour after hour of consultations with immigrants who have questions about their legal status. Demand for the public library's free immigration services has shot up since the return of President Trump, who has attacked immigrants as 'poisoning the blood of our country,' promised the largest mass deportations in U.S. history and suggested selling $5 million "gold cards" granting rich people permanent residency and a path to citizenship. Anyone can meet with an immigration expert by phone, or in person at half a dozen Los Angeles Public Library locations from Wilmington to Pacoima, through a long-running, city-funded program called the New Americans Initiative. 'We've been seeing more folks who are wanting to either get their citizenship finally done or adjust their status to become legal permanent residents — and a lot of them are because of the new administration,' said Hernández, who works for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a nonprofit advocacy organization and one of several service providers the city contracts with under the program. Hernández and his colleagues help people become legal permanent residents, apply for citizenship and renew green cards or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals permits. They can help people prepare for the citizenship exam or file records requests for their immigration histories, among other services. Read more: A city of immigrants moves to resist Trump. How far can L.A. leaders go? The libraries also offer general consultations to address questions or concerns people have about their immigration status under the Trump administration. 'Everyone right now is looking to have a plan, get their questions answered by talking to a trustworthy immigration services provider, and they need to know their rights,' Madeleine Ildefonso, managing librarian for the L.A. Public Library's Office of Civics and Community Services. Ildefonso, a 20-year veteran of the library system who in 2018 helped launch the New Americans Initiative, said the program has seen an increase in calls since the start of the year. The library also has received a jump in requests for 'know your rights' cards. The size of a credit card, the red cards, available in a variety of languages, advise citizens and noncitizens of their constitutional rights and can be handed to immigration agents to invoke 4th and 5th Amendment protections. She said the library is printing the cards in 18 languages, with plans to expand to 31 languages. The library also is planning more citizenship classes and workshops for families to prepare key documents and decide who will care for children in case a parent or relative is detained. Read more: Despite rumors of a massive immigration sweep in Los Angeles, numbers don't add up About 1.4 million Angelenos, or 36% of the city's population, are foreign-born, and an additional 29% have at least one immigrant parent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. The L.A. metro area has the second-largest number of immigrants in the nation after New York City. Immigrants make up about 15% of the population nationwide, according to the think tank. This month, L.A. City Council members proposed new measures to ramp up the city's resistance to Trump's immigration policies, including more funding for immigration legal services groups and a comprehensive 'know your rights' campaign. If successful, some of those proposals would mean expanding on the kind of support the L.A. Public Library has been offering for years. The New Americans Initiative was launched under former Mayor Eric Garcetti during the first Trump administration and built on a previous Path to Citizenship program that offered classes to people eligible to naturalize. Some bigger library systems, including New York City, offer similar programs. The program, which is entirely city-funded, has a budget of $1.2 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year and is one of the main ways the city offers assistance to immigrants. Although some of the money supports classes and workshops on naturalization, citizenship and English as a second language, most of it goes toward one-on-one sessions with immigration experts such as Hernández. Assistance is available to anyone at the participating library branches, regardless of their immigration status or where they live. In December, Mayor Karen Bass signed a sanctuary city law that prohibits city employees and resources from being involved in federal immigration enforcement, enshrining a policy first established by executive order several years ago under Garcetti. President Trump has since threatened to punish 'sanctuary cities' by cutting off federal funds, including disaster relief money L.A. needs to recover from the recent wildfires. Read more: Trump's order to cut off funding to sanctuary cities could threaten L.A. fire relief Many appointments are initiated through a phone message line. The multilingual library staffers who return these calls can get hundreds of them each month. Appointments also can be scheduled online. The one-on-ones are offered in English, Spanish, Armenian, Korean, Farsi, Russian and Tagalog. Program administrators hope to add Mandarin Chinese and Thai. All 72 of the Los Angeles public libraries also have 'welcome stations' with materials to help legal permanent residents with the naturalization process. That includes 'citizenship envelopes' with a checklist of all the documents and steps needed to become naturalized citizens, as well as other resources, such as flash cards to help with vocabulary and civics knowledge for the citizenship test. More than 500,000 people in L.A. County were legal permanent residents eligible to naturalize as of May 2024, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. One of the biggest barriers to citizenship is the oral civics exam with 100 possible questions. The naturalization application is an obstacle in itself and can take several visits to the library over a few months to complete. Read more: Fewer diners, tense workers at L.A. restaurants amid Trump's immigration crackdown Promoting civic literacy and self-empowerment is in keeping with the long history of public libraries in the U.S. offering education and other resources to immigrants. The tradition goes back to the Gilded Age and steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant whose philanthropic support for public libraries was designed to educate citizens and immigrants alike. Ildefonso said that anyone with concerns about confidentiality should be reassured by public libraries' long tradition of protecting people's privacy. 'Library staff is trained and knows how to handle questions that come into our library from law enforcement,' she said. 'Community members should feel safe in a library setting. We're just known as safe spaces for a lot of people.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
