National Treasures, Local Treasures Coming To LAPL

Attention library junkies, bibliophiles and bookaholics; clear your schedules for December 12, 2008 between 10am - 12noon. The Library of Congress is having an event at the Los Angeles Public Library. This is a portion of the planned festivities that was received via e-mail to Krista Goguen.

Interim City Librarian Kristina Morita will accept, on behalf of the Los Angeles Public Library, a facsimile of a 1937 "map of the stars" from the collections of the Library of Congress.

On the program from the Library of Congress are John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book, Guy Lamolinara, the center's communications officer, and Gail Petri, educational outreach specialist from the Office of Strategic Initiatives. The program will include the screening of a special feature available with the DVD for "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets," filmed in part in the Library's extraordinary Thomas Jefferson Building.

During this event, a student from Upland in the Letters About Literature contest will read her winning letter to an author. Novelist Nina Revoyr will also speak, about how research at LAPL has helped her succeed as an author.

The "National Treasures" program will include demonstrations by Library of Congress educational specialists on how to bring California history alive with rare primary-source materials available on the Library's Web site at www.loc.gov.

There will also be an online demonstration of the interactive Library of Congress Experience which brings unique historic and cultural treasures to attendees through cutting-edge interactive technology. The Experience comprises a series of new exhibitions and a continuing online educational experience on this personalized Web site.

These include:

"The Art and Architecture of the Thomas Jefferson Building," a tour through this exuberant 1897 masterpiece of American craftsmanship.

"Creating the United States," which tells the story of how our Founding Fathers used creativity, collaboration and compromise to form our nation, with a focus on the words and phrases that created the republic.

"Thomas Jefferson's Library," which features thousands of original volumes that provided the foundation for the Library of Congress and its universal collections.

"Exploring the Early Americas," which tells the story of the Americas before the time of Columbus, as well as the periods of contact, conquest and their aftermath. Jay I. Kislak's extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts, historic documents, maps and art of the Americas comprises the major portion of this exhibition, which also features Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 Map of the World, the first document to use the word "America.

The event is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Los Angeles Public Library and the California Center for the Book.

The Library of Congress Center for the Book was established by Congress in 1977 "to use the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to promote books, reading, literacy and libraries."

The address of the Los Angeles Public Library - Central branch is 630 W. 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles. So if you have the time and the inclination hop the Gold Line and then transfer to the Red Line to Pershing Square station. The library is a block and a half from the station.