The Library of Congress has initiated efforts to help in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita through book donations, programs on the preservation and recovery of materials, a collaborative project to collect and archive Web sites pertaining to the hurricane and its aftermath, staff fund-raising events, collaboration with Louisiana scholars and an oral history project for hurricane survivors.
Kytara Gaudin, left, and Angela Cinquyemano from the Louisiana State Library. - Francisco Appodaca
In a Sept. 8 memorandum to Library Services division chiefs and recommending officers, Carolyn Brown, director, Collections and Services, and Beacher Wiggins, director, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, noted the scope of the disaster and the heroic efforts to assist in the recovery.
"It is now our turn, as keepers of history, to join these heroic efforts with our own commitment to document these events as they unfold."
The following is an overview of the Library's hurricane relief efforts.
Book Donations
The Library has joined with First Book to place millions of books into the hands of children and families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The Book Relief project was represented in the Pavilion of States at the National Book Festival on the National Mall on Sept. 24. By the end of the day, families and children had donated more than $1,000 to the cause. The Library is also sending books directly to shelters and to schools that are serving people displaced by the disaster.
Preservation and Recovery
The Library's Office of Preservation has placed information on its Web site at www.loc.gov/preserv/ for libraries, archives, museums and the general public about recovering water-damaged materials.
In other preservation efforts, the Library is determining which recovery and preservation materials it has on hand that can be donated to libraries in need of such supplies; devoting staff time for expert employees to help in the hurricane relief efforts, either by consultation or on-site assistance; preparing a training course in disaster recovery and preservation techniques for librarians in the affected regions, which includes training in recovery of water-damaged materials and flash-freezing techniques; and is forming a preservation and conservation network of libraries that will be asked to offer staff time and cash donations for the relief effort.
Hurricane Web Archive
The Library has joined with the Internet Archive in San Francisco and the California Digital Library to create a Web repository that documents born-digital communications, reactions and commentary on the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, not only on the regions in the path of their destruction but also on the United States and the larger world community.
As of Sept. 30, the Library's recommending officers had recommended 774 URLs for collection and preservation. Of these, some 600 sites are being collected, and permission is being sought to archive 65 others.
Eighty-seven recommendations await further consideration. Included in the Library's recommendations are Web sites of governmental and relief organizations, educational institutions and media sites for which permission to archive must be obtained.
Charitable Fund Drives
During its fall Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), the Library is featuring hurricane relief charities and organizations in a special campaign to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims.
Louisiana Scholars
William Craft Brumfield, professor of Slavic studies at Tulane University in New Orleans and an expert on Russian architecture, will continue his research work as a scholar in the Library's John W. Kluge Center for several months while Tulane remains closed.
Wanting to provide an outlet for expression to poets displaced by the hurricane, the Office of Scholarly Programs invited Brenda Marie Osbey to read from her works at the Library on Nov. 3. Osbey is the poet laureate of Louisiana and a faculty member of Dillard University in New Orleans. While Dillard remains closed, Osbey is serving as an assistant professor in English at Louisiana State University.
Oral History Project for Hurricane Survivors
The American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress is working with folklorists at the University of Houston and in Austin, Texas, to create an oral history project that will put academic survivors of the hurricane to work collecting survivor stories in Texas. The Library is training historians and other academics to conduct oral histories and will donate tape recording equipment for this project.
In addition, the Library will assist in the development of a database and recording archive so that this collection of oral histories will be usable by historians, journalists and other researchers.
The American Folklife Center is also working with folklorists in Baton Rouge and Shreveport on a similar project for hurricane survivors in those areas.
Once the New Orleans City Archives is restored, the Folklife Center has agreed to conduct a similar partnership project in New Orleans and will create a portal database that will house the oral histories collected in all three areas (Texas, central/north Louisiana and New Orleans).
