Covington Branch Renovation Information

We are delighted to announce that the renovation of the Covington Branch, 310 W. 21st Ave., is nearly complete!

The renovated Covington Branch will reopen on January 27!

The Ribbon Cutting for the Covington Branch will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5. The Grand Reopening Celebration will be held on Saturday, February 8. We hope you can join us!


Covington Library Renovation Fact Sheet

  • The 18,525 square foot branch, which opened on September 23, 1987, housed both the Covington Branch and library administration. Prior to the renovation, library administration moved to a new location so the 3,500 square feet they previously occupied could be included in the renovated space.
  • The renovation of the 33 year-old branch began in October of 2018 and took a little over 15 months at a cost of $1,778,294.29.
  • The architects for the renovation were Russell Burgdahl and Steven Graves of Burgdahl & Graves, AIA Architects. The contractor for the project was Steele McDaniel of Steele R. Development, LLC. Interior design consulting was provided by Denelle Wrightson and Melissa Lemaster of Dewberry.
  • Renovations included a new heating and cooling system, new lighting, new automatic doors, new windows, updated bathrooms, enlargement of the meeting room, fresh interior paint, new carpet and new furniture. In addition, the renovation features the addition of three study rooms, a quiet reading room, and an activity room.
  • The new quiet reading room provides a quiet place for contemplation or study adjacent to our Genealogy and Louisiana Room. The meeting room can hold 80 people and can be reserved by community groups.
  • The children’s area furniture enhancements including the discovery tree bench, the oak tree marking the entrance to the children's area, the tack boards, imagination cube, and flying geese were donated by the St. Tammany Library Foundation. The foundation also donated the adult shelving end panels.  Their generous donations helped to make our interior renovation truly special.

  • The Covington Public Art Fund graciously donated a bronze bust of Walker Percy sculpted by Don Smith.
  • As trees are so central to Covington, a Tree City USA, major design elements of the renovation include trees and the animals that call them home.
  • The branch houses 85,472 items for all ages.
  • Hours for the branch will be Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Sally McKissack is the Branch Manager and Melanie Sharp is the Circulation Manager.
  • The Ribbon Cutting for the renovated branch will begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5. The Grand Opening Celebration will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 8, and will include a performance by Curtis Pierre, “The Samba Man,” at 10:30 a.m., a teen printmaking workshop at 11:30 a.m., a meet-and-greet with author Erica Spindler at 11:45 a.m. and Zumba with Covington Mayor Mark Johnson at 1 p.m.

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