Shreve Memorial Library

BJSA Project Updates

Byron Stewart has been the subject of numerous news stories in local and national magazines, including Black Enterprise, The New Orleans Tribune, the The Shreveport Times and the Denver Post.

Shreve Memorial Library Mooretown Branch Opens to Rave Reviews

The grand opening of the Shreve Memorial Libray's Mooretown branch was a resounding success, according to City officials, news media representatives and neighbors in the community. Designed and construction managed by BJSA and associate architect, Mischa Farrell, the branch cost more than $1.5 million in construction and materials and is 8,500 square feet. It is situated on about 4.5 acres, with a bridge connecting the library's yard with its neighbors, said James Pelton, director of the Shreve Memorial Library. The library is state-of-the-art and features the latest in information technology, with high-end computers, research tools and full high-speed Internet capabilities.

Among the many striking design features, is the 16- by 45-foot mural titled The Saga of Mooretown: Spirit of a People sprawls above the front desk of the branch, depicting images of life in the area.

According to a feature story in the Shreveport Times, the mural is restoring a sense of pride in the community for children and adults alike.

FROM THE SHREVEPORT TIMES

New library is unveiled
Sarah Reilly Pancoast
Posted on September 29, 2003 While standing in the semi-circular entrance way of the Mooretown Branch library, 9-year-old Justin Lindsay said his favorite parts of the new building are the stories it tells about his neighborhood.

A 16- by 45-foot mural titled The Saga of Mooretown: Spirit of a People sprawls above the front desk of the branch, depicting images of life in the area.

Central to the mural is a prosperous-looking church. Another is of Abraham Washington, grandfather of one of the mural's creators, artist Walter Washington. And another image is of Giles Moore, namesake of Mooretown; he founded what is now a section of Shreveport, to be a self-sufficient black community.

But Lindsay, a Hollywood Heights resident, really enjoys the series of plaques that adorn the entrance way, which tells the story behind the images in the mural.

Lindsay was one of the throng that attended Shreve Memorial Library's Mooretown Branch's grand opening Sunday afternoon.

The branch cost more than $1.5 million in construction and materials and is 8,500 square feet. It is situated on about 4.5 acres, with a bridge connecting the library's yard with its neighbors, said James Pelton, director of the Shreve Memorial Library.

This is the last library in Phase II of a multifaceted construction and rebuilding of the Shreve Memorial Libraries funded by a tax millage voters approved in 1996.

New buildings for the Extension Center and the Atkins branch are scheduled for Phase III and are in the design stages, said Stephanie Lynch, vice president of the Shreve Memorial Library Board of Control.

And though many were excited about the history on display in the library, it is the new equipment that will probably be the most popular, said Rose Davis, branch manager. She noticed children looking through the more than 200 DVDs and more than 600 videocassettes in the library.

Among the site's other amenities is a technology room with 10 new computers. When the library has enough people signed up, it will begin computer classes, Davis said.

Olivia Louis, 76, of Hollywood Heights, said she would be taking one of those classes, and using the bridge to get there.

Long-time Mooretown resident Faye Hall said a local library will be helpful to children who in the past had to travel to other neighborhoods, and that the computers will be an asset for those children who might not have a computer in their own home.

"It's very necessary," said Hall, secretary of the Hollywood Heights and Adjacent Communities Neighborhood Association. "And it's very helpful to the kids."