Message from City Librarian

Please see the following message sent on behalf of Fontayne Holmes:

Dear Neighborhood Council Board Member,

The Los Angeles Public Library is beginning a planning process for new libraries. I want to extend an invitation to you, your Executive Board, and Neighborhood Council members to region-wide community meetings to discuss draft recommendations to the Branch Library Facilities Plan. Attached is a list of the meetings to be held at seven libraries around the city in late August and early September. Also attached is a FAQ sheet about the draft plan. Please feel free to distribute the meeting flyer and FAQ to your membership.

The Library is very proud to have completed the 1998 Proposition DD Branch Library Construction Bond program on time and under budget. Proposition DD was based on a Branch Facilities Plan that was adopted in 1988. We opened 34 new libraries in three years, from 2002-2005.

Since 1988, the population in our communities has increased and library services have expanded and changed to meet 21st century information needs. The draft recommendations are based on population increases and projected population growth in communities throughout Los Angeles.

The Central Library and 71 branch libraries are better than they have ever been because the Library did this kind of planning during the 1980s.

Now we are planning for the next generation.

The draft plan and other information is available on our Website, www.lapl.org, click on About the Library, click on Planning for Libraries. We welcome comments and suggestions on the Website.

We want to listen to people in the communities and incorporate their ideas and suggestions in the updated Branch Facilities Plan before taking a recommended plan to the Board of Library Commissioners. After a plan is approved, we will get cost estimates for building the new libraries, and identify potential funding sources to construct new libraries.

This is the beginning. In the 1998 bond program, we conducted 184 community meetings on site selection and design. And, we look forward to many meetings in all of the individual communities as the planning progresses.

Thank you for helping us in this initial step.

Sincerely,

Fontayne Holmes

City Librarian