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Lunch with a Leader : John Szabo

Published by USC Bedrosian Center on

Conversations about governance, policy, and leadership

February 13, 2014
12:00pm to 1:30pm

Lunch with a Leader provides students with the opportunity to hear ideas from local, state, and national leaders as well as share their ideas and gain inspiration for effective governance in an enjoyable, informal setting.

John Szabo might be best known for turning around the troubled Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, he served as Director there from 2005 through June of 2012. He joined LAPL in August of 2012. Since then, Szabo has brought passion and innovation to LAPL system. For example, beginning last September the LAPL established “Citizenship Zones,” at all 73 locations to provide patrons with essential information about becoming U.S. citizens.

To reach further into communities across the city, the LAPL collaborated with local non-profit groups such as Catholic Charities, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center to provide training and counsel.

This collaboration model between a government agency, non-profits, and a public library is the first of its kind, and is already being duplicated at other urban library systems across the country.

 

Bedrosian Center