The recently opened 8,000-square-foot Willowbrook Library replaces its outdated 30-year-old 2,200-square-foot predecessor. In addition to the traditional stacks of books and reference areas, the library includes: reading areas for adults, teens, and children; early childhood and family areas, a shared community room, programming space, group study rooms, a workforce center, public restrooms, support and staff areas, express-service checkout machines at the lobby, laptop kiosk machines, information pod, public access computers, Wi-Fi, and parking. The library, the first of its kind in Los Angeles County to be in a mixed-use building, optimizes the use of County property to provide over 100 units of affordable senior housing and library learning together under one roof.

Designed to be a comfortable and welcoming space for all ages, the state-of-the-art library provides services that are important for the community as well as access to the in-demand technologies that help meet the educational and personal goals of LA County residents. It also features the county’s first collection of modern art with five original art installations, commissioned especially for the Library by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Civic Art.

As Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said at the opening, the tight-knit community of Willowbrook has a true asset in the contemporary complex. “This is a legacy that will live on for generations to come.”