Designed by John Owens of Sizeler Thompson Brown Architect at a cost of $4.7 million dollars, the new library in Madisonville, Louisiana is located with views of the Tchefuncte River from the dozens of windows throughout all levels of the library.  The 15,000 square foot library stands 14 feet off of the ground on 1.5 acres on Mabel Drive across from the Lake Ponchartrain Basin Maritime Museum.  The land for the library was donated by the town of Madisonville.

The library has too many modern conveniences to count.  It is considered one of the most modern libraries in St. Tammany Parish with rows of Dell computers, meeting rooms, and areas for teens and younger children.

“I’m still trying to find a bad view out of this place,” Donald Westmoreland, director of the parish’s public library system, said as he passed by one of the many windows.

This library can accommodate a lot of things at the same time,” Westmoreland said, noting that there are areas for community meetings, computer classes, quiet reading and, of course, browsing shelves of books.

The new library manager will be Tamie Martin, and the library will open on September 5, 2013. The original Madisonville, Louisiana library was a much older, more historic building which was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.  A decision was made by the town of Madisonville as well as St. Tammany Parish not to repair the damage because it was cost prohibitive. Because the town does not have the tax money for these types of projects, funding for the new library came from the parish’s library system’s savings account.

In anticipation of an increase in operating costs,  voters in Madisonville approved an increase of millage from 5.35 mills to 6.29 mills.  The Library Board of Control has yet to collect on the increased millage but a request from Westmoreland to collect the full millage is currently in progress.

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