The LA Jewish Journal is reporting on its blog that the director of the Jewish Community Library has resigned among talks that the library could merge with the American Jewish University:
With a possible merger between the Jewish Community Library and the library at the American Jewish University on the horizon, Abigail Yasgur resigned from her post as director of the community library.
Yasgur, who has held her position for 12 years, says she did not want to shepherd the library through a potential transition she feels will harm the institution and the community.
“I am disappointed in the direction,” said Yasgur. “What I would really like to see instead is people thinking about something bold and ambitious, that is concerned with the community and providing them with the resources they need.”
The library, housed at headquarters of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles on Wilshire Boulevard, is currently operated by the Bureau of Jewish Education with funding from Federation. The collection has 30,000 volumes, including films, music recording, community archives and modern and ancient books in English, Hebrew and many other languages.
But with Federation funding for the library dwindling and the Bureau facing its own budget crunch, professional and lay leaders have been exploring the possibility of moving the library to the American Jewish University on Mulholland in the Sepulveda Pass. plans to expand its library facilities in the next three years and open the collection to the public. In the current negotiations between AJU, Federation and the Bureau, the children’s library would remain at its current location at 6505 Wilshire Blvd.
We’re going to be hearing more and more merger talks in coming months, I suspect….
