One day after the Los Angeles Public Library celebrated John Szabo as its Librarian of the Year, wildfires broke out in Los Angeles. Mr. Szabo and his staff quickly focused on finding ways to help the thousands of people who had lost their homes.
The library got to work by visiting shelters to provide loaner laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, and cables to recharge cell phones.
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Librarians have faced challenges from book bans to natural disasters. We spoke with the 2025 Librarian of the Year, who leads the Los Angeles Public Library, about the wildfires and why libraries are needed now more than ever.
The Los Angeles City Library system serves the largest population of any public library in the United States. The award, presented by Library Journal, recognizes community outreach programs that have flourished under Mr. Szabo’s leadership.
It speaks to the continuing importance of libraries. “Our groups represent all voices. This is really important, now more than ever. People are hungry for organizations like this.”
Los Angeles Public Library Director John Szabo had no time to celebrate. One day after he was named Librarian of the Year 2025, the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out in his beloved city. On the same day, January 7, the Palisades Branch Library burned, one of more than 12,000 homes, schools and other buildings destroyed in the costliest natural disaster in California history.
For Mr. Szabo, it is not about books, artworks or even lost buildings. His focus is on the thousands of families in his community who have lost their homes and need help. He and his staff are distributing everything from water to power packs and mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, and deploying outreach vehicles and social workers to help the newly homeless. Of course, they distribute books.
“What keeps me up at night is the sheer amount of opportunities our libraries provide to do good in the community,” Mr. Szabo (pronounced zay-po) says in a phone interview. “We lost the building, but not our commitment to providing library services to this community.”
Why did we write this?
Story focused on
Librarians have faced challenges from book bans to natural disasters. We spoke with the 2025 Librarian of the Year, who leads the Los Angeles Public Library, about the wildfires and why libraries are needed now more than ever.
This statement is typical of Mr. Szabo’s approach to managing an organization that serves the largest population of any library system in the United States. His community-mindedness helped win him a Library Journal Award.
“It’s humbling and a great honor,” says Mr. Szabo, who started at 16 as a library clerk at a U.S. Air Force base. It is also “a tribute to the work of our employees for their creativity and innovation.” For Mr. Szabo, the announcement comes at a critical moment for libraries.
In the interview, he describes his vision for the library that “extends beyond the walls of its 73 locations.” Fires are another opportunity to meet community needs creatively.
The interview has been edited and condensed.
What does it mean to lose a branch library, and how is the library system preparing to meet people in need during this time?
It’s emotional. I’ve been to that library several times. The Palisades Library is one of 73 branch libraries with a wonderful staff. I know nine of my staff so far who have lost their homes. It’s devastating. It’s sad to lose the physical space, but years of memories on those walls are now gone.
Our Palisades Library is completely destroyed. The Recreation and Parks Department has set up camps for families with children, and our outreach teams are there.
We distribute charging cables and power packs to people in shelters. We give books away. We also distribute laptops and order mobile Wi-Fi hotspots to individuals. We already have social workers on staff to help people facing homelessness find services, so we were able to leverage those social workers in the shelters to provide assistance. One of the shelters doesn’t have Wi-Fi, so our outreach van goes there every day to provide it. These are all creative ways in which we try to serve people from the library.
This event reinforces our commitment to awareness. As the city librarian, I am grateful for our outreach team – they have really been on top of it. But even if we didn’t have an outreach team, vehicles, or bilingual staff, we would still be at the shelters trying to meet that need.
During your 12 years as Director of the Los Angeles Public Library, you have supported numerous initiatives such as the annual LA Libros Festival – now in its seventh year. It also supported Career Online High School, which saw the 1,000th student graduate from its online program last year. What drives you to advocate on these issues for Angelenos, and how does that align with the library’s mission?
The library’s mission is to empower people, provide access, and ensure we serve everyone in the community. When an adult can receive a high school diploma and their children can attend their graduation ceremony in the library, it is a powerful statement that opens doors for families and proves that they can do it. We are a large system, and many of our metrics are in the millions. This is one of the smallest metrics we have, but one of the most powerful.
Several years ago, our staff really saw the need for a family-focused event, i.e. all ages with a special focus on children. It would be a Spanish-language book festival with bilingual Spanish and English elements as well — and they did. It was all staff-organised, staff-initiated, staff-led, and it was a huge success. Not only does it offer amazing programming, it also sends a message to everyone in Los Angeles that the library is for them and we celebrate their culture.
I’m also really proud of the New Americans Initiative and the seven New Americans Centers in our libraries that provide all the services that help immigrants in Los Angeles get the information they need to understand their rights and take the first step on the path to citizenship. It’s great for them individually but it’s also great for the city and the country.
Looking to the future, what are some potential challenges or opportunities for public libraries?
We place great emphasis on books and making information accessible to all people. But I think public libraries will become more active and engaged with the community. From early childhood literacy to immigrant integration, we’ve already done amazing work.
Libraries need to get our message across more effectively. We are not a fixed institution. We are constantly evolving, changing and adapting to meet the needs of society.
Another challenge is this growing national trend of book challenges, this challenge to the concept and value of intellectual freedom. All libraries will contain things that may be offensive to you. I’m sure there are things on our public library shelves that are deeply offensive to me, but I don’t remove them from the shelf or impede anyone’s ability to access them. Public libraries are useful and valuable to people of all political beliefs and backgrounds.
Our groups represent all voices. This is really important, now more than ever. People are hungry for institutions like this. A place that speaks openly and honestly to represent our voices is so important in a time so divided.
