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An Energetic Yellow Swarm Blankets the CityAsk Not What New Orleans Can Do for You…Organized by the American Library Association and dubbed “the yellow swarm” because of their distinctive bee-colored “Libraries Build Communities” T-shirts, a volunteer workforce nearly 1,000 strong descended on New Orleans libraries for two days of hard labor, painting, fixing, sorting, and stacking at more than 20 locations all over the city. Disregarding the heat and humidity, the intrepid group ventured into neighborhoods where revitalized libraries can mean the difference between being informed and being in the dark, between coping and giving up. In addition to the contributions of the work brigades, donors made a number of major contributions to the recovery efforts, with corporate and private funds totaling more than $20 million. ALA provided 425 complimentary registrations to ALA members and chapter members in the counties and parishes where libraries were destroyed or severely damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. What follows is a summary of projects that blossomed in New Orleans during the ALA conference.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $12.2 million, to be administered by SOLINET, for up to 22 bookmobiles or temporary mini-branches. “The need for public access will only increase,” declared Allan Golston, the foundation’s president of U.S. programs. He added that the foundation’s contribution was “significant but not enough,” hoping that it would serve as “a catalyst for more support from government and public sources.” Golston went on to note how in the hurricanes’ aftermath, library workers helped area residents “connect to loved ones, contact FEMA and insurance companies, find new housing, and rebuild their lives when other social and civil services were unable to support them.” The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund is contributing $5 million toward the reconstruction of a total of eight libraries in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The nonprofit Americans for Libraries Council will manage the grant. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is providing $500,000 to help staff the temporary facilities. “Together, public and private funders recognize the power of public libraries and their staff to strengthen communities and support growth and learning,” remarked IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco attended the press briefing along with Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu. Characterizing libraries as “places that pull us together across generations,” Blanco emphasized the roles libraries are playing in the aftermath of the hurricanes. “People need access to information,” she said. Noting that “crime has no role in the recovery,” Blanco cautioned, “Parents cannot let their children roam”; instead they should be visiting libraries. “Libraries will make communities vital again,” said SOLINET Executive Director Kate Nevins. Hearts and Hands for the Crescent City. Harris was one of more than 50 volunteers who traveled by bus to the Seventh Ward for a daylong call-to-action at New Orleans Public Library’s Nora Navra branch as part of the ALA Office for Diversity’s “Diversions 2006: Hearts and Hands for New Orleans” project. The Navra library opened in 1946 in the Tremé neighborhood—one of the city’s poorer areas—and was one of the first local branches to admit people of color. The branch had been closed since it was inundated with floodwaters, and when the librarian crew arrived they found it in the same damaged state.
Assisted by the local Common Ground Collective and the Atlanta-based Hands on Network, two groups that are offering assistance to hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast areas, the librarian volunteers wore protective clothing and masks as they gutted the entire edifice in hopes of preparing the building to serve as a sign of a community on the mend. Lynn Wild, outreach librarian at Johnson County (Kans.) Library, hadn’t attended an Annual Conference in more than 20 years, but came to receive the ASCLA Exceptional Service Award. “For me, outreach isn’t recognition, it’s helping others,” Wild explained. “It’s nice to help out in a small way to get this neighborhood library back for the children that need it.” “This is so meaningful,” noted Em Claire Knowles, assistant dean at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston, while holding Water, Water Everywhere by Mark J. Rauzon and Cynthia Overbeck Bix—ironically one of the first books retrieved from inside the library. “This is my day of service and it’s a way to give back.” Knowles and her colleague ayo dayo, manager in the Information Support Services Division of the Prince William (Va.) Public Library System, donned their BCALA hats for the occasion. “This is what we’re about as African Americans,” dayo explained. “We’re supposed to help out in our communities and when people are in need, that’s what we should be doing and that’s why I’m here.” “I’m proud to be a librarian and part of ALA,” asserted Christine Talbert, school librarian at Woodburn Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia. “The cooperative effort of working together, knowing that we’re all librarians, and our heart and soul is in this building like it is for this New Orleans community, it’s very, very meaningful,” added Harris.
