The Los Angeles Public Library’s mission has dramatically expanded since it was founded in 1872 with 500 books for a “bustling pueblo” of 6,000 people. Today, it has more than 8 million books and serves the largest and most diverse urban population of any library system in the country.
It rides the cusp of technological change with e-books, artificial intelligence, trained computer “cybernauts” and 7,000 loanable Tech2go backpack bundles complete with laptops and hotspot connections. The library’s futuristic 3D printing Octavia Lab, named for science fiction writer Octavia Butler, made protective face shields for hospitals in the early days of the pandemic.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.