Central Library Offers Itself as a High-Tech Magnet School : Education: Panel proposes that students interested in telecommunications plug into the ‘information superhighway’ by using the facility’s vast computer resources.

The refurbished Los Angeles Central Library could be host to the city’s first “information superhighway” magnet high school next fall if Los Angeles school board members sign off on the recommendation made by the city Library Commission.

According to the commission’s proposal, made last week, students would use the library’s vast computer resources to prepare for careers including telecommunications and database management. Students would take some classes at the Downtown Business Magnet School nearby, but would spend much of each day at the Central Library, using library computer labs and meeting rooms as classrooms and working with its vast 2.2-million volume collection.

It would be the first time the school district has based a campus at a city facility. Library commissioners hope that it would serve as a model for getting more use out of public resources at little cost.

Students would be linked to the Internet electronic network and assisted by students from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. City librarians would also help develop curriculum and help students do research.

Downtown businesses, including Arco, Arthur Andersen and First Interstate Bank have expressed interest in taking on students as interns in their information management sections, according to library commissioner Roberta Weintraub, a former school board member. The kinds of skills students learn could be useful in fields such as law, finance and entertainment, she said.

“It gets them into an adult atmosphere, which is very important,” she said.

Richard Battaglia, who is in charge of developing magnet schools for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said parents who work Downtown might want to enroll their children so they can commute together. “(The library) is a safe, clean, wonderful environment” that appeals to adults and students, he said.

Battaglia said the use of the showcase library would be a boon to the school district because it would not have to pay for new classrooms or computers for the magnet school. In its first year, the school would accommodate 60 ninth-graders and 60 10th-graders, with more students added each year, he said.