BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana has welcomed its newest library. The State Library of Louisiana formally recognized the Eunice Public Library as the 68thpublic library in the state.The recognition capped almost a year of work as the Eunice Public Library, which had operated independently since 2019, sought official status.
“It can be a tedious process for a library to earn state recognition. But the leaders of the Eunice Public Library stuck with it, and now they’ll have the full support of the State Library as they look to grow,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “The citizens of Eunice already know the great things their library does. It’s only going to get better.”
“The State Library’s mission is to help build strong local libraries around the state. We are happy to answer the call to help Eunice’s library meet the state’s requirements for a public library,” said Interim State Librarian Meg Placke. “The Eunice Public Library already had a strong foundation, and we look forward to helping them as they add new services for their patrons.”
The Eunice Public Library will now be able to take advantage of State Library services, including regular staff training, technology support, and grants. Its status as an official public library will also allow it to get discounted internet service, a cost saving to taxpayers. Patrons will be able to request and borrow books from across Louisiana -- and the world -- through the Interlibrary Loan System.
“It’s the end of a long process,” Eunice Public Library Director Alison Duplechin said after the Library Board of Control’s July meeting, during which its officers were elected with the assistance of Associate State Librarian Michael Golrick.
Duplechin said the library hopes to finally add e-books and audio books to its collection, which so far only contains hard copies. Work on the interior and exterior of the library is also expected to start in the near future.
“I’m excited to see what we can offer our community,” Duplechin said.
St. Landry Parish, where Eunice is located, is the only parish in the state that does not have a parish library system. Voters in November 1965 first rejected creating a parish library. Efforts since then to create a parish library have failed.
The Opelousas and Eunice city councils, however, adopted identical resolutions in April 1967 agreeing to operate and maintain a bi-city library.
The Opelousas-Eunice Public Library opened on Oct. 1, 1967. Opelousas supplied 60 percent of the library’s budget and Eunice supplied 40 percent. The Eunice library began operating independently in July 2019.