With books and kids in tow, this Boyle Heights mom is fighting for her community’s library

In folding chairs with books in hand, Iciar Rivera and her three young children sat in the shade of the ficus trees outside the recently shuttered Benjamin Franklin Library bungalow.

A handmade sign affixed to the nearby wall read: ¡Abran Franklin Ya! — Open Franklin Now.

For Rivera, 40, this wasn’t just an act of protest — it was a call to action. Her local library has been in limbo since 2020, when its main building shut down during the pandemic and remained closed for renovations. A temporary bungalow served the community for three years, until it too closed on Aug. 1, leaving residents with no immediate library access. Now, the library isn’t expected to open until 2027.

“This branch was a lifesaver,” Rivera said. “I didn’t have a lot of support through college, so it felt personal when they closed it.”

To Rivera, the Benjamin Franklin Library acted as an anchor. Raised between Orange County, Los Angeles and Mexico, her parents brought her to the branch when she was a child and it became a safe haven for her while she attended East L.A. College.

Now, a stay-at-home mother, Rivera is turning her frustration into action by forming a new Friends of the Library group in Boyle Heights, an effort to advocate for the unique needs of three public library branches serving the neighborhood: Benjamin Franklin, Malabar and Stevenson.

“This is a group actually born out of anger and frustration… We’re building one out of how neglected we are as a neighborhood,” Rivera said.

A library in need

Friends of Library groups are nonprofit organizations that work to increase community engagement with library services, provide volunteer support and advocate for the financial support of the branches they represent. According to the Los Angeles Public Library, there are more than 60 active Friends of the Library groups across the city that each raise funds through book sales to raise money for the branches.

While many of these groups are sometimes focused on fundraising through book sales, Rivera says she feels there is much more at stake for libraries throughout Boyle Heights.

“I would like to concentrate less on book sales and maybe more on like grant writing, because I think that yields the bigger game,” she said.

About a dozen members, including three board members, are now behind the group. Next, Rivera is working to formalize the Friends of the Boyle Heights Libraries’ status as a nonprofit organization and recruit more members.

Rivera often sets up outside the closed library to talk to passersby, many of whom are unaware of the library’s closure. She carries a volunteer sign-up sheet and answers questions about the library’s ongoing delays.

“A lot of them were like, ‘Of course, this happens to us all the time in many different ways.’ It always feels like we’re last to know and the first to be forgotten,” Rivera said.

Residents attempt to access the now-closed temporary bungalow at the Benjamin Franklin Library on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Elected officials step in

Since the 2020 closure, the library has faced delays tied to staffing shortages, environmental and historical assessments and a disruption in funding, according to the Bureau of Engineering, which oversees the planning and design of city infrastructure projects.

L.A. City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado is pushing for accountability. In one of her first motions, she requested a report detailing setbacks and project updates.

“This is a key city service that is a lifeline for Angelenos, especially working-class folks of color and Boyle Heights deserves it just as much as anybody else,” Jurado said in an interview with Boyle Heights Beat.

To fill the service gap during renovations, L.A. Public Library and branch staff, with support from Jurado’s office, began to offer weekly library services from the Boyle Heights City Hall. Last week, a bright magenta Street Fleet van rolled onto the Boyle Heights City Hall parking lot to offer book lending services, electronic resources, WiFi and limited printing services.

But Rivera doesn’t see it as an adequate substitute. She said one of her group’s first plans of action is to urge the L.A. Public Library to increase Street Fleet van frequency in her neighborhood.

“Once a week? I mean, it’s cute. But it sounds like something that would happen in a natural disaster,” she said. “That is an appeasement, and that is not nearly enough.”

Iciar Rivera (right) stands with LAPL staff during a library Street Fleet visit at Boyle Heights City Hall on Aug. 19, 2025.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Fighting for a future generation

Rivera has long advocated for the spaces public libraries provide, especially to her children, calling them “touchstones for every kind of person.”

When the security guard stationed at the library first saw Rivera and her kids setting up a table and chairs outside of the branch, he jokingly suggested she take the kids to the beach, instead.

“He wasn’t wrong,” Rivera said through laughter. But the mother of three said she considers it a valuable lesson to be outspoken about the issues in their community, even if it can be physically uncomfortable at times.

“My parents were activists, but I didn’t have that in me when I was little,” Rivera said. “So, I’m glad we’re building and we’re progressing as a family line here, of people that are more informed earlier, better and more holistically.”