Los Angeles Public Library

Los Angeles Public Library
South entrance of the Richard J. Riordan Central Library at Hope Street
Location	Headquarters: 630 West 5th Street Los Angeles, California, United States
Type	Public
Established	1872; 152 years ago (1872)
Branches	72
Collection
Size	6,393,429
Access and use
Circulation	18 million (2008)
Population served	4,030,904 (city) 18,783,638 (metro)
Other information
Budget	US$134,630,543
Director	John F. Szabo (Fall 2012)
Employees	944
Website	lapl.org
References: [1][2]

The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes,^[3] and with around 19 million residents in the Greater Los Angeles area, it serves the largest metropolitan population of any public library system in the United States.^[4] The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the mayor of Los Angeles in staggered terms, and operates 72 library branches throughout the city.^[5] In 1997 a local historian described it as "one of the biggest and best-regarded library systems in the nation."^[6] It is not to be confused with the LA County Library system which operates several library branches across certain areas of Los Angeles County.