Larose public library opens

After 60 years of renting space for the public library in Larose, the Lafourche Parish Library System has finally settled into a permanent site next to the Larose Civic Center.

The $1 million library officially opened last Thursday. In addition to books and periodicals, the site is equipped with computers, said parish Library Director Susanna LeBouef.

“We had outgrown the space we were renting at the civic center,” she said. “When the community requested that the library board build a new building, we took it into consideration.”

Lafourche voters approved a millage in 1995; however, a Larose location had not been selected.

“There were some issues of where to put it or how much money to spend on it,” LeBouef said. “But that is all history now. We have this beautiful site that the Larose Civic Center officials donated. We have a computer area for children and adults, and meeting rooms that are really nice.”

It took contractors eight months to build the 45,000-square-foot library.

LeBouef said Larose satellite branch is one of the smaller libraries in the parish. She said satellite branches replaced what used to be called book mobile delivery sites that commonly visited the area back in the early 1940s and 1950s.

For extensive research, residents will still have to go to either the Lockport or South Lafourche Library.

Diana Uzee, the branch’s assistant manager and a longtime employee, has worked at the branch for nearly 30 years.

“I’ve watched this library grow from a small space tucked away in the civic center to this beautiful building next door,” she said. “The community fought hard to have a library constructed in this area, and I think they are pleased with the results.”

The original Larose Library opened in a small building on Louisiana Highway 1 near the Pontoon Bridge in 1948. It was one of three Lafourche libraries; the other two were in Thibodaux and Lockport.

After spending 33 years in the building on Hwy, 1, the Larose Library moved inside of the Larose Regional Park and Civic Center.

Things begin to evolve for the library. Uzee recalled when books were available on videocassettes, and all of the libraries were conforming to the new system of reading.

“We had to sit down and figure out which video cassette we would use, VHS or BETA,” she said, chuckling. “Now the times have changed again and we are saying,’Let’s get rid of VHS and BETA and get DVDs.”

Uzee said the reference books section included some of the more expensive books in the library nearly 20 years ago. However, computer software with reference material built in has caused the in-house sections to dwindle.

“We have to sell ourselves a little more because so much more is out there for the people to access at home and they do not need library books for research anymore,” Uzee said. “But I have to say, the state library system has an excellent reference section on its Web site that can be accessed with a library card.”

Daryle Hamblin, the library’s branch manager, said she is very excited about its opening.

The Larose branch just finished the statewide summer reading program, and she estimated an average of a 100 children and adults came into the library daily.

Unfortunately, she said numbers tend to decline during fall and spring because of school. But the staff is hopeful that the added space will help increase the numbers of users.

Hours at the library are Monday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Story hour for preschool children will be held weekly: Aug. 14 at 10:30 a.m.; Aug. 21 at 4:30 p.m.; and Aug. 30 at 10:30 a.m. Teens will also have a program on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 5:30 p.m.

The new 4,500-square-foot Larose Library is located next to the Larose Recreational Park and Civic Center. * Photo courtesy of the LAROSE LIBRARY