Every year, libraries are celebrated as the core of American communities.

By Mikaela STONE

The second week of April each year is declared National Library Week. National Library Week celebrates libraries for their place at the core of American communities. Echoing this sentiment, acting California governor Eleni Kounalakis also proclaimed the week California Library Week, acknowledging 1,127 public libraries across the state. Since Benjamin Franklin created the public library in 1731, libraries have continued to, as Governor Kounalakis puts it, “evolve and adapt.”

“They offer online tutoring, adult literacy programs, summer reading, test prep, resources for science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM), early learning for infants and toddlers, meals for children, and services for all job seekers,” he stated.

La Crescenta’s public library at 2809 Foothill Blvd. is the meeting place for the Crescenta Valley Town Council as well as a host of other organizations, such as the Land Use Committee, the Verdugo Hills Group of the Sierra Club, the rare coin club and the radio club. Monthly meetings with the teen advisory board allow young community members to provide their own input into what they wish to see at the library. 

“The library is the heart of La Crescenta,” said Librarian Marta Wiggins. 

She is proud of the La Crescenta Library’s status as the second highest circulating library in the Los Angeles system. It also has the eighth highest gate count, which measures daily attendance. Five hundred people per day come through the La Crescenta Library, seeking services such as homework help and research assistance. The library also has a writer’s corner for aspiring authors, and even tax season counseling by AARP. The library has come a long way since its 1914 start in a local church building. 

Wiggins runs the library’s weekly virtual book club for adult community members, which meets every Tuesday. The book club is currently reading “The Heart of Winter” by Jonathan Evison, which features an octogenarian and nonagenarian as its protagonists, exploring their many years of marriage and their experiences with aging. 

In honor of Library Week, the in-person adult book club, which meets in the library on the fourth Tuesday of each month, will be reading “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade” by Janet Skeslien Charles, which follows a librarian as she seeks to establish children’s libraries for French families affected by World War I. 

Other in-person events during the week included the teen magic workshop by magician Wayne Kawamoto and an Earth Day workshop teaching people how to create a purse from an old T-shirt. These were both held on Tuesday; on Wednesday the weekly Smarty Pants storytime was held for young children, a butterfly workshop was held based on the book “Milkweed for Monarch” that was taught by the book’s author, Christine Van Zandt, and a Spanish friendly native plant workshop for children for ages 5-12. 

The La Crescenta Library’s current building celebrated its 15th birthday in January after its 2010 expansion into what locals know and love today. 

Community members have even more reason to celebrate: local fourth grader Sharon Xu won the Los Angeles County bookmark design contest. The artistic draw-off usually receives 800 entries. Xu’s bookmark can be seen alongside the other winners on a poster inside the La Crescenta Library.