Stories From New Orleans

Table of Contents

April 14, 2006

• Volunteering in New Orleans for Spring Break, 2006

April 13, 2006

• Life and Libraries in New Orleans

April 10, 2006

• ALA Site Visit to New Orleans, April 3-4

March 28, 2006

• Report from Tulane on New Orleans
• Missing "Life as We Knew It"

March 15, 2006

• Q&A with Wayne Everard, Archivist

March 6, 2006

• A Visit to New Orleans, March 1-2, 2006

February 26, 2006

• Rebuilding in New Orleans
• A Visitor Reports on New Orleans

February 17, 2006

• Xavier University Campus: The Status

February 16, 2006

• The View from the Schools

April 14, 2006
Volunteering in New Orleans for Spring Break, 2006

Chris Kreie
Library Media Specialist
Oak Point Intermediate School, Eden Prairie (MN)

Over spring break, a group of educators from Minnesota had the trip of a lifetime. Seven of us from Oak Point Intermediate School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota spent our break in New Orleans assisting in hurricane relief. We did everything from gutting homes to cleaning streets to even doing a little teaching.

Part of my motivation as a media specialist was to gather information, photos, and video to share with others back in Minnesota. Among the people we linked up with on our trip via our blog were students from Aquila Elementary in St. Louis Park who read our daily journal entries at http://ophelps.blogspot.com and who viewed pictures and video clips of our experiences.

We stayed at First Street United Methodist Church, a location that has been set up as a volunteer site for the group Hands On. They provided our meals and coordinated our work. We also worked in conjunction with a great bunch of college-aged volunteers from AmeriCorps. We all stayed in the same common sleeping area, we all ate together, we all shared chores around the church, and we all went to the job sites together in small groups.

The work was rewarding. We gutted parts of two flooded homes to get them ready for new interior work. We spent half a day teaching at James Singleton Charter School just around the corner from our church. It is an all-black inner-city school with its share of challenges. Because so many schools closed after the storms, and remain closed, students from all over the city are now attending this school. It went from a 6-8 middle school to a K-8 school to accommodate all the students who were misplaced by the hurricanes. The students also have their share of challenges, greatest of which is the trauma they continue to deal with. One of our teachers comforted a student who broke down during class. She explained that her family still cannot locate her grandmother who became lost after the hurricanes. We ended the week tearing apart the interior of a Boys and Girls Club of America to get it ready for restoration. They hope to reopen in 4-6 weeks.

Many challenges remain for New Orleans, and now that we've been there it will be difficult for all of us to get the city off our mind. Garbage is everywhere, homes remain empty, stores are closed, street signs and stop lights are few and far between, and still many residents have yet to return to their homes. We hope as a group to find ways to work with James Singleton School and use the wealth of resources we have in Eden Prairie to help students from Singleton who need so much. Volunteers in the area are needed and will be needed for a long time to come. I plan to attend the ALA Conference in June and also take part in more work helping the community. A group from my school may join me once again. Consider spending some of your summer in New Orleans. Believe us, you will have the time of your life!

Return to Table of Contents

April 13, 2006
Life and Libraries in New Orleans

Interview with Keith Weldon Medley
New Orleans resident and author

Q: What is it really like to live (and work) in New Orleans today?

Keith Weldon Medley
I left New Orleans the Sunday before Katrina and eventually wound up in Dallas. I came back and fourth four times before moving back permanently on December 23rd. My first trip back to New Orleans was in September when 40% of the city was still underwater. Since I've moved back, I've been able to see progress from a city where I couldn't buy a cup of coffee anywhere to a situation today where many of the restaurants, bars, and music venues are up and running in the areas that didn't experience heavy flooding. However for the other 60-70% of the city - the so-called dead zones - there is widespread desolation. You can drive for miles without seeing children, animals or inhabited homes. As a native of New Orleans, it can be emotionally draining. For a long time, I went through the stages of grief three or times daily. I could never get past the acceptance part. Many people who were friends are now gone maybe forever. And everyday, there's a sad story. But overall, it's day-to-day life in a sort of pre-civilization sort of way. Progress is measured in a grocery store opening, electricity being on, mail delivery, and trash being picked up. And, New Orleans has and always will provide those special moments of joy with second-line parades, music festivals, and soft-shell crab "po-boys".

