As far back as she can remember, Vera Johnson has loved to read. With age, going to the Library grew harder, but thanks to a service designed to assist Library cardholders with mobility difficulties, Johnson no longer has to leave the house to borrow a new book.
“Having a library in your neighborhood is great, and it’s something I think is really important for a good quality of life. It allows you to get access to books, access to education, access to knowledge that’s extremely important. For me, to be able to get books and then get home in less than five minutes is really palpable.”
Last month, 48-year-old Wanda Sanders accomplished a decades-long goal when she received her high school diploma, thanks in part to the New Orleans Public Library and the advice of her husband –– who did the same thing just a year earlier.
Whenever you pick up a paper handout from the New Orleans Public Library, there’s a good chance you’re holding Charles Delong’s work. Since 1989, Delong has been behind the Library scenes, printing every bookmark, every poster, every brochure, flyer, business card ––you name it, he printed it. Now, after 32 years of hard work, Delong has retired, leaving behind him a time capsule to the days long before the inkjet printer.
Growing up, New Orleans-based activist Toni Jones said she always had people to look up to for inspiration, empowerment, and guidance. Now, Jones hopes to do the same for this new generation, which is why she partnered with the Library to present Young Activists Speak Out last July.
On April 4, 1954, the New Orleans Public Library opened its 11th location at 3841 Washington Avenue as the Norman Mayer Broadmoor Branch. In the 67 years since, it was closed twice, both times reopening bigger and better, thanks to its dedicated and outspoken neighbors.
Thanks to help from the New Orleans Public Library, a new charter school was able to open an in-school library in a matter of months.
Most tourists leave New Orleans with beads, Carnival masks, or other trinkets, but one Michigan librarian’s visit resulted in a more meaningful souvenir –– a new resource for her community.
Lynn Dosty is a California native who has only been to New Orleans once, for a visit almost two decades ago. And yet, in the past few months, she said the New Orleans Public Library has changed her life and set her on a genealogical mission to tell her family’s story.
The New Orleans Public Library, AfterCLASS, and the Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies brings educators together to facilitate discussions about the Latina experience.