Up in Flames

Southern California lost a valued and irreplaceable portion of its collective memory in Tuesday’s fire at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. That more documents and books were not lost, and no lives, is due to the courage of the 250 firefighters on the scene, the composure of Central Library director Betty Gay and the quick response of volunteers who worked to preserve what materials they could. But the blaze has rekindled a long-running debate on the future of the library collection and of its handsome building.

For decades, conservationists fought to preserve the building, designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and opened in 1926. It was a low-rise in a sea of high-rise towers and its grounds contained one of the last vestiges of green space downtown. It was also, as was proved on Tuesday, known to be a firetrap.

But for decades, debate was all that happened. Talk about the future of the Central Library dragged on during the 1970s and well into this decade before plans were developed to refurbish and expand the current building as part of a Library Square development. The fire damage--and the injury of 46 firefighters--demonstrates again the high cost of government inaction.

While it is too early to know whether the building itself is salvageable, it is clear that it not a safe place to house such combustible materials. That fact should be kept uppermost in the minds of officials as they decide what to do next. The city should conduct a thorough investigation so that the same mistakes in construction and delay in installing protective devices will not occur again. It is not as if City Council was unaware of the issues--and costs--involved.

And that raises a most fundamental issue. The public badly needs to consider its lapse in support of libraries. In the aftermath of Proposition 13, funds for libraries throughout California were cut drastically. There was some outcry, to be sure, but people have now adjusted. Libraries lack a powerful constituency and monied supporters.

But keeping libraries open and stocked with the materials of learning is one of the most civilized functions of any government. If any good can come from such a calamitous fire, it would be a renewal of the appreciation of all public libraries.