Monday, October 27, 2003 11:49 A.M.  Library in Sunset reopens after tornado The South St. Landry Community Library: 235 Marie St., Sunset By William Johnson wjohnson@dailyworld.com Library services for the people of Sunset return to normal today. Last December, a tornado hit the library, tearing off the roof, twisting steel beams and soaking the library's book collection. "It's wonderful now," said South St. Landry Community Library Director Golda Jordan of the space at 235 Marie St. "It's amazing that a disaster can bring about such wonderful things." After months of recovery work, the library reopened in March in a small, temporary building next door with limited hours and services. Now, almost a year later, the library is at last back in its original home with bigger and better services. The library has added a Genealogy, Louisiana history and professional collection room named for Alice Clay. Clay, who now lives in a nursing home in Lafayette, is credited for beginning public library service in Sunset. "She was the high school librarian. She would open the library to the community during the summer," Jordan said. Also new is a separate young-adult area to complement the library's children's area. By using the old conference room, the library has also added an adult reading area. "People can now go in there and enjoy reading in private ... away from all the noise," Jordan said. The library's temporary home in recent months is being converted into a community center, which the library will use for conferences and meetings. Jordan gave special praise to St. Landry Parish Sheriff Howard Zerangue, Chief Deputy Laura Balthazar, Deputy Harvey Wimberly and trusties from the St. Landry Parish Jail for making the new library possible. They've built shelves, painted walls and, for the past month, helped moved the library out of its temporary quarters back into its old home. "They did a great job. They really worked hard," Jordan said. She said the disaster was also an opportunity to upgrade many of the library's systems, including creating a new computerized catalog system and library cards. While much is bigger and better, one important area did suffer in the storm, Jordan said. "We lost more than 2,000 books," she said. Since the storm, the library has received donations of books from the East Baton Rouge Parish Library System and numerous donations from both locals and people from out of state. While the new books will help fill in holes in the collection, they must first be cataloged. Jordan is currently working on a grant to allow her to hire a cataloger to speed the process along. Hours of operation: - Monday - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Tuesday - 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. - Wednesday - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Thursday - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Friday - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Saturday - Noon to 3 p.m.