Hand fans waving steadily in the heat, 200 people crowded into the Alvar Street Branch Library’s courtyard to celebrate its reopening on June 25. In less than four months, this Bywater landmark, downriver from the French Quarter, had been transformed from a flooded, moldy ruin into a state-of-the-art neighborhood library.

The guests included librarians from the American Library Association’s annual convention, neighborhood book lovers, members of the library industry, and donors. Speakers were Tania Tetlow, New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) Board chair, Councilman James Carter, Baker & Taylor’s George Coe, MS&R project manager/architect Paul Mellblom, and Francine Fialkoff, editor of Library Journal, which spearheaded the renovation. They were eager to share their excitement and anecdotes of the successful and challenging process. Before the hurricane, Alvar was heavily used by students from Frederick Douglass High School across the street. Singer Charmaine Neville (of the well-known Neville family of musicians) lived nearby and came to the library to read to children. By 2005, monthly average circulation had risen 29%; new patron registration was up 24% over 2004.

After the hurricane, standing water remained in the building for weeks. The branch lost its entire collection, as well as all interior furnishings and technology equipment. Residents of the Bywater district and nearby Holy Cross neighborhood (both in the city’s Ninth Ward) were eager for the return of their library.

The project originated on March 2, when Library Journal publisher Ron Shank and editor Fialkoff toured the branch and the devastated Lower Ninth Ward. They met with City Librarian Bill Johnson, senior members of his staff, Tetlow, NOPL Foundation consultant Ron Biava, lead architect Jeffrey Scherer, local architect Eean McNaughton, contractor Tom Boudreaux of Citadel Builders, and the City’s senior architect, Miriam Lemann.

Mold Doesn’t Dash Dreams

The building had been cleared but not cleaned; mold filled the air. Some members of the group were skeptical; renovating this public building by June 25 during the American Library Association meetings would be a very demanding undertaking. .

In the end, everyone agreed that if all parties expedited their work the library could be transformed by late June.

“The new design, some 60 years later, works to bridge the mid-20th century world with the emergent 21st century,” Scherer said. The new design retained the structure’s historic perimeter shelving and ceiling details.

The renovation introduced contemporary features including 22 computers donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the modern recycled rubber, low-maintenance floor, colorful furnishings and shelving end panels featuring images of local jazz musicians. Fabric wall panels for sound absorption are designed to display work of local artists.

Alvar is the first NOPL facility to offer self-checkout using technology donated by Integrated Technology Group. Patrons can check out books, CDs, and DVDs on their own—more simply than a grocery store self-checkout. And they can choose from a collection that would ordinarily take six months or more to deliver—but was onsite at Alvar in just one month.

A Source of Hope amid challenge

Alvar is the first flooded branch to be rebuilt.It serves the neighborhoods of Bywater, Marigny, St. Roch, St. Claude, the Desire and Florida areas, and since Katrina, Holy Cross, the Lower Ninth Ward, and St. Bernard Parish.

Partially due to the presence of the library, post-Katrina Bywater promises to be as diverse and lively as it was before the storm, and residents are enthusiastic about the recognition for their recovering neighborhoods “Our hope is that the library will itself reflect the neighborhood through the art,” explains Mellblom. “At 2,500 square feet, this is not a very large library. But it is one of the most important libraries MS&R has worked on. This library represents the finest aspirations the architecture profession can bestow on this community.”

In response to Library Journal’s appeal, the library industry donated an estimated $400,000 in furniture, equipment, materials, books, and services. Necessary building repairs cost nearly $400,000 more; the NOPL Foundation raised most of this in just four months. More than 20 local and national donors supported the project. (Link here for a full donor list.)

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