Orange County’s Head Librarian Comes to L.A.

Orange County’s head librarian, who earned a reputation for cultivating multi-ethnic library services for a changing public, has been selected as Los Angeles’ city librarian.

Elizabeth Martinez Smith, 47, is the first Latino to direct the city’s 63-branch system. She was appointed to the position, with its $105,000 annual salary, after a nationwide search to replace Wyman Jones, who resigned to go into publishing.

“I think the library has an opportunity to become a haven, a beacon for such a multicultural, diverse community,” she said.

During her 11 years in Orange County, Smith oversaw construction of eight new branch libraries in a system whose cardholders numbered 58% of the population. Orange County operates 27 library branches with a budget of over $24 million. L.A.’s system has a budget of $35 million and a cardholder rate of about 20%.

Smith said one of her chief tasks will be supervising the re-emergence of the Central Library, ravaged by arson fires in 1986. “I’m sure there’s going to be some (fiscal) constraints, but I think the city and the populace are behind the new library and community services,” she said.