In A Nutshell

Located in the architecturally rich neighborhood of Broadmoor, New Orleans the Rosa Keller Public Library was a social and cultural hub—until it was badly damaged by Katrina. Deemed beyond repair, plans were to create a park on the site. Partnerships spearheaded by residents and a host of philanthropic and civic partners broke ground recently on what will be a restored library and community center. The work attracted a range of donors and partners, most notably the Carnegie Foundation which awarded a $2 million grant.

Background

The hurricane-damaged Rosa Keller Library.

The Rosa Keller Library, an architectuarally significant pink stucco building, was for many years the social and cultural hub of this distinctive New Orleans community of close to 3,000 homes, first settled in the 1800s. Three or four miles from downtown New Orleans, Broadmoor is a racially mixed neighborhood of middle and working class families.  Katrina ‘s aftermath left it submerged for weeks in a toxic soup that rendered many buildings uninhabitable. The library building was badly damages and most of the collections lost. When the initial plan for recovery included razing the library to make way for parks and open space, residents banded together to override the plan and create their own. An emphasis on outreach and forming public/private partnerships will  result in a reborn library and community center.

Advocacy Goals

• Save and restore the original, historically significant library building
  
  
• Create the Broadmoor Redevelopment Plan, a comprehensive rebuilding strategy
  
  
• Form a network of public/private partnerships to raise funds for the design and restoration of the library
  
  
• Restore/replace/replenish collections through donations.

Getting the Work Done

Residents used the longstanding Broadmoor Improvement Association (BIA) to spearhead the drive to create an alternative plan to save the Keller Library. Dissatisfied with official recovery plans that slated the damaged building for demolition and the space as parkland, residents asked “what was needed and how to create it”.

Partnering with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard resulted in a Broadmoor Redevleopment Plan. Residents then began aggressive outreach to public and private partners to make the plan a reality. Committed to using best practices from libraries around the country, the plan included combining a library with a community center to make it a 21st century building.

Partners included Philanthropist Walter Shorenstein, the Shell Oil Corporation and a range of others, attracted to the project by the ‘build back better’ concept.

Advocacy Strategies

Partnerships and Collaborations

• Used the Broadmoor Improvement Association, which was founded in 1930 and is one of the oldest neighborhood associations in New Orleans, as the base from which to organize and formulate a redevelopment plan
  
  
• Reached out to the John F Kennedy School of Government to produce an economic and social analysis of the neighborhood as a blueprint for recovery; students from the School relocated to New Orleans in 2006 to work in close partnership with the community on the plan.
  
  
• Sought and obtained funding from a range of partners including philanthropist Walter Shorenstein and the Shell Oil Corporation, which underwrote the initial study and plan.

Model Programs

• Working with Library Board and Library Association to build on lessons learned and design for the 'library of the future'
  
  
• Attended Baton Rouge conference sponsored by SOLINET which showcased best practices from around the country
  

Strategic Communications

The following strategies helped advocates to restore collections:

• Established a web page to announce need for books, which resulted in thousands of donations.
  
  
• Through network of contacts, partnered with the National Cathedral School and St. Albans in Washington D.C. which ran book drives

Results

As a result of these efforts, the Keller library held a dedication ceremony on June 7 2007, two years after  Katrina’s destruction, to announce the Carnegie grant and kick off the process of rebuilding, restoring and refurnishing the library.

CH2@M Hill, a global engineering construction and consulting firm was brought in to oversee construction for the library and community center. Using a ‘green’ building rating system and to promoting sustainable design and construction practices, they strive to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings and improve occupant health and well-being.

In addition to the physical rebuilding of the library, the effort has had a far-reaching impact on the health and the well-being of the community. The library project, and the Association that spearheaded it, has been hailed as ‘an extraordinary and uplifting example of a community initiative.”

The Broadmoor Community/Keller Library restoration is one of the first recovery projects to be implemented in any of the seventeen redevelopment zones designated by the New Orleans Office of Recovery Management.

Looking Ahead

Organizers of the Broadmoor/Keller restoration are looking for ways to disseminate their model in the belief that the success of their effort can be replicated and used to assist the larger library system in New Orleans, to attract other funders to the area using libraries as a centerpiece of community restoration.