Q: What role in your life does the library play? Have you always used the library or is it new to you?

KMW
As the author of the book We As Freemen - Plessy v. Ferguson, the Louisiana Division of the New Orleans Public Library has been indispensable. I've done the core of my research there for my book and the other 50+ articles I have written about New Orleans history and culture. I have been using libraries since I was at least 5. My mother was a teacher and reading was fundamental. I grew up three blocks from the Royal Street Branch Library in the Faubourg Marigny area of New Orleans. It was Jim Crow back then, so the black kids went of Tuesday and Thursday and the White kids went on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I still have my library certificates from the Summer Reading Programs!

I have always linked research and the library. For We As Freemen, I was excited to travel to the Library of Congress, Boston Public Library, Vineyard Haven Public Library in Martha's Vineyard, Smith Memorial Library at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. The library is the best place to familiarize yourself with a new terrain and also to dig deeper into your subject matter.

Q: What should people living outside the region know that they may not from media reports?

KMW
One: The non-flooded parts of New Orleans are viable compared to the days following Katrina. However, 60-70% of the city remains largely abandoned. However, there an increasing number of trailers parked next to houses of residents who are declaring their intent to rebuild. In one neighborhood called Pontchartrain Park that was badly devastated, residents have been putting yellow ribbons on trees outside their gutted homes as an affirmation to return to their homes.

Two: You can never gauge the enormity of the devastation from television or a vantage point of a non-flooded area. You have to drive around to realize the damage is incomprehensible.

Three: Katrina caused severe damage but it was the levee failure that turned a hurricane in to a catastrophe. The Federal government is responsible for the maintenance of the levees - not the mayor or the governor.

Four: We very much love and appreciate the love that people have shown us during the evacuation and the return home. The thousands of volunteers from around the country have made the ordeal more bearable. The fact that the American Library Association is still holding the convention here is a huge morale booster.

Five: 55% of people in the lower ninth ward were homeowners compared with 45% in the city as whole. They have a deep affinity to their community and many have owned homes there for generations.

Finally, I'll be signing my book We As Freemen - Plessy v. Ferguson, at the Pelican Publishing booth at Annual on Saturday, 9:30 to 11:30 am; 2:30 to 4:30 pm. Come by and say hello.

Return to Table of Contents

March 28, 2006
Report from Tulane on New Orleans

Susanna S. Powers
Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University

At Tulane, students came back in unexpectedly high numbers, over 80%. Our campus looks close to normal now, after a great deal of effort to create that impression. Tulane and Loyola are in a relatively less damaged part of New Orleans; of course, severe losses even here were sustained, such as the flooding of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library basement. UNO is having classes but the surrounding neighborhoods were devastated. Dillard has had a slow start on recovery, and they are not able to have classes on campus.

What we really need is nationwide pressure on the federal government to help the city and the region. The most important thing now is the awareness that the recovery process, although firmly underway, is very slow and still in the early stages. The "failure of initiative" can be reversed by allocation of financial and brainpower resources to the continuing problems created by the disaster. The country doesn't really have anything to compare this to. Any ALA members who attend the conference are already helping by spurring the local economy.

