Library

Roughly $10 million in bonds issued in 2010 to improve the Central Library may not be enough to cover the revamp, and with redevelopment money constricted, the City Council plans to review an “exotic” alternative. Glendale officials say they may be able to use federal tax credits typically given to developers who invest in low-income communities to fill in funding gaps for the library project. “We don't do this on an everyday basis,” said Philip Lanzafame, the city's officer for economic development and asset management.

A nonprofit that has donated $50 per month to library sites throughout the city has halted the tradition because the money was at risk of being lost, stolen or misappropriated. Prompted by recommendations in a city audit, Friends of the Glendale Public Library stopped donating the cash last month. Instead, the nonprofit is rolling the money into the tens of thousands of dollars the organization donates to cover needed items outlined by library officials at the beginning of each year.

From Washington, D.C. to Small Town, USA, from the building in the heart of Manhattan that is guarded by stone lions to a majestic building in downtown Los Angeles, the public libraries are a great source of knowledge and literature. They also run workshops, classes, lectures and much more. Even now, when states and cities are cutting some libraries' funds, they still function the best they can and they do need our support, financially and otherwise. That is why I am so uneasy when I see some readers have no regard for books they borrow from public libraries.

The Glendale and Pasadena central libraries on Thursday were not places to seek peace and quiet as city officials unveiled a new digital lending technology - the 3M Cloud. In Glendale, an ice cream and cookie truck attracted dozens of people in the late afternoon as librarians sought to give as many library cards to people as they could. Using the “cloud,” patrons can download ebooks to their computers, iPads, iPhones, Androids and ereaders with their library card's PIN, checking out up to five books at a time for up to two weeks with the ability to read them without the Internet.

As the public turns more to e-readers, Glendale and Pasadena are poised to be among the few library systems in the nation to try out a new cloud-based technology for lending out ebooks. The cloud library - developed by 3M - will be tested by just 10 library systems in the nation, with the shared Glendale-Pasadena lending network the only one in California to be part of the program. Unlike Glendale and Pasadena's current digital reading platform, OverDrive, the ebooks on the 3M platform will be stored in a “cloud,” or an off-site data center.

The rise of the ebook at public libraries has fueled a spat with publishers over costs and limits on the number of times a title can be checked out, keeping major catalogs out of reach for patrons in Glendale and Pasadena. Last year, HarperCollins imposed a rule for its titles that limit the number of times they can be checked out to 26. After that, the books “expire” and libraries must re-purchase the title to keep them in circulation. Some librarians disputed the circulation limit as too low, prompting some - including Glendale and Pasadena - to forsake HarperCollins altogether because of the cost implications.

Electronic books and readers may be growing in popularity, but a random sampling of patrons at the Glendale Central Library recently revealed a certain knowledge gap about the trend. “I did not know the library lends them to the public,” Nestor Del Rosario, a 62-year-old Eagle Rock resident, said of ebooks. She was standing outside the library Thursday morning waiting for it to open. “I don't even know what the ebook is,” she added. Aracelli Valdivia, a 41-year-old Glendale resident who was studying for a medical exam at the library on Thursday, did not know the library offered ebooks either, but she'd be open to trying it. “I like the idea of ebooks,” she said.

When Glendale and Pasadena began lending ebooks in 2005, demand was low. But an increasing number of patrons are embracing the technology, contributing to what could end up being a sea change in how publishers and libraries interact with readers. In the first study examining ebook consumption, released in April, the Pew Research Center found that at least 21% of Americans had read an ebook. Eleven percent of people who owned a reading device looked for ebooks at their public library.

Extensive renovations to the Casa Verdugo library are nearing completion, but work on the adjoining fire station still has a long way to go. Even as a significant portion of the second floor at Fire Station 26 is being gutted, officials hope to open the Casa Verdugo library on the 1100 block of North Brand Boulevard before May 1 - excluding any construction delays, Libraries Director Cindy Cleary said. The library and fire station have shared the building since 1951. A complete teardown of the building had been planned, but when the economy took a downturn in 2008, those plans were quashed, said Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Greg Godfrey.

Extensive renovations to the Casa Verdugo library are nearing completion, but work on the adjoining fire station still has a long way to go. Even as a significant portion of the second floor at Fire Station 26 is gutted, officials hope to open the Casa Verdugo library on the 1100 block of North Brand Boulevard before May 1 - excluding any construction delays, Libraries Director Cindy Cleary said. The library and fire station have shared the building since 1951. A complete tear-down of the building had been planned, but when the economy took a downturn in 2008, those plans were squashed, said Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Greg Godfrey.