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Cita Dennis Hubbell Library
The Hubbell Library is one of the neighborhood branches of the New Orleans Public Library. It reopened after a two-month closure caused by Hurricane Katrina. For the time being (until the Algiers Regional Branch recovers from the storm) the Hubbell Branch is the only NOPL branch open on the west bank of Orleans Parish. Located on the Westbank of the Mississippi River in the historic Algiers Point area, the Hubbell Library opened on December 28, 1907. The Italianate style building was one of five libraries in New Orleans established due to the philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie. Of those five Carnegie Libraries, only Hubbell and the Children's Resource Center remain in use as public libraries today. Hurricane Betsy severely damaged the building in 1965 and the library was closed. It was renovated and reopened in 1975.
After high school, Miss Dennis went to Charity School of Nursing and became a registered nurse. In 1949 she married George Edward Hubbell [A&R 9729 (a182)], an officer in the US Navy. Cita became a military spouse and mother, moving someplace new every few years whenever her husband was transferred. She lived in Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, San Francisco, Long Beach, Pebble Beach and San Diego, as well as in Kiel, in what was then West Germany. The Hubbells had three sons and one daughter.
Among the changes Cita found on her return to Algiers was that the neighborhood library on Pelican Avenue was closed. Damaged in Hurricane Betsy in 1965, it was boarded up and left to be vandalized. A sign on the front door read "closed for repairs," but in reality the city had no plans to reopen it. A newer, larger library – the Algiers Regional Branch – had opened in a more newly-developed area of Algiers in 1966, and it was considered sufficient to serve the entire west bank of New Orleans. The trouble Cita saw was that the older neighborhoods had large numbers of children and elderly people, most of whom could not simply "hop in the car and drive" to a new library two or three miles away. Old Algiers was, and is, a more pedestrian-oriented part of the city. They needed a pedestrian-accessible library.
Mrs. Hubbell's efforts also influenced library policy in other parts of the city. Notwithstanding hurricanes and floods, city leaders today wouldn't even think about closing small neighborhood libraries in favor of larger regional libraries. Cita died of cancer on November 1, 2001. After her funeral at Holy Name of Mary Chuch, City Councilman Troy Carter proposed that the city name the library after her. Mr. Carter and his successor on the council, Jackie Brechtel Clarkson, made that happen. The Algiers Point Branch became the Cita Dennis Hubbell Branch in 2002. The Hubbell Library has a selection of current popular fiction and nonfiction, as well as standard fiction and a range of nonfiction materials. Items for circulation, not located at this branch, can be conveniently ordered from other branches. This includes other media such as video cassettes and DVD's books on tape, music cassettes and CDs. Specialized collections include African American works, Mysteries, Short Stories, Westerns, Science Fiction, Large Print Books, Study Guides, Operation Main Stream books (beginning adult reading), and the Classics.
For the younger readers there are collections of books for infants and toddlers, beginning readers, juvenile fiction and nonfiction, and young adult readers. Literacy and teaching materials are collected. A "Hooked on Phonics" program of tapes, flash cards, and books is available for in house use (adult supervision with children). Materials of interest for teachers include large storytime books and charts (available for special loan), other learning activities, and catalogs of publications.
Cita Dennis Hubbell Branch
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The Little Library That Could!
The Hubbell Library's namesake was a native
Algerine, a registered nurse and neighborhood activist who led the 1970s
campaign to have the library reopened. Cita (pronounced "SEE-ta") was born Cita
Isabel Dennis on August 2, 1928. She lived on Elmira Avenue, just a couple of
blocks from the little library that would later bear her name. She attended
Belleville Elementary School (across the street from the library) and graduated
from Martin Behrman High School.
Shortly after George retired from the Navy in
the late 1960s, Cita decided she wanted to be close to her parents. The Hubbells
came back to Algiers in 1970. Mrs. Hubbell took up the nursing profession again,
working in the neonatal nursery at Charity Hospital. She also worked at Jo Ellen
Smith and F. Edward Hebert Hospitals in Algiers, and for the federal employee
health service at the Hale Boggs Federal Building.
Local interest collections include works about
Louisiana, Algiers Point, local architecture, historic district information, a
collection of Behrman yearbooks (1955-1970), zoning information, home
renovation, and gardening. The library receives some government documents for
public viewing and reference use. These include some New Orleans City Government
items (City Council agenda, budgets, School Board budgets, etc.), some selected
Louisiana State items, and some Federal government documents. Periodicals, such
as magazines and newspapers, are available for in house viewing. Two months of
back issues are available for the Times-Picayune daily and Sunday.