If you come to New Orleans for Annual Conference this summer, what will you see? This will depend upon whether you take a tour or just stay downtown and in the French Quarter. Most of the city was severely damaged. I haven't gone downtown since New Year's, but every day that passes brings some sort of forward progress, and I believe that the basic facilities which will be encountered by conference-goers should resemble prior conference experiences. I am assuming that the convention center will be the same as before the storm. However, hotels and restaurants are still in the rebuilding stage. To learn about some of the restaurants which have been able to reopen, look for the special program, "Bringing Back the Bayou," narrated by Emeril Lagasse, described on the Food Network website: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_sp/episode/0,,FOOD_9994_42837,00.html. There will be plenty of delicious food as usual, but probably more lines. Patience is the key to life in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Annual Conference really will make a difference to the economy. The tourism industry is now and has always been central to the local economy. All the aspects of a city are interconnected. Katrina gives a whole new meaning to "human resources" because it was so painfully difficult to bring back the most basic enterprises without the employees. The success of hotels and restaurants will bring back more people to live in New Orleans, in spite of the dreadful difficulties with the infrastructure, housing and normal commerce. The libraries and the universities are an important part of the fabric of life in a community, so everyone benefits by holding the conference as planned.

Return to Table of Contents

March 28, 2006
Missing "Life as We Knew It"

Gail Gill
Library User and New Orleans area School Teacher

I am a high school teacher. I am very fortunate that my school--Benjamin Franklin High School--was able to reopen as a charter school. The Wall Street Journal did a long story about the heroic efforts of our principal to reopen the school after the first floor was flooded. The entire school is now contained on the second and third floors while the first floor is being restored.

My house in Metairie was also flooded, but we are now able to live in it. However, everyday I drive to school in New Orleans through Lakeview, an area that was particularly hard hit. I see an occasional FEMA trailer, but mostly there are blocks and blocks of devastated, deserted houses with water lines almost up to the roofs.

Life is still very difficult for thousands of people because it is still difficult to find a bank, gas station, drug store, grocery store, restaurant, or library that is open.

I have been a library user my entire life. In fact, I have five school librarians in my family. Of course, my students make good use of the school library, or they did until Katrina. Since the library was located on the first floor, much of the collection was lost in the flood.

For the past eight years, I have written a weekly column that requires research into New Orleans history. My favorite place to do research in at the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library on Loyola Avenue. The librarians there are most knowledgeable and kind. Wayne Everard and Irene Wainwright are essential to me as a researcher, and I consider them my friends. I have often spent entire Saturdays on the third floor in the Louisiana division doing research, but these days are no more. The library is only open from 11 am to 4 pm a few days a week, and I am in school during those hours. I desperately need for the library, at least the main branch, to resume regular hours. And beside, I miss Wayne and Irene.

The rest of the country needs to know that although we celebrated Mardi Gras, we mourn the loss of life as we knew it. Everyone has been affected in some way, and nothing will ever be "back to normal." While there are some parts of the city that have recovered reasonably well, there are still hundreds of thousand of displaced people who are struggling to survive and be happy.

Return to Table of Contents

March 15, 2006
Q&A with Wayne Everard, Archivist

Wayne Everard
New Orleans City Archives, Louisiana Division, New Orleans Public Library

a) What's it really like? Are the library users coming back?
I can really only speak for the Louisiana Division/City Archives & Special Collections at the Main Library. Here we are seeing at least some of our pre-Katrina users back in action. Most of them are working on their own family history projects, though by no means have all the genealogists been in since we've reopened. One of our recommended outside "for pay" researchers has returned for fairly regular visits. We're not getting many elementary/secondary school students, probably because our open times do not coincide with their after school hours. We have had a dozen or more PhD students doing research for their dissertations. We've also had a number of FEMA-hired contract historians in researching individual buildings or sections of the city. A few documentary filmmakers have also been by. Even before we opened to in-house users we had started to accept mail requests for search and/or photocopying services; we're not back to pre-K numbers, but we do have a steady stream of letters coming in each week. We've also been answering e-mail inquiries, even before we were even back in the building. Many of those have been from users asking about post-storm availability of materials, but we've also had three requests for duplication of microfilm in our collection as well as requests from authors and publishers seeking permission to use photographs and other materials. Irene Wainwright and I are the only staffers left in the Division (out of the ten who were here pre-K). We have help with reshelving but just about everything else is left to us to do (we also maintain the Library's web site). We keep quite busy!

