In an era of digitalization and global upheaval, already struggling libraries saw a need to better serve their patrons. Across Los Angeles Public Libraries, classes on meditation, access to hygiene kits, Lego building and pickling vegetables are just a few of the activities offered to bring communities together.
“As the needs of the community have changed, I think that the libraries have to change with them,” said Lee Rubinstein, a volunteer lecturer at the Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Branch Library. “It’s just a way to reach more people … and sort of open the door for them [to] lead them back around to the the joy of reading.”
These Los Angeles libraries have since attempted to forge community and raise attendance rates following the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Urban Libraries Council survey, the average number of in-person visits was 2.9 million for 98 ULC-affiliated libraries in the USA and Canada in 2019. This number dropped 1.6 million visits in 2021 to, a 44.5% decrease.
In the years since, libraries have reintroduced in-person events and classes, as well as services for their communities. At the Sherman Oaks Library, a Mindful Meditation class allows attendees to destress and cope with anxiety.
In the library’s event room, colorful balloons and bins of Legos line the wall. Chairs positioned in a circle offer a welcoming space for meditators to voice their worries and unwind. The room, painted in cool, gray colors, is even quieter than the library itself.
Meditation is a learned skill, according to Rick Sweeney, who leads a free Mindful Meditation class at the Sherman Oaks library and the Studio City library.
“Mindful awareness meditation … [is] to help you deal with your body, your heart, and your emotions and your mind. It’s really how to deal with life,” Sweeney said.
An attendee of Sweeney’s meditation class, Masha Bennet-Shephard, said meditation helps alleviate her anxiety.
“I always come for books but when I can, I come for the meditation,” Bennet-Shephard said. “I used to have what I’d like to call ‘bone-scraping anxiety’ and one way I’d be willing to treat it is meditation.”
To expand services, Los Angeles public libraries provide hygiene kits and cooling spots for those seeking shelter from the summer heat. Other public services are offered such as state park passes, mobile hot spots and bins for composting. There are weekly literacy tutors and a weekly literacy book club for adults who struggle with reading. The Sherman Oaks Library, one of 72 in the Los Angeles Public Library system, provides two hours of free computer use and access to a printer.
Using a $2,500 grant from their local neighborhood council, the library and its teen volunteers created and distributed hygiene kits. The kits, which include soaps and body washes, were created with the help of teenage volunteers and were handed out on request.
Meredith McGowan, Senior Librarian of the Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Library Branch, said she wants people to walk away from the library with a good experience.
“We offer so much for so many different individuals. I want them to be able to say ‘I bet the library will know’ as their first thought,” McGowan said. “They feel good about themselves. They feel good about their community.”
Beyond services offered, clubs meet monthly, either in person or virtually at the library. At the Sherman Oaks Library, the knitting club meets twice a month in person, while the fiction book club meets virtually once a month. The mystery book club has met monthly since 2006.
Other events are more informational, like Rubinstein’s lectures about her travel experiences. In June, Rubinstein spoke about the Easter Island Heads, the discovery of the heads, their possible origins and the overall history around them. Rubinstein also runs “Hidden Los Angeles” about hidden nooks and historical events in Los Angeles. Rubinstein also serves as programme chair for the nonprofit Friends of the Library.
“I think there’s so much to learn,” Rubinstein said. “If I can encourage one person to go into the library and check out a book about Antarctica, or Easter Island, or the northern lights, or Hidden Los Angeles (Rubinstein’s program), anything that I’ve talked about or any of our guest speakers have talked about, that’s kind of a double whammy in a good way.”
Other events are more hands-on, such as professional pickler Jessica Wang’s class on the process of fermentation. She hosts events to teach about the benefits of fermented foods in multiple LAPL libraries, including the Van Nuys Branch Library, the Studio City Branch Library and the Chinatown Branch Library.
Wang taught at the Sherman Oaks Library on July 9, where attendees were greeted with rows of tables. A box of small, glass jars rested atop a table near the door. Visitors were welcomed with “Let’s get into a pickle together!” displayed on a projector. Attendees lined up to wash their hands at a sink off to the side of the room.
Wang, who grew up with a cooking mother, and who was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, took her diagnosis seriously. To prevent her condition from worsening, she paid closer attention to what was in her foods and how to make her own.
“I realized from starting to pay attention to food labels, like, wow, (Kimchi) has sugar in it too. Who would have thought?” Wang said. “Knowing I could prepare this simple recipe and avoid the sugar — if I want it to taste sweet, I could add something that naturally is sweet.”
Wang’s activities were hands-on, but meant for older audiences. Young children have their own events, meant to foster creativity and encourage reading.
One such event is the magical performance by Katrina Kroetch, who goes by her stage name “Magical Katrina.” When Kroetch was the age of her young audience, she did not have opportunities to see whimsical performances like hers.
“I grew up very poor,” Kroetch said. “I never had a magician at my birthday party. That’s a luxury thing … So it’s really cool that the library does these free shows so that people in the community that maybe wouldn’t be able to afford it could go see a free magic show.”
Her show, “The Magical Katrina magic show” occurs in multiple libraries, including the Woodland Hills Branch Library and the Edendale Branch Library. During those events, young children are encouraged to create their own magic tricks by holding wands and spinning around. At the end of each show, Kroetch “summons” a trove of books, all about magic, from a formerly empty-box.
“I try to tie magic to a kind of science and also empower (kids) to do it themselves, mostly through reading a book, because that’s how a lot of magicians learn magic — is going to the library and checking out books,” Kroetch said.
The Sherman Oaks library’s children’s section is adorned with trees, vines, and decals of forest animals. Children can play with toys and read books sitting atop trunk-shaped chairs. The library aims to foster a positive, creative environment for children.
Almost every day, a Story Telling and Reading volunteer sits in the area, facing a crowd of children and their guardians to read aloud texts hand-picked by the children for an hour.
“It’s fun,” Kat Michels, a STAR volunteer said. “I get to be goofy. I get to honk like a goose, I get to make silly voices, and everybody enjoys it.”
After such reading sessions, more hands-on activities occur in the event room. The July 6 STAR reader session was succeeded by a Lego activity, where stashed Legos were pulled from bins and spilled onto little, carpeted areas to be played with. The same area that was so quiet for the meditation class, becomes overrun with the sound of children’s laughter.
Visit lapl.org/events to find free events for all ages at your local Los Angeles library.
