Thursday, September 01, 2005

Libraries in the Path of Hurricane Katrina

Here are a few items about libraries in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama that have been hit by Hurricane Katrina. In many, libraries are just mentioned as part of the story.

Evacuees in West Shreveport, Louisiana are getting meals at the Shreve Memorial Library West Shreveport Branch again this morning. Library staff and patrons are arranging a buffet and will also entertain the needy with a children’s story time and a movie.

Libraries in the Shreveport area are providing Internet service for many evacuees trying to find their family and friends.

The Chicago Tribune reports on Gulfport, Mississippi, “In what was once the public library, wet books formed a mound of soggy pulp.”

Students slept in the library Tuesday night at Jackson State University.

The Mobile Register will be unable to run its Yesterday’s News column until its staff can get back into the public library to use the microfilm.

Libraries outside the three states are beginning to respond. Here are a couple of items.

The American Red Cross is training volunteers who will work at shelters at the Tyler Public Library in Texas.

Students at Kansas City’s Westport Middle School are raising funds for disaster relief by reading school library books a penny a page.


The websites for the New Orleans and Mobile public libraries are down. The website for Jackson, Mississippi is up but has no hurricane news.

A search on the website for the Times-Picayune retrieves only pre-hurricane items.

The American Library Association has set up a page with news items about libraries that suffered from the hurricane.

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