Community Impact

Your public library is more than a building with books in it. We exist for every single member of our community and believe that Public Libraries are the “Universities of the People”.

Public libraries contribute significantly to their community and are an indispensible and irreplaceable resource to many. Public Libraries specialize in offering everyone the opportunity to advance their knowledge through publicly available materials. By providing our free services to community members, many of who do not have regular access to computers, books, genealogical materials and other information retrieval opportunities, we create a more educated people. A more educated community means a better prepared, more literate, more functional, and more capable society.

Also, besides merely making these resources available, Public Libraries employ knowledgeable and friendly professional librarians who assist our visitors in accessing information contained in our collections, our archives and online, helping to bridge the educational gap within society.

Libraries also help to fill the educational gap for school-aged children enrolled in schools that are overwhelmingly under-funded, understaffed, and usually have few copies of reading materials for students to use. Programs, aimed specifically at early learning, children and teens, keep our youth excited and involved in learning, especially during summer months and out of school time, when children can fall behind in their reading and other skills.

And as our economy presents new difficulties and challenges to many, it is the Public Library that can and will help our community to continue moving forward, by providing free services and access to materials that will assist job seekers.

Public libraries have been a consistently wise investment, as they contribute to and help improve the lives, from young to old, of all those living in our communities.

The New Orleans Public Library’s fight is the fight for every person's right to read, right to access free information and the right to learn, no matter your age, gender, economic standing or ethnicity. We strive to empower our society through knowledge, and create a lasting and meaningful impact on our Community.

By Supporting the New Orleans Public Library Foundation you are supporting the future and growth of the New Orleans community.