Project 1, Lib. #204

The Angelo M. Iacoboni is one branch of many County of Los Angeles Public Libraries. The Iacoboni library is located on the corner of Clark Ave. and Del Amo Blvd, at 4990 Clark Ave. Lakewood, CA 90712. The library hours are Monday – Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Though, the Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, is just a smaller branch of a large county public library, it serves a big community. There is another small L.A. County Public library in Lakewood, the George Nye Jr. Library, but the Iacoboni Library is on the cusp of Long Beach and Lakewood and nearby Bellflower. The Iacoboni library is also considered a Federal Depository for federal documents and is also a depository for California documents. Most branches (at least to my understanding) do not carry or hold such items. There are seven total libraries in the County of Los Angeles system that are considered Federal Depositories, out of about 88+ branches.
From what I observed during a recent visit to the Iacoboni Library, the typical patron is a just a typical public library visitor; either students (grade school through college) there to study or for an assignment, an elder person looking for the daily periodicals, parents with young children to visit the children’s department for picture books, etc.
The reference desk or, “information” desk as posted, is a straight shot down a short walkway from the entrance. The reference area is located to the left of the desk along with three or four, four-seated tables. Near the end of the reference section, sandwiched in between the reference collection and the non-fiction area are 12 internet stations. There are three 15 minute internet stations, and the remaining nine are for one hour use. The internet computers can be used by anyone that holds a County of LA Public Library card and an assigned pin number. Reservations must be made for all internet stations at the front/circulation desk. Reservations are on a first come, first serve basis. Tough I did not reserve an internet computer, it seemed as though there are no limitations once logged on. Of course, if I recited the internet use policy in its entirety, this report would be even longer than it is. The policy is similar to that of any public library in that minors are at risk, and therefore should be accompanied by an adult and no downloaded software to the computers.
There are 12 public access computers with the library’s online catalog to the right of the reference desk. These are available for all library users. All of the 12 computers have individual HP DeskJet printers attached to them, yet I forgot to find out if prints from the OPACs were free. The online catalog is very easy to use and navigate. I did this both from home and at Iacoboni during this visit. One thing I did notice, and I have yet to form a conclusion as to whether or not I liked, is that once any items is searched, the results vary. For instance, I looked up a book on CD title and the results showed there were “8” copies of the title. However, once I clicked on the availability tab, it showed that there are “8” different LA Public Library locations that have the title. I wanted to just know if it was available at the library I was visiting without knowing what other branches had a copy checked out or not.

The Iacoboni Library/ County of LA Public Library has many online databases, magazine and newspaper indexes and also has various online resources for users including, Proquest, News Bank, Los Angeles Times, World Book online reference center, Reference USA, the list goes on.
One feature I really like about the online services through Iacoboni Library/ County of LA Public Library is the Overdrive Audio Book collection, which is a collection of downloadable books on tape/CD.
As for the human touch of the library, well the reference staff is typical of public library staff. A two-person staffed desk, one older, one younger librarian, and one friendlier /more approachable than the other. I asked a question regarding the use of the internet stations and got a generic answer to what must be one of the more frequently asked questions. I kept the library interview in mind when approaching the librarian and I was a bit surprised that I was not asked a follow up question, nor was I prompted with “is that all” or “are you finding everything alright”…etc.
As I was browsing, I did notice another staff member come up to the librarians and asked if they could help him find something. I overheard the three of them joking, so I figured the desk staff is friendly enough. Also observed was that when there is a line at the ref. desk, the librarians ding a bell that is at the desk and a library shelver will then come up to the desk and search for an item that was recently looked up by the librarian. I thought that was interesting to say the least. I have heard of some staff having headsets while the librarians have two-way radios and get called to search for a particular item (Cerritos for instance), but not the use of a bell.
As for handout materials, well, I grabbed a couple handouts. One was a tri-fold of dewey classifications for quick subject searches in the stacks and one was how to access the libraries databases from home. I did not see any posting for any tutorial type classes, but there are a lot of online guides. There is of course children's programs and after school homework help offered.
There are definite strengths at this particular library, again, the federal depository being one of them. The other is the overly organized website for the County of LA Public Library in general. I think that the County of LA Public Library web resources recently went through some major re-modifications, and I think it worked to their advantage. Their branches may be small, but are overall very informative and in a broader sense (online) have a lot to offer. The Iacoboni Library/ County of LA Public Library website is very 2.0, as it includes guided tours (i.e. for the digital media/iPod downloads of audio books), ask a librarian, and check out assistance, live homework help, etc.