History

​The St. Tammany Library Foundation was established in 2006, shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast area. One community library was so severely damaged by water and wind it could no longer function as a library facility. Another was completely destroyed by tornado force winds.

The Foundation was founded as a charitable non-profit 501 [c] [3] corporation to support the St. Tammany Parish Library System in its recovery and to promote the long-range growth and development of library resources and services in the future.

A new state-of-the-art library was completed to replace one of the facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the second one is in the planning stages. The Foundation has become re-energized to focus on its broader mission, which is to build private support, enhance the visibility of the St. Tammany Library’s role in the community, and strengthen the public’s support of our library system. The St. Tammany Library Foundation’s vision is to see that our library system continues its mission of sharing the heritage of the past, and meeting the challenges of today and the future.

Governance

A volunteer community board directs the St. Tammany Library Foundation. The Board of Directors works closely with the Library staff to identify funding needs. The Foundation is separate from the Friends of the Library, although a member from the Friends may sit on the Board of the Foundation.
 
The Advisory Board members offer the Foundation’s Board of Directors their considerable experience to guide important decisions of the Board. The Foundation is grateful for their generosity of spirit and of time and for their commitment to the mission of libraries as resources of lifetime learning in our community.​