When East New Orleans Regional Library first opened on Read Boulevard in 1968, it was the largest in the New Orleans Public Library system. In the five decades since, the Library has served as a pillar of the community, particularly during Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in the area, which was devastated by the storm.
Tangee Wall has been an active member of the New Orleans East community for the past 30 years and is at the helm of a number of neighborhood groups working to improve education, blight, commerce, and general quality of life.
“I’ve been working to help uplift New Orleans East since well before Katrina, and the Library has always been such an important partner for us,” Wall said.
From hosting community meetings, organizing day camps and after school activities, to simply providing reading materials and a pleasant and safe place to spend time, Walls said the Library has been beside her every step of the way.
“But especially after Katrina, the Library reopening was such a huge step for us to be able to start to really rebuild and come back. No neighborhood is complete without a library; and, when we got ours back, it was like ‘OK, we can do this,’” she said. “This has to be one of the most beautiful libraries in the city. When they opened up this big, new state-of-the-art Library at a time when our community had been living through and around so much destruction, that was a huge morale boost for us. It signaled a lot of change.”
One of the groups Wall heads is the Friends of Joe W. Brown Memorial Park and Louisiana Nature Center, a recreational area located next to the Library.
“We provided a lot of input when they were rebuilding the Library, which is something we really appreciated. We knew we wanted there to be a lot of windows, so that people could enjoy the natural beauty of the area, especially the children. We want them to know they deserve to spend time somewhere beautiful.”
Judy Guth also frequented East New Orleans Regional Library for many years before Hurricane Katrina. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Guth moved to New Orleans in the 1960s and has been coming to the Library ever since.
“I think libraries are so important. I went to the one in my neighborhood growing up, so of course when I moved to East New Orleans about 40 years ago, I found the closest one and that was that,” Guth said.