The Altadena Libraries are happy to announce that we are collaborating with local business Plant Material to launch a tool lending library. As a result, you will soon be able to check out garden tools with your Altadena Library card!

The Altadena Poets Laureate play an important role in promoting poetry in Altadena through the organization of public poetry readings and workshops at the Altadena Libraries, publication of the online Altadena Literary Review, and publication of the printed Altadena Literary Review Anthology.

Stop by the Altadena Main Library in November and December (2023) to view work of seven artists on display with the exhibition, “Altadena Library presents…INDEPENDENT EXPRESSIONS,” a collection of dynamic, eclectic works of art from Altadena and beyond.

Altadena Library’s passport office is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. An appointment is required (sorry, no walk-ins), and the office is often booked out about a month. For details, visit www.altadenalibrary.org/passports.

The Altadena Library District has expanded its outreach and increased Altadenans access to physical materials thanks to the addition of two new AutoLend library vending machines.

On Wednesday, Oct. 4, and Thursday, Oct. 5, hundreds of students will walk to school - along with parents, school administrators, and community leaders - to raise awareness of California Clean Air Day, which coincides with National Walk to School Day.

Meet our inaugural Fab Lab Artist in Residence! Rachel Curry is a teaching artist, letterpress printer, bookbinder, zinester, and fiber artist from Los Angeles.

In honor of Latino & Hispanic Heritage Month, we are hosting a reading challenge on Beanstack for readers ages 0-12 from now until the end of September.

Stop by the Altadena Library to view the group show “Exhibition: Collage” in the Main Library in September and October 2023. There are four artists — Mary Torregrossa, Stacy Russo, Toti O’Brien, and Olesya Volk — on display and the exhibition was curated by Toti O’Brien.

The Altadena Libraries now offer free COVID-19 test kits, provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Ellen Garrison Clark was an African American educator, abolitionist and early Civil Rights activist whose defiance of “whites only” public spaces has been compared by some to Rosa Park’s actions in the 20^th century.  She died on December 21, 1892, at the age of 69, and was buried in an unmarked grave at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena. 

Charles White moved to Los Angeles for its mild climate in 1956 and eventually to Altadena. Following his death in 1979, a local park was named after him.

Bob Lucas: A Black Gladiator for Literacy