NEW ORLEANS — The Nix Library on South Carrollton Avenue is back open, and for the first time in its 92-year-history, anyone can come inside and browse.
Thursday afternoon, Mayor Latoya Cantrell and New Orleans Public Library leaders held a ribbon cutting at the library to celebrate the completion of $591,000 in renovations. The goal was to make the historic building ADA-compliant. There is now a wheelchair lift and bigger bathrooms.
The library closed in early 2021 when the renovations began. The project was supposed to take a few months, but contractors faced a number of setbacks, including the discovery of contaminated soil underneath the building and a roof leak. After the ribbon cutting, book-lovers from the neighborhood streamed in, eager to look around after a year-and-a-half-long wait.
Some, like Claudia Garofalo, have been waiting much longer.
She lives a few blocks from the library and used to go often. Then, over five years ago, she became paralyzed. After that, she, like other wheelchair users in the Carrollton area, no longer had access to her neighborhood library.
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act lays out the requirements for wheelchair access to public spaces. It makes certain exceptions for historic buildings, but they are still required to accommodate people with disabilities to the "maximum extent feasible."
WWL-TV first met Garofalo back in 2017. The city was holding a ribbon cutting to mark a smaller round of renovations at the Nix Library. Garofalo sat at the bottom of the entrance stairs, holding a sign that read "$320,000 in repairs and upgrades and yet I can't use my public library!!" She said then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu told her the city was working on a solution. "I certainly hope that is the case," she added.
Five years later, Garofalo came back to the Nix Library. She tested out the new wheelchair lift, smiling and waving as it whirred upward.
Then, for the first time in years, she entered the Nix Library. She rolled around, noting details like a lower check-out counter and computer desks. She commented that the aisles were easy to maneuver.
"This is very nice," Garofalo said at the end of the tour, beaming, "very exciting."
WWL-TV also asked Melanie Bray, the Assistant Legal Director of Disability Rights Louisiana, to take a look around. She walked between the shelves, noting the distance between them. She then peeked into the bathroom, commenting on the grab bars next to the toilet and the low sink. Besides a few small suggestions, like a second handle on the inside of the bathroom door, her first impression is that the city did a good job updating the space.
Back outside, Bray explained that wheelchair users are often left outside in New Orleans. Many buildings in the city are very old, she said, and not all of them have the space or structure to add ramps or lifts.
Garofalo added that overall, "New Orleans could be better about making the city accessible for people with disabilities." She hopes that through her advocacy, she will help "eliminate barriers," and make sure everyone has "equal access and fair treatment."
There is plenty of work to do. But now, at least one historic landmark has turned the page.