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The Book Pages: Who branded these library books?

March 31, 2023

This week in books, let’s talk about branding.

I don’t mean the marketing buzzword, but a literal branding iron used on books, as if libraries were maintained like herds of cattle.

Let me explain: A few weeks ago, the @lapubliclibrary Instagram posted a fun, Wes Anderson-inspired reel by social media librarian Keith Kessler to promote “LAPL150: Our Story Is Yours,” a new exhibit celebrating the 150-year history of the L.A. institution through curated photographs, documents and artifacts.

And a branding iron.

Obviously needing to know more, I went downtown to check it out, meet the co-curators and talk to John F. Szabo, the city librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, who gave me an overview of the exhibit.

“It tells a very remarkable story about an institution in L.A. for 150 years, and you know there aren’t many things in Los Angeles has been around for 150 years, so there’s a lot of pride in this exhibit,” says Szabo, who listed off the range of materials that have been stored and protected by the library staff, from notes from an 1872 library meeting to some fun, library-related T-shirts. (The unofficial “Shelvers From Hell” T-shirt was a personal favorite.)

“It also says really wonderful things, I think, about people who work in the libraries.”

I got a guided tour from the exhibit co-curators: Christina Rice, the senior librarian for the library’s photo collection, and James Sherman, adult librarian in literature and fiction (both of whom star in the Instagram reel).

“This exhibition tells the story of the Los Angeles Public Library, which is actually the story of Los Angeles,” says Rice, who also managed to include a sweet photo of her mother at a library event into the exhibit.

The co-curators are both engaging and excellent guides; Sherman took me through the documents and historical items lining one wall, and Rice showed me a range of images, artifacts and a video wall that shows the evolution of the system’s 72 branches. She also provided a closer look at the special wallpaper created for the exhibit, which is composed of largely unseen images from the 1986 library fire.

But the brand, let’s talk about the brand.

“This Dickens and Balzac would have been from that era,” said Sherman, pointing to editions in the exhibit bearing its mark. “And there’s the brand.”

Sherman explained that Charles Lummis, the larger-than-life former city librarian in the early 1900s, was the believed originator of the first brand, which has since disappeared. Sherman said librarians “would always talk about” it, which suggests the legend had been seared into the minds, as much the books, of those who heard about it. (OK, maybe I’m suggesting that.)

“[Lummis] came up with this idea of branding,” said Sherman, noting that there was precedent for protecting books from theft this way. “It wasn’t a totally original thing; it come out of nunneries, priories and monasteries.”

Since the original brand couldn’t be located – there are theories about where it might reside now – Sherman, with the financial support from library boosters Photo Friends, found a business in Canoga Park that made brands and was able to get a replica made for $400.

“It’s really just fun to connect a simulacra of this thing that people have talked about for years but no one’s seen,” he said.

And it is, it’s really fun – even if I didn’t get the chance to sear the library’s name into a few stray James Patterson novels. So if you’re in the area or exploring the beautiful library building, walk up to the second floor to check out the materials.

Szabo, while happy to talk about the institution’s history, also pointed to its ongoing attempts to respond to the needs of the community it serves.

“We’re able to do some really amazing forward-thinking things today that really help Los Angeles meet some of the biggest issues are facing,” said Szabo, who notes that the library’s first social worker started a few weeks ago.

“I hope visitors take away that, Wow, this is an institution that’s been incredibly nimble over 150 years,” he says. “Because we’ve been nimble, we’ve evolved with new technologies. We’ve been an institution that has said, ‘You’re welcome here; we’re here for everybody.’ I think there have been times we didn’t do that as well as we should have, but we’ve learned from it and we’ve gotten better. I think that’s why we’ve lasted.”

For more information, check out the LAPL website.

Thar be dragonriders (and killer angels) for Todd McCaffrey

Author Todd McCaffrey on the exhibition floor of WonderCon 2023 at the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday, March 26, 2023. (Photo credit: Diya Chacko / SCNG)

Todd McCaffrey is the son of the late science fiction author Anne McCaffrey, best remembered for her massively successful “Dragonriders of Pern” series. While he’s continued to co-author books in the “Pern” universe, he’s also created stand-alone fantasy and speculative fiction including “L.A. Witch” for middle-graders and the “Canaris Rift” series. Our friend and colleague Diya Chacko caught up with McCaffrey on the exhibition floor of WonderCon 2023 at the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday, March 26.

Q. You’re here representing the work of you and your mother – do people come up to you and say, “Oh, I’m so excited to see this?”

Yeah, people love her, and while there are other events more centered around books, it’s fun to meet them here at WonderCon. It’s really nice that we’re meeting in Southern California – I lived in LA for over 30 years.

There are a lot of people who don’t realize that there are more books (in the “Pern” universe). Mom and I collaborated on five of them, and I wrote three solos. I’m looking at writing even more.

Q. Is there a person – apart from the obvious – who made a big impact on your reading life?

Science fiction has been a very welcoming open community, and the same is true for fantasy. I was very lucky to know writers who made an impact on a lot of people: I knew Isaac Asimov. I knew Harlan Ellison. I know David Gerrold, who is also here at WonderCon; he wrote the famous Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Other people who’ve made an impact: Robert Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, obviously Frank Herbert and JRR Tolkien.

Q. Is there a book that you would always recommend to other readers?

I have read a lot of books I’d recommend, but for middle grade, I would highly recommend Carlos Hernandez’s “Sal and Gabi Break the Universe.” It’s just so marvelous; it’s one of my new favorites.

Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?

There are many, but one children’s book that’s had a lasting impact on me is “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet,” by Eleanor Cameron. In fact, there are a lot of science fiction authors who say that’s the first book that really got to them.

Q. What is something that stayed with you from like a recent reading or an event or you know, something like this?

We did a panel here at WonderCon called “How to create your own novel,” that goes into the different paths you can take to become a published author. What stays with me is how much it resonates with people, and they start realizing they can actually write a novel themselves. It’s so much fun to see.

Q. What book do you plan to read next?

I just read “The Killer Angels” – again. What am I reading now? There’s a book that I just picked up. I’m not sure if it’s going to be a fit for me, but it’s got a great title: “Oh, Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer.” It’s in the LitRPG genre; it’s literature based on role-playing games. There’s an element of game-playing as part of the story – leveling up and taking damage and all this other stuff. It’s becoming a huge subgenre.

Q. If you could ask your readers something, what would it be?

“Did you like the book?” No seriously though. I write in a lot of genres – space operas, middle-grade fantasy, alternate history, steampunk. I’m just kind of exploring the universe, and I hope my readers enjoy my work and like the characters that I’ve brought to their attention.

Please write me at [email protected] to share news, comments and what you books you’re enjoying, and your comments may appear in the newsletter.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

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