Welcoming New Orleans Boosted by ALA Conference

-- Library Journal, 06/26/2006

A sweaty, welcoming, and well-fortified New Orleans is playing host to some 17,000 librarians, vendors, and visitors at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, the first major conference in the city since Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath ravaged it some ten months ago. The French Quarter was busy—Mayor Ray Nagin joked at the opening general session about librarians toting the city's infamous "go cups"—and the city's hotels mostly full. As of yesterday, the attendance was 11,605 registrants and 4704 vendors, for a total of 16,309—a little more than ten percent below the 18,344 figure for the Orlando conference in 2004 at the time. (The final tally for Orlando, which ALA officials see as a regional comparison, was 19,575) Onsite registration, ALA executive director Keith Fiels said Sunday, was larger than it was in Orlando. ALA received kudos all around. "Hug a librarian," read the headline on a column in the New Orleans Times-Picayune; columnist Marigny Dupuy opined, "[W]e are lucky to have this convention of smart, caring people in New Orleans."

Besides the announcement Thursday of nearly $18 million to rebuild post-hurricane library service in the Louisiana and Mississippi, the conference has been marked by major donations and volunteer endeavors, a sign of the library community's effort to help its own. ALA announced that its hurricane relief fund has reached $370,000. Library Journal and a host of donors presided over the opening of the refurbished Alvar Street Branch of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL). The H.W. Wilson Foundation announced a $100,000 gift to NOPL. Tomorrow, ALA, Highsmith and other vendors will open NOPL's renovated Children's Resource Center. More than 900 librarians have volunteered to sort books, shelve books, and otherwise provide vital labor to NOPL efforts. "You all stood firm and came when we needed you most," declared City Councilman James Carter at the Alvar opening yesterday. "We appreciate you with our heart and our soul." Saturday's Times-Picayune featured a front-page story headlined "Binding Wounds," about the recovering of the city's library system. However, NOPL will need a new leader. Today the newspaper reported that City Librarian Bill Johnson has resigned because his wife, who remained in Orlando with her job when he moved to New Orleans in early 2004, had been unable to find work in the Crescent City. He has not set a departure date.

While the French Quarter and other tourist areas remain largely unscathed, much of the city is decidedly not back to normal, with large swaths awaiting reconstruction or clearing. The killing June 17 of five teenagers in the poverty-wracked Central City neighborhood adjacent to the Garden District led Mayor Nagin to call in the National Guard. On Friday, the city introduced a curfew for teens. Visitors strolling around the French Quarter have seen both city police and state troopers; the National Guard has been sent to the rougher neighborhoods, but squat armored personnel carriers have been seen rumbling around the city, an eerie reminder that New Orleans remains, in many ways, under siege. The lead story in today's Times-Picayune was headlined "Hospitality industry passing big test." The newspaper reported that hotels and restaurants seemed to handle the influx of visitors well, as conventioneers remained tolerant of some glitches and shorthandedness, but that more direct flights will be needed for the convention business to thrive. The city has nonetheless retained its joie de vivre; an exhibit at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art features a Katrina Deli (limited menu) with offerings such as Oysters Hepatitis-Bienville, Crawfish Evacuee, Furniture Upside Down Cake, and Chicken a la FEMA (will be delivered to your table in 6-8 weeks).