Geaux Library Recovery List-Serv: One Mission - Help Librarians and Libraries Help Their Colleagues in the Aftermath of