b) What resources do you need from other ALA members?
Again, speaking from the perspective of the Louisiana Division/City Archives and Special Collections, there doesn't seem to be much that we could reasonable expect ALA members to help with. Our collections are quite specialized and we didn't suffer any damage that must be taken care of. There isn't even enough time left in our days to devote to training/managing volunteers. The NOPL administration and the NOPL Foundation's development staff have been working with ALA to identify other areas within the system where ALA resources can be put to good use.

c) If I come to New Orleans for Annual Conference this summer, what will I see? What should I expect?
Right now there are two cities within New Orleans--the dry city and the wet one. If you stay in the dry city (the French Quarter, Warehouse District, Central Business District, Uptown, and Algiers) you will notice occasional evidence of what happened back in August--hotels, restaurants, office buildings, and residences still being rebuilt; shortened hours for restaurants and other businesses; inoperable traffic signals here and there (especially following thunderstorms); FEMA trailers parked outside of damaged homes or clustered in groups at various spots around town; fewer trees along the avenues; perhaps more trash on the curbs in some areas; and the like. There will, though, be no shortage of things to see and do in the dry city--many museums are open; the zoo and the rest of Audubon Park are back in business (but not the aquarium); two of the three Central Business District shopping centers are open as are many French Quarter shops; most (but not all) of the best and most famous restaurants--and bars--are serving meals; Harrah's casino is bustling; and the riverfront is open for sightseeing.

Visiting librarians can easily avoid the wet city--where the worst devastation occurred--but probably shouldn't. At least they should travel to the New Orleans Museum of Art (with its adjacent sculpture garden) or one of the few restaurants that have managed to open in the flood zone or maybe out to the University of New Orleans campus on the lakefront; the journey will take them through mile after mile of uninhabited residences and businesses. Those neighborhoods are bad enough (believe me--I used to live in one of them), but those who really want to see what happened might consider taking a tour bus out to Lakeview, New Orleans East, or the Lower Ninth Ward--the areas that really look like war zones! It is absolutely true that news photographs and television do not begin to adequately convey the extent of what Katrina did to this great city--only by seeing it in person on the ground can one really appreciate what happened.

d) Will Annual Conference really make a difference to the economy of the region? and to the libraries?
Ever since ALA announced that the conference would go on in New Orleans as scheduled there has been recognition that this first big post-K convention would be a very important one. Fifteen-twenty thousand people staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, buying goodies in our shops, spinning a few wheels in the casino will put some sorely needed tax dollars in the city's treasury. They will also help keep some of those hotels, restaurants, and shops in business and, it is hoped, inspire others to reopen their doors or move into the city. And when those thousands of librarians return home and tell their family, friends, and colleagues that New Orleans is ready and able to show them a good time, the conference's impact will be multiplied. Individuals will want to come for vacations and businesses/organizations will want to hold their annual conferences here. At the same time it will be a very good thing if conference-goers tell their family, friends, colleagues, congressmen, and senators that New Orleans still needs help in getting the wet city back in operation.

We're also confident that the ALA conference will be a tremendous boon to libraries in the area. Members will be volunteering their services in many important ways. They will be working in and otherwise visiting destroyed library branches as well as in those that are up and running. They should come away with an understanding and appreciation of both the physical and personnel needs of local libraries. Many of the vendors who will populate the exhibit halls at the Convention Center are in a position to make significant material contributions to the well being of Crescent City libraries. Some have already announced joint ventures with NOPL--Library Journal will help restore a flooded branch; Highsmith and Bretford have teamed with ALA to renovate one of the city's original Carnegie branches; and other vendors are likely involved in a variety of public-private ventures that will benefit NOPL and other libraries in the hurricane disaster area.

