Hurricanes Katrina & Rita & Libraries; Hurricane Ida?
The 2005 Hurricanes Devastated Gulf Coast Libraries; We don't know yet about Ida.
No overview yet of the impact of Hurricane Ida on libraries in south Louisiana. Hurricane Ida made landfall at 16:55 UTC on August 29, 2021 near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. But we do know what happened to libraries after Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) and Hurricane Rita (September 2005).
After hundreds of libraries were damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita1 in 2005, the American Library Association (ALA) led a national effort to provide relief and assistance, raising $500,000, which was distributed to all types of libraries. In addition, ALA set up an “Adopt-A-Library” program in which 300 libraries from outside the Gulf region provided direct support to individual libraries in need. Through ALA’s Libraries Build Communities project, over 900 librarians and library workers from around the country volunteered to help rebuild libraries, homes, and other community sites. 2
Dr. Alma Dawson of Louisiana State University developed a program to rebuild library staffs.3
It was not until 2018 that all of New Orleans libraries had reopened.4
Below a program from 2011: “The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast Libraries and Their Disaster Planning.”
Leboeuf MC. Ill Winds: Hurricanes and Public Libraries along the Gulf Coast. Public Libraries. 2006;45(3):58-63; Howard-Tilton Memorial Library -Tulane. Hurricane Katrina and the Library.
Libraries and Hurricane Katrina. American Library Association.
Dawson, A. (2006). “Libraries: “Rebuilding Community in Louisiana after the Hurricanes of 2005.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 45 pp. 292–296.
It takes at least a week before any reports surface of libraries damaged in a flood or other natural disaster. First, search and rescue takes precedence; second, residences and local businesses that are damaged get reported on first; third, it takes a while before emergency management authorities let anyone back into public or academic buildings to check for any water damage; and fourth, unless the damage is spectacular, library losses most often first appear toward the bottom of long media summaries of storm damage. Right after Katrina, I think the online coverage by "American Libraries" (thanks to personnel at the state libraries reporting back to us, and our own amplification of the role of libraries in refugee services) encouraged local reporters to focus on damage to public libraries in the New Orleans Public Library system at the time.