From LAPL _ The first “green” library in South Los Angeles—the new Exposition Park – Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Regional Branch Library— opened in August 2008.

The “green” features include low-flow plumbing and irrigation to reduce water use by 30% and high-efficiency mechanical and lighting systems to reduce energy consumption by 27%. In addition, recycled materials comprise at least 10% of the building, designed by Tetra Design, Inc.
Also, the new branch library hosts a 44-kilowatt solar photovoltaic “power plant,” one of many owned and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The system has 480 solar panels and produces more than 57,500 kilowatt-hours per year, enough energy to serve about 10 households annually.

The new branch also houses the Los Angeles Public Library’s 19th Adult Literacy Center, which offers free programs, tutoring and materials to improve the reading, writing, math and other literacy skills of the estimated one million Angelenos suffering from illiteracy.

The new 14,500-square-foot facility replaces a branch facility built in 1974 and provides 50% more space for books, computers and patrons and includes special areas for children, teens and adults, a multipurpose meeting room, a study room, a storytelling area and a parking lot.

Originally called the University Branch, the library was renamed in 1973 in honor of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an educator, racial justice activist, advisor to U.S. President Herbert Hoover and founder of the now Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, FL.
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