Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library
Los Angeles Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
In 2023, Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) expanded its role from providing and sharing stories to publishing them when it acquired Angel City Press (ACP), a highly regarded publisher of non-fiction books that focuses on the art, architecture, history, and personalities of Los Angeles and Southern California. The co-founders of ACP donated the three-decades old publishing house to LAPL to continue the work of telling local stories of importance to the community. In addition to ACP’s backstock of titles, the gift includes the press’s contracted working relationships with numerous Los Angeles-based authors, as well as their books currently in production. LAPL will ensure continuity by keeping ACP’s Editorial Director of the past 10 years at the helm. Enfolding ACP into the Library is a natural extension of LAPL’s mission to amplify the voices of authors, celebrate their work, and preserve their stories.
Challenge/Opportunity
ACP plays a vital role in telling the stories of extraordinary people, places and trends that make Los Angeles renowned the world over. The Library is committed to continuing that legacy: through promoting titles already published, with new books moving forward, and by extending the reach of all titles. The Library will also explore opportunities for digital formats and new audiences, such as young readers and teens. Moving forward, LAPL plans to produce more titles that unearth important Los Angeles stories that might be overlooked by more conventional publishers, becoming not only a repository of regional stories but enabling local communities to share their stories with the world. In recent years, ACP has published an average of seven books annually, offering ample opportunity to tell stories that include and reflect the diverse communities of Los Angeles.
Key Elements of Innovation
Acquiring the publisher allows LAPL to build on its decades-long relationship with ACP. Over the years, the publishing house has released multiple books inspired by Library holdings, including its special collections of sheet music (Songs in the Key of Los Angeles), menus (To Live and Dine in L.A.) and autographs (The Autograph Book of L.A.), as well as a volume about the iconic downtown library (Los Angeles Central Library: A History of Its Art and Architecture). Dozens more books produced by ACP include images from the Library’s extensive collection of 3.5 million photographs. Now, the use of library resources will be even more extensive. LAPL plans to distinguish ACP among presses of similar size by remaining true to its core strength: spotlighting L.A.’s diverse tapestry of people, places, art, history, and trends that have
captivated the world. Acquiring ACP allows the Library to better preserve L.A. history and help further the understanding of the City of Angels.
Achieved Outcomes
Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library is continuing its publishing schedule with seven books in 2024, including Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America’s Edge, Santa Monica Pier, and books about California’s heritage landscapes, the New Wave community, the Vietnamese Diaspora, and the art and style of mid-century American bowling culture. ACP will also release a collection of essays and short pieces from a diverse group of California writers. Central Library and LAPL’s 72 branches already hold multiple ACP books in their collections, and more continue to be added. The publishing world welcomed the news of the Library’s acquisition of ACP, and multiple media outlets covered the story favorably. LAPL is able to broaden the platform publicizing these new releases that focus on local communities via its own website and through multiple social media channels. ACP at LAPL will continue to expand the narrative about Angelenos and Los Angeles.
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