Please either leave your comments on the story or email webmaster@irishchannel.org- we need to get an idea of how the neighborhood feels about this topic.

Thank you-

New New Orleans Branch Public Library - Say Yes

From: Richard HebertTo: The Irish Channel Neighborhood AssociationJanuary 11, 2008 

 

“At a dark hour, Seattle’s new Central Library is a blazing chandelier to swing your dreams upon. If an American city can erect a civic project as brave as this one, the sun hasn’t set on the West.”  -  New York Times architecture critic said this a few years ago about the new Seattle Central Library

 

 

Public Library: A Creativity & Learning Center

 

I propose that we advocate to have a great new library built that is part of the New Orleans Public Library System. With the system as the umbrella for this facility we can pursue partnerships with Universities, private businesses and others. We can strive to make this all that a library can be in the 21st century - a center of learning and creativity that is part community center, coffee & copy shop as well as performance hall and gallery or design center.

 

 

Shoot for the Moon We owe ourselves and our children the best. We may not need the very best of every type of facility in New Orleans but we owe ourselves some and libraries should be on that list. With our literary history and the wonderful culture of the book here we should have one of the most fantastic library systems in the country. We need to aim high. Many of the buildings in the system will be renovated. Let’s build some from the ground up and have our library be one of them.

 

 

Where? - Power in Numbers

 

The master planning for the entire New Orleans Public Library system is happening right now. The neighborhoods of the Irish Channel, Garden District and Lower Garden District do not have a public library. The UNOP plan calls for a library in this area along Magazine Street. I propose that a library be built to serve these neighborhoods and surrounding areas. What better place to build a library for these neighborhoods than at the intersection of the three neighborhoods at or near Magazine Street and Jackson Avenue? I propose that there is no better place and that a world class library in this area can serve as a catalyst to renewal and rebirth of this area that can be so much more than it now is – even as wonderful as it is currently.

 

High & Dry - Let us Lead

 

As many of the other green and sustainably built buildings and projects being put together around the city post-Katrina this can be a model for all that we can be as a neighborhood, community and city. This library can be more too. This can be the centerpiece of a part of town - our part of town - where we lay down the gauntlet and say this is the place to raise your children. This is the place for our young, our families and our elderly and retirees. This is the place to have access to great education, health care and culture all in a safe and inviting setting.

 

Soon the Linear Park project that will extend from Jackson Avenue towards downtown will begin to take shape. Even this weekend another new Kaboom playground was built and the Live Oak school improved. Jackson Avenue is ripe for something special to happen. With creativity and hard work we can make our neighborhoods along the river better than ever and a place for all of us to call home with even greater passion and conviction than we now do.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Richard Paul Hebert

 

Irish Channel

New Orleans, Louisiana

February 10, 2008


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 A few windows are open, a few refrigerators are humming. There is a faint, trapped warble from some televisions tuned in to The Late Show, and the blue-gray glow from the picture tubes throbs from a few of the houses. To Garp this glow looks like cancer, insidious and numbing, putting the world to sleep. Maybe television causes cancer, Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer’s irritation: he knows that wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn’t reading.   - Author John Irving, The World According to Garp

 

 

 

New New Orleans Branch: New Orleans Public Library - January 2008

 

 

 

The New Orleans Public Library (nopl) is currently putting together a Master Plan. You probably know that the Irish Channel, Garden District and Lower Garden District do not have a public library. The UNOP plan proposes a library in this area along Magazine Street.

 

One great place for this library might be at the intersection of these three neighborhoods, which would be at or near Magazine Street and Jackson Avenue? The nopl interim master plan does not include a library in these neighborhoods as suggested by local and citywide UNOP planning.

 

Please join with me in letting the planners know that you would like to have this New New Orleans Branch included in the first phase of the rebuilding of our library system. You can do so by contacting this address or by way of the survey below.

 

 

Send your comments and ideas to:

masterplan@gno.lib.la.us

 

 

 

“At a dark hour, Seattle’s new Central Library is a blazing chandelier to swing your dreams upon. If an American city can erect a civic project as brave as this one, the sun hasn’t set on the West.”  -  A New York Times architecture critic said this a few years ago about the new Seattle Central Library

Thinking about the best possibilities for New Orleans in the next decade, what better as a re-starter of dreams than a world-class library that rises to new heights as the library described above while serving some of our city’s oldest neighborhoods with a diverse and vibrant population.

 

If you have a moment, please forward this email to friends, family and co-workers who might live, work or enjoy this area of New Orleans so that they might contact the planners to advocate for this new long overdue library. See the Master Plan - interim report linked below for more information on the current planning efforts.

 

 

Send your comments and ideas to:

masterplan@gno.lib.la.us

 

 

If you live in another part of the city, please contact the planners to suggest your best ideas for your new or renovated library.

 

Is there a better foundation to build a new city and greater society in New Orleans and the region than the best libraries imaginable? No!! Say yes to the New New Orleans Branch Library!!

 

 

Thank you,

 

Richard Paul Hebert

New Orleans

Irish Channel

 

 

 

 

 

Below: From the New Orleans Public Library Website - Nutrias.Org  

 

 

 

 

New Orleans needs and deserves a 21st-century library system. To accomplish this NOPL is developing a MASTER PLAN. Our goal is to rebuild better than before. But what should “better” be like? The master plan will recommend a network of improved libraries and services, enhancement of Main Library and existing branches, upgraded technology and book collections, safeguarding the City Archives & Special Collections — all these will be important considerations.

NOPL Master Plan INTERIM REPORT
Presented by library planning consultant Jeffrey Scherer at our November 19 Public Forum.

Tell us what library improvements are important to you!

Link here for a PUBLIC SURVEY
which you can print
and hand in at any NOPL facility
or mail to us at
NOPL User Survey
New Orleans Public Library
219 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112

Send your comments and ideas to us at masterplan@gno.lib.la.us

Eight of NOPL’s thirteen libraries were ruined when the levees broke. Nearly half of the book collection was destroyed. Now seven permanent locations are open; six temporary branches will be open soon. ( Click here to visit our branches page, see the damage, and get the latest information on open branches and their hours.)
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Public Library Foundation is leading the fundraising campaign to Rebuild, with help from the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library and 4000 donors across the US. We will succeed; our optimism is sustained by your generosity.

Thank you!

Link here to read our latest
Rebuild Campaign Progress Report .