By MAGNOLIA LAFLEUR | Reporter
A labor of love for the neighborhood, Palisades Branch Library hosted an open house on Saturday, May 21, welcoming Palisadians back after nearly two years of being closed.
The library first closed when COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions went into place spring of 2020. Though other libraries began to reopen, a fire broke out at the Palisades library on October 8, causing it to remain closed until December 2021 while repairs were underway.
The reopening celebration, originally slated to take place in January but pushed back due to a surge in COVID-19 cases at the time, was planned to welcome back the community to see updates and upgrades at the library since its closure, as well as to enjoy music, refreshments, library trivia and a visit from a Los Angeles Fire Department Station 69 fire truck.
Throughout the library’s extended closure, the Pacific Palisades Library Association, also known as Friends of the Palisades Library, continued to host community events virtually, including the annual Summer Writing Contest and Palisades Reads.
Palisadian Laura Schneider, president of PPLA for the past five years, shared that she used to drive her oldest son, Luke, to Palisades Branch Library before she moved into the neighborhood in 2004 to “enjoy the cozy children’s nook.”
“The library is a place where everyone in the community is welcome,” Schneider told the Palisadian-Post. “The staff is helpful, intelligent and compassionate; our patrons are curious, interesting people; and our facility is lovely—with indoor and outdoor spaces that reflect the beauty of the Palisades. The event on May 21 was an opportunity to invite people back into the library, remind them that we are still here, and begin to find out what we can do to reconnect with and better serve our patrons.”
Since its opening decades ago, COVID-19 was the first major incident that caused the library to close for a long-term basis.
“The pandemic was tough on the library, its staff and the Friends,” Schneider explained. “As with many other organizations, we had to pivot to an online-only environment. Some librarians staffed phone lines and provided all manner of assistance to patrons—from troubleshooting Zoom issues to more traditional reference questions. Others learned how to do contact tracing, and some of our librarians were loaned to other branches to help bolster their curbside book services.”
Due to the pandemic putting a halt to patron attendance, Schneider said that many librarians built “new and deeper relationships with patrons,” where they were able to expand events while in a virtual format, such as the Summer Writing Contest, opening it up to larger scopes of people across the city.
“There was a real sense of pulling together to make sure we could emerge from the pandemic as a strong organization,” Schneider said.
Ensuring that the entire community not only has access but also assistance with their own devices to any technological tutorials that may be of interest, Palisades Branch Library currently offers a computer aide who is available upon appointment.
Patrons can also receive assistance with new library iPads that were purchased on behalf of a “generous gift from the American Legion.”
“My hope is that we can continue to find new ways to make life better in the Palisades for everyone,” Schneider told the Post. “Like so many other organizations and businesses, we must evolve in ways that allow us to remain engaged with, and connected to, our community. What’s exciting to me is the prospect of being of service to the community in ways that we haven’t even thought of yet.”
Current library hours, according to the Los Angeles Public Library website, are Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
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