Beyond Words: The Dollar General School Library Relief Fund. At a June 26 press conference at Benjamin Franklin High School (one of the grant recipients), librarian Idella Washington said, “It’s not easy to rebuild, but the response and moral support have provided us with the strength to endure.” ALA’s American Association of School Librarians will administer the funds, and the National Education Association will assist AASL on the grant review committee and provide support materials. Benjamin Franklin High School Principal Carol Christen observed, “We’ve come a long way.” ALA President-elect Leslie Burger called the school’s progress “nothing short of miraculous” and praised Christen and her staff for defying authorities and reopening the school before they had permission. Dollar General CEO David Purdue said, “It starts with reading,” as he presented a $10,000 check to Idella Washington. Some $570,000 is still available. For details, visit www.ala.org/aasl/.
Highsmith, Bretford Fund Children’s Resource Center Renovation. “The NOPL staff asked us to help them renovate one library so they have a physical example of what their libraries can be like after Katrina. They needed a catalyst for their fundraising efforts,” said Margaret Sullivan, director of merchandising for Highsmith. Award-winning children’s book illustrator Susan Guevara brought characters from her book Chato and the Party Animals to the library in the form of a new mural, and Naturemaker donated a 14-foot steel art oak tree as a centerpiece for the children’s reading room. Volunteers participated in the extreme makeover of the interior of the branch. They moved the collection, furniture, and equipment out of the branch, painted, and then at a nearby school processed and integrated new materials into the collection. Volunteers then helped to move the collection back into the Children’s Resource Center and prepare it for its grand reopening, when NOPL board President Tania Tetlow called the library “the most beautiful thing we’ve ever seen” and said, “God bless you for coming to this city.”
ProQuest Trailer Library to Algiers Branch. At the dedication ceremony, ProQuest President David Prichard presented the trailer library to the residents of the Algiers neighborhood, saying, “It’s not very big, but its appearance is deceiving. This little trailer holds more than you think.” The mobile library will serve as the temporary Algiers branch while the permanent library is being rebuilt.
Better World Books Takes on the Sort. Although the building did not flood, it suffered major roof damage. As a result, wind-driven rain entered the building, ruining its contents. The gutted branch is currently being used as a holding and sorting space for the thousands of book donations sent to NOPL from around the world. Of the estimated 500,000 books, almost 25,000 books were sorted, packed, and shipped to Better World Books, which will process and sell the books in over 14 online marketplaces, returning a percentage of the proceeds to NOPL. As of March 31, Better World Books had donated $4,923 to NOPL, generated from other donations that were redirected and listed for sale. In lieu of further book donations, potential donors are being asked to participate in ALA’s Adopt-a-Library program. See www.ala.org/katrina for for information. H.W. Wilson Donation to New Orleans Public Library for Programming. ALA’s Public Programs Office will work with Wilson and NOPL to promote cultural programming through a grant—the “We the People Bookshelf” on “Becoming American.” Additionally, the H. W. Wilson Company is granting free trial access to 28 WilsonWeb databases to the NOPL system until July 2007. Last November, the foundation also contributed $50,000 to ALA’s Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund. Awards from the ALA Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. Hundreds of librarians and library staff members across the country have pitched in to raise money for the fund’s Adopt-a-Library program. As part of the ongoing effort, ALA plans to share examples of how U.S. libraries are making a difference in the region, including creative fundraising efforts. The Katrina Fund Booth on “Super Tuesday” in the exhibit hall collected $1,500.
ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children held a silent auction to benefit the fund. Two pieces of original artwork created and donated by 2006 Newbery Medal winner Lynne Rae Perkins and Caldecott winner Chris Raschka were on the block. Said ALSC President Ellen G. Fader, “These very special sketches, sure to become collector’s items, not only will delight the lucky individuals who win them, but also will help raise much-needed funds to aid libraries in the Gulf Coast region—a twofold gift!” Perkins’s art piece features Lenny, a character from Criss Cross (Greenwillow, 2005), with a bird flying in his head. Raschka’s artwork is a sketch for the jacket image of The Hello, Goodbye Window (Hyperion, 2005). The Silent Auction raised $2,050 for the ALA fund, thanks to the successful bidders: Joy Haack of Bend, Oregon, and Thom Barthelmess of Austin, Texas. The hurricane fund is also getting $684 from the sale of the Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? CDs at the ALA Store from the University of New Hampshire Traditional Jazz Series. Members of Boy Scouts of America Troop 33 from DeKalb, Illinois, presented ALA President Michael Gorman a $3,000 check for the fund at the exhibits ribbon-cutting. The scouts rode bicycles from Memphis, Tennessee, to New Orleans to raise the funds.
