The County of Los Angeles Public Library and the Los Angeles Public Library have partnered with Library Ideas, a network of public library websites that "offer access to hundreds of thousands of songs from Sony Music’s catalog of legendary artists," to allow library cardholders free and legal music downloads beginning in July, according to a news release. more ›

The Los Angeles Public Library’s Silver Lake Branch is one of--if not the--innovative of the system's branches, and now they are getting ready to launch a mobile app that will allow patrons to use their own smartphone to check out materials from anywhere within the library. more ›

It's been a rough year for libraries in L.A., thanks to budget cuts, but patrons still used the Los Angeles Public Library's 72 branch locations to check out books. I asked the LAPL what the most checked-out book was in 2010: Book borrowing Angelenos spent last year following Robert Langdon as he worked to untangle the mysteries of Freemasonary in Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol. more ›

The Los Angeles County library system is in dire financial trouble and, "cannot sustain its level of services over the next decade, according to a report delivered Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors," says the LA Times. more ›

Turns out, when iconic landscape photographer Ansel Adams wasn't off in the wilderness, he was hired for commercial jobs, like documenting Los Angeles' aviation industry for Fortune magazine and capturing street scenes of 1940s life. According to NPR, Adams donated the collection to the Los Angeles Public Library in the 1960s estimating the value at $100 stating, "The weather was bad over a rather long period and none of the pictures were very good." No current estimate has yet been given on the actual value the collection. more ›

Well, perhaps a thousand pictures would be a bit overwhelming to look at in our context here, but over time there have been thousands upon thousands of photos taken of and inside our many Los Angeles Public Libraries, particularly the splendid Central Library in Downtown that rose from the ashes of the devastating 1986 fire. more ›

Proposed cuts to services and other departments in the City in the face of a serious budget crunch means that many of our cherished, under-appreciated, and already under-served resources stand to lose a great deal. The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) is no exception, and in order to gather public support they have launched a "Save the Library" campaign. more ›

ART: Downtown’s Art Walk happens the second Thursday of each month. The Art walk is a monthly, self-guided tour of the art exhibition venues in Downtown Los Angeles, which includes commercial art galleries, public museums, and nonprofit arts venues. Museum of Contemporary Art on Grand Ave (MOCA), Los Angeles Public Library Grey Goose, LA Artcore Center are just some of the places on the Walk. more ›

As we’ve pointed out, it is awards season in Los Angeles in more ways than one. While the Academy Award debating will rage on for weeks, bookish types can ante up their betting losses or collect their winnings now – some awards have already been given. Los Angeles resident Susan Patron has won the 2007 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature for her young adult novel The Higher Power of Lucky. more ›

You have four more hours to get yourself downtown to take a peek at what some of LA's best art galleries are currently offering. On the second Thursday of every month from noon to 9pm, museums, galleries, and nonprofit art venues participate in the Downtown Art Walk, staying open late for those who might not get a chance to stop by during the weekdays. What better way to take the edge off the workweek than with some wine, cheese, and pretty pictures? more ›

When LAist thinks of John Lithgow and food, some kind of a shiny extra-terrestrial pear pops into our head. We suggest you put that image out of your mind, however, if you're so inclined to see the former "3rd Rock from the Sun" star read aloud short-stories — about food — at this weekend's Food Fictions! at the Getty Center (Friday- Sunday, May 19-21). He's one of several actors who will be orating culinary-inspired selections from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Long Way Home," and others. To tell you the truth, LAist didn't recognize the names of any other actors listed until we discovered that Chief Security Officer Odo would be reading V.S. Pritchett. Ticket prices are rather steep ($30 Friday, $20 Saturday-Sunday, $15 students/seniors), so we expect these esteemed thespians will be reading with, ahem, brio-che. more ›

MSN has a new article on ways you can go broke in real estate: for example, if the neighborhood changes for the worse instead of better, if a tenant moves out, or if your interest rates balloon. more ›

The Fairfax Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library opened this morning. Located at 161 S. Gardner Street, just north of 3rd, the new branch boasts lots of parking, beautiful dark wood furniture, a phalanx of computers and a very large floor plan. It has one of the biggest footprints of the regional branches, with a central section full of tables, chairs and room for study groups. more ›

LAist loves books aplenty, and we also love free things. Combine these two loves and you get the Los Angeles Public Library; build a central branch the size of a mall, and you have geek heaven. But the free books to borrow service has a pricetag--like so many wonderful things--and LAPL's Library Store has a way for us to pitch in this month (aside from paying those overdue fees we know we have stored on our keychain card) to help out a good cause. more ›

What's Los Angeles reading these days? more ›

Once again the Los Angeles Unified School District has displayed a lousy vision for educating Los Angeles youth and managing the historic resources under their stewardship. more ›

L.A.'s long-neglected literary scene is due some media attention, but we’re disappointed that Los Angeles City Beat forgot to mention the big literary guns enticed to speak at the consistently excellent ALOUD and ZACALO programs presented by Los Angeles Public Library. more ›