NOPL's Alvar Street Branch a Phoenix in the Bywater
-- Library Journal, 06/26/2006
Three months ago, the Alvar Street Branch of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) was a mess, as a foot-and-a-half of standing water in the wake of Hurricane Katrina had damaged materials, furniture, electrical systems, and shelving, leaving the library as frozen in time as much of the city. Yesterday, at the unveiling of a makeover led by Library Journal and involving a host of vendors and publishers, the branch was a spiffy, shiningbeacon in the still-struggling Bywater neighborhood in the Ninth Ward. "It's the most massive collaboration I've seen in the library community," declared LJ editor-in-chief Francine Fialkoff. "If we'd have waited for FEMA, we'd be waiting and waiting. An opening day collection takes nine months to a year. They pulled it off in three months." She was referring to wholesaler Baker & Taylor, which mobilized donations from some 450 publishers to provide 12,000 new books and other materials in a branch where some of the damaged materials had not been replaced for 40 years. Also in the branch, 22 computers with flatscreen monitors were instant magnets for a few visiting local children. A host of new fixtures, signage, furniture, and equipment showcased new products from the vendor community.
The handsome 1940 structure, built by the WPA with art deco touches, remained structurally sound, but cash-strapped NOPL had no funds to restore it. The major players, along with LJ and B&T, involved CapitalOne, Citadel Builders, E. Eean McNaughton Architects of New Orleans, and Meyer, Schrerer & Rockcastle (MSR), an architectural and interior design firm based in Minneapolis. "It has lots of natural daylight and is a nice, well-proportioned space," MSR's Paul Mellblom said of the branch, which contains 2550 square feet but seems larger. "We tried to create a vibrant space. It's aspirational and it's inspirational." The building includes a jazz-influenced color scheme and local artwork; there is room on acoustical panels for local artists to add silkscreen images. The exterior courtyard, where a Dixieland band played and festive balloons popped in the heat, will become a community garden; perhaps a local resident, who chained himself to front door in protest when the city tried to close the branch, will be a visitor. "We have an obligation to rebuild the city better, and we've done that here," declared NOPL board chair Tania Tetlow. "We found out with the storm exactly what libraries mean." LJ's Fialkoff put it simply: "It's the best thing we've ever done."
For a complete list of donors to the Alvar Street Branch library restoration click here.