The Swarm Buzzes Across the CityMany other project sites buzzed with “Libraries Build Communities” activity on Friday and Tuesday of the conference. Tasks varied by site, ranging from construction, painting, and gardening to shelving, weeding, and packing books. Cognotes, the ALA conference daily, reported that “one of the pleasures of the day was seeing what a difference a few hours and a group of motivated volunteers could make. At one project site in the devastated Ninth Ward, Holy Cross High School in Orleans Parish, 15 ALA volunteers, along with a few community helpers, braved the heat and humidity to help Holy Cross librarian Beth Patin prepare for the school’s upcoming move to a new location. Everyone was amazed by the stacks of boxes filled with books and the nearly empty shelves by the end of the day.” Other sponsors for these projects were Ovid, 3M, Milliken and Company, Matthews Specialty Vehicles, Hallet Movers, and NatureMaker. Additional sites included: Benjamin Franklin High School. Volunteers over two days helped process new materials and relocate the library from its temporary location on the second floor back to the once-flooded first floor. Librarians estimated that the volunteers saved staff over six months of work.
Common Ground. Volunteering with the Common Ground organization, many librarians took on the task of going to the Ninth Ward to help gut and clean houses so that homeowners could begin the rehabbing process. Delgado Community College, Main Campus and West Campus. Volunteers helped clean a number of buildings and organize materials (such as blueprints) to help the campus get ready for the fall semester. They also helped with the campus grounds. Habitat for Humanity. Volunteers lent a hand to workers building homes in the Musicians’ Village area. Holy Cross High School. Volunteers sorted through and packed up the library collection for transportation to the new school site. Jefferson Parish Library. Volunteers helped set up, host, and break down a book sale, which raised much-needed funds. They also assisted the short-staffed library by participating in outreach coordination to visit various daycare centers and nursing homes, staffing the reference desk, conducting children’s story times, signing up kids for summer reading, processing materials, and transcribing obituaries from microfilm. Newcomb College Archives/Nadine Vorhoff Library, Tulane University. Volunteers assisted with sorting, weeding, and getting the collection back in order. New Orleans Public Library, Hubbell Branch. Volunteers helped the Friends of Hubbell Library landscape the grounds. New Orleans Public Library, Main Library. Volunteers helped on a number of projects, including acquisitions, cataloging, stack cleanup, summer reading activities, and sprucing up the public patios. Nunez Community College. Volunteers assisted with reestablishing the collection, which had been decimated during Hurricane Katrina. Operation Helping Hands, Catholic Charities. Volunteers helped gut and clean houses in a number of sections of New Orleans so homeowners could begin rehabbing. Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Volunteers assisted with the processing of books for circulation when the parochial school opens in the fall.
Resurrection of Our Lord. Volunteers read stories and assisted with crafts and other projects for the parochial school’s summer program for kids ages 4–10 who were displaced by the floods. Second Harvest Food Bank. Volunteers helped in the warehouse repacking room to organize food for the nearly 200 disaster agencies around greater New Orleans that provide food relief. Southern University. Volunteers processed donated books for the rebuilding of the university’s collection, which was a total loss. The Black Caucus of the American Library Association sponsored the initiative. The university library lost supplies and its entire children’s, reference, and African-American collections. St. Mary’s Academy. Volunteers helped paint the library and other rooms at the school to get it ready for fall classes. The “Libraries Build Communities” work crews shared experiences in the first-ever ALA Annual Conference wiki. Visit www.ala.org and click on the “wikis” icon. New Orleans Public Library Foundation Launches $10-Million Campaign. |
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