Famine Ends For L.A. School Libraries

Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/1/1997

The Los Angeles Board of Education will spend $5.9 million this school year to shore up its beleaguered elementary school libraries. The move marks the first time in recent memory that the district has put significant funding into its libraries. "It's a miracle as far as I'm concerned," said Bonnie O'Brian, Supervisor of Library Services. In a unanimous vote on October 6, the school board agreed to go from spending nothing at all to spending $4 per elementary student -- $2.8 million -- on library books. It will spend $2.6 million to hire and train part-time aides for the three-quarters of elementary libraries with no staff. Another $500,000 will help rebuild the central office library staff, which was nearly decimated in 1991.