I hope that members and vendors alike will also realize that when Katrina destroyed 80% of New Orleans she also destroyed most of the city's tax base. New Orleans Public Library depends on local property taxes for the greater part of its operating budget. Property in the post-K Crescent City is not worth nearly as much as it was before the storm. Rebuilding the city will eventually restore the tax base and allow NOPL to regain its former financial footing. That won't happen overnight, though, so NOPL--like much of the rest of the city--will need support from its friends, and from the government, for years to come.

Return to Table of Contents

March 6, 2006
A Visit to New Orleans, March 1-2, 2006

Lorriane Olley
Executive Director, LAMA

I landed in New Orleans about midday on Ash Wednesday. I walked around the areas that the conference-goers would frequent, stayed in a French Quarter hotel, visited the convention center and a couple of other venues. I was warmly greeted by everyone in the hotels and restaurants. The Cathedral looked splendid, as did Jackson Square.

In most of the areas our attendees will frequent, things look pretty normal, although it was very obvious that Mardi Gras had just ended. There were no traces of flooding (e.g., no freshly painted building exteriors, no mildew stains) in the Quarter or elsewhere in those areas that we usually go to. I detected no evidence of mold problems (and I am sensitive to mold) in any of the places I visited. The Ritz-Carlton and some other buildings have large temporary moisture removal and ventilation equipment running outside.

However, traveling between downtown and the airport, it's easy to see evidence of the disaster--blue tarp-covered roofs, FEMA trailers, and abandoned cars. I traveled past at least one house with the ominous search-and-rescue symbols spray-painted on it.

Canal street unfortunately still has several boarded-up storefronts, which were reminders that people had to break in stores to get what they needed in the wake of the flooding. The Garden District looks good, although the St. Charles streetcar won't be running again until the fall. The live oaks have been "pruned by nature" as my escort put it, but it didn't look like any were lost there.

The Morales Convention Center was incredibly clean and bright. Staff explained that the disaster was an impetus to renovate and refurbish, and assured me that all will be ready by our arrival. The riverfront promenade was fresh and flourishing.

Photos - March 2006 (click on the thumbnail for a full picture)

Canal Street North	Canal Street South	Canal Street - Ritz Hotel	French Quarter	French Quarter - Bourbon Orleans Hotel
Convention Center - Exterior	Convention Center - Main Level	Convention Center - Exhibit Hall	Convention Center - Decor Plans	Fema Dog

Return to Table of Contents

February 26, 2006
Rebuilding in New Orleans

Geraldine Harris
New Orleans Public Library

In a way, it's fun trying to rebuild a system using a much smaller staff. At the branches everyone is the custodian, the plumber, the delivery driver, and if you have time you can be a librarian. At the Main library everyone works at the circulation desk. Department staff have been combined to provide service. Our patrons are coming back. The majority of them use library computers to find housing, jobs, lost pets, file with FEMA and insurance companies. To accommodate them we have installed wi-fi at some locations and intend to make them all accessible.

Annual Conference will make a difference to the economy. It will boost tourism and show others that they can bring their conventions back to New Orleans. Even though we are struggling in our personal lives that we can play host to large groups. We need ALA conference in the city. The clubs, restaurants, and shopping areas are open. The Aquarium and Zoo will be open for the children. The ferry and riverboats are available for tours or a ride across the river. You won't see the St. Charles streetcars but you will see the Canal streetcars that go to the museum and cemeteries. And of course, the Quarter never closed. In other words nothing major will be changed in the convention area. What should you expect? Heat, blue roofs, rain, mosquitoes, long waits, and construction going on everywhere.

Your presence at Annual will make a difference to public libraries, too. We are excited that ALA is coming to New Orleans. The conference will bring volunteers and resources that are badly needed to us. We lost eight branches to the storm and with ALA's commitment to the city, the public library will be put on the city's radar a valuable resource. We have no book or serials budget for 2006, so if I had to ask for something it would be for materials and books. I would like to request that ALA members who receive review materials (no galleys), especially AV, to consider donating them to us through the Adopt-A-Library program, www.ala.org/katrina.

