🏢 New Orleans Public Library — New Orleans, Louisiana

Main Library

The flagship of the New Orleans Public Library system, the Main Library on Loyola Avenue is downtown's great open room — home to the City Archives, a Teen Tech Center, and one of the last truly public spaces in the city where nobody expects you to spend a dime.

📖 About Main Library

The Main Library anchors the New Orleans Public Library system from its mid-century home at 219 Loyola Avenue, a modernist building designed by the celebrated New Orleans firm Curtis & Davis and opened in 1960. Beyond its general collections, the building holds the City Archives & Special Collections, whose records reach back into the city's Spanish and French colonial past and preserve the court documents, maps, newspapers, and photographs that tell the story of New Orleans. The library also runs a REACH Center and a Teen Tech Center, giving young people hands-on access to technology and creative tools. Meeting rooms are available for community reservation, and the branch serves as a vital daytime refuge with air conditioning, restrooms, and charging stations open to all. It is the busiest hub in the system and the natural first stop for researchers, students, and anyone new to the city.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Designed by the acclaimed New Orleans firm Curtis & Davis and opened in 1960
• Home to the City Archives & Special Collections, with records tracing back to the colonial era
• Houses a Teen Tech Center and REACH Center for hands-on learning
• Reservable meeting rooms and a genuinely open public space downtown

📱 Free with a New Orleans Public Library Card

Any Louisiana resident can get a NOPL card free and unlock:

📍 More New Orleans Public Library branches

← All New Orleans libraries  ·  All Louisiana →

❓ Frequently Asked Questions