Return to Table of Contents

February 27, 2006
A Visitor Reports on New Orleans< < />

Judy Card
CLENERT President

I've just come back from New Orleans and thought that you might like to hear my very positive review.

For the past few years I've been attending the first parade of Mardi Gras, put on by the Krewe du Vieux. It's the only parade that goes through the French Quarter and still has floats pulled by people and/or mules. Not at all for the entire family, they proudly carry on their tradition of xxx-rated satire. This year's theme was C'est Levee. "Mr. Bill" creator Walter Williams was king. My favorite sub-theme was "Take Us Back Chirac." One krewe's marchers wore cardboard refrigerators filled with rotting food. Another (after a long pc debate involving input from the gay/lesbian community) chose "Finger in the Dike."

My friends took me on their own personal "Devastated New Orleans" tour and the sights are sad indeed. After many blocks of water damaged homes and businesses I finally had no response other than tears.

Here's the good news. I attended the Parade Eve party and met many folks who already know that ALA is coming to town. Very positive response from the locals. I met several people whose homes were totally destroyed and who have decided to stay in NOLA and said things like "Thank ALA for me." Businesses in the French Quarter are pretty much up and running though some retail places have limited hours. Restaurants seem ready, too. While I was there they re-opened the shops in Canal Place, near the convention center.

Personally, I'm very pleased that ALA will be there this summer. I think every dollar we spend will make a difference to the people of the Gulf Coast. And our choice shows a belief in the city and it's ability to be ready by June. I'm telling everyone I know that it's going to be a great conference in a great city.

See you there.

Return to Table of Contents

February 17, 2006
Xavier University Campus: The Status

Robert Skinner
Xavier University of Louisiana

What's it like on campus? At Xavier, I have to give a lot of credit to the construction contractors and the recovery companies, who have been working round the clock. Many campus buildings, including the library, are operational and most of the signs of the flood are gone. There was still quite a bit of debris in the neighborhood surrounding us, but as of this writing, much has been cleaned up. Many of the owners are busily rehabbing or rebuilding, with FEMA trailers in evidence on many blocks. Xavier, itself, has a FEMA trailer park behind one of the academic buildings and another across the street from the campus. I, and several of my staff, are living in those trailers.

It appears that about 3 out of 4 students have returned to Xavier. The students are in good spirits, and have really buckled down to work with a minimum of horseplay on their parts. It's quieter in the Library than I can ever remember.

There is, inevitably, some sadness among the faculty and staff. A number of our colleagues and coworkers could not return due to a lack of housing, and others who elected not to return. Everyone is still a little shell-shocked, so we understand the decision by some not to return to the city. We miss their presence and wish them well.

Annual Conference will make a big difference to the New Orleans economy because it is largely based on tourism and convention business. Obviously, a lot of income has been lost over the past six months and it will take some time to recover from that. Any convention will get money circulating in the local economy. Hopefully, the conventioneers will return home and tell others that New Orleans is still here and still worth visiting.

If you come to New Orleans this summer for Annual Conference, and if you remain in the Downtown area, I think you'll find everything what it was. The French Quarter and much of the rest of the Downtown area missed the flooding and much of the destruction that afflicted the rest of the city. The Garden District is also relatively unchanged. As you move out from Downtown, that's where you'll see the difference. Entire neighborhoods depopulated, homes gutted or collapsed, and probably some debris still in evidence (although efforts to clean up debris are ongoing and vary from neighborhood to neighborhood). You'll also note a considerable lack of a human presence. I think we're somewhere between a fourth and a third of our pre-Katrina population, so where you might have seen crowds, there's an almost haunting emptiness. In my neighborhood in Lakeview, we're only just beginning to see a return of wildlife, birds, squirrels, and the occasional stray cat.

It will be a good thing for academic libraries, too. Colleagues from around the nation will visit and network with local librarians, learn from their experiences, and form partnerships for support while library rebuilding efforts are under way. Right now we're still exploring what our needs are for additional help. We have our budget intact and most of our technology survived the flood, so we're very much in an operational mode. I suspect that our needs in the near future will be in the area of serials. We've already dealt with a backlog of mail that went to the university's temporary address in Grambling last fall, but I'm certain that some serial shipments were lost or destroyed. Because the Post Office still isn't delivering Second Class mail to the city, it may be months before we learn what holes we're missing in many serials titles. We'll probably need help plugging those holes, once we've identified them.

A visit to a local university might be worthwhile, because there you can learn what those institutions experienced, and find out first-hand from librarians what they had to contend with once they were able to return. Because no one envisioned destruction of this magnitude, no one had a plan in place to address it. We've all had to plan and enact plans on the fly, and there's much to be learned from our experience.

Return to Table of Contents

February 16, 2006
The View from the Schools

Terri J. Rousey
Assistant Librarian
Mount Carmel Academy

If you come to New Orleans for the annual conference you can expect to have a good time! The music is great, the food is fabulous, and the shops are interesting. Tourism is what makes our city run. We need you to come and eat, shop & party. We need you to help us recover. The parts of town that normally "entertain" tourists were not badly damaged by the hurricane and are pretty much up and running- the Garden District, the French Quarter, Magazine Street -shops are open, restaurants are cooking, the zoo is open, traffic lights and street lights are working. Everything that a visitor needs will be available. ALA will be the first really big convention to return to the city. And how will this help school libraries? What helps the city helps the schools. Also, I think many local school librarians will attend the conference that would not normally have the chance to attend a national convention due to lack of funds. By giving local library staff the opportunity to attend ALA for free, you will be encouraging, educating, and enlightening local school librarians who will then take all the energy and ideas back to school and pass it on to our students.

But when you ask "What is it really like" for a citizen, things for residents are not so easy. What a tourist experiences in a week for a convention is far different from what it is like to really live day to day in the city proper. Grocery stores and pharmacies are limited in the number that are open and in the hours they are open. Many gas stations are still closed. Most parts of the city outside of the areas frequented by tourists are lacking working traffic lights. Many residents are still waiting on FEMA trailers, or waiting for electricity or water for their trailer so they can move in. Many of my students are living in cramped conditions and making long commutes. Many of the faculty members are in the same situations. My home is in an area that did not flood (very close to the river, the old, high ground), but I work in Lakeview. The drive to work can still bring me to tears.

The majority of the students at my school have returned. I would say 90%. I think most of the area Catholic and private schools having similar turnouts. As far as what we need here at my school... I see a need for my faculty -reading material for pleasure, relaxation, distraction! No magazines are being delivered to the city -not enough postal workers. The majority of our public libraries are closed -terrible damage. Thanks to the kindness of Jefferson Parish Public libraries, NOPL card holders can have access to their collections; yet many of my faculty members are still wrangling with insurance companies, contractors, city officials, FEMA, etc- the last thing they want to do is deal with the traffic in the suburbs to go to the library. One of my co-workers, who is still grieving the loss of her personal book collection, said she would normally go purchase books to read but she is living with her elderly parents and has no place to keep books. I would like to provide more for them.

Mount Carmel Academy is a private, Catholic secondary school for single young ladies in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. It is conducted by the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who have educated young ladies in New Orleans since 1833. The atmosphere of the school and the individual attention given to each student encourage and foster emotional maturity and spiritual development. For pictures of the school clean up, visit our web site: http://mtcarmelcubs.org/events/2006/BackToSchool/1-14/FPindex.html. There are pictures from the library there, too.

Return to Table of Contents

For more information about ways that you can help libraries affected by Hurricane Katrina, please go to www.ala.org/katrina. To register or learn more about the Annual Confernce, please use the links at the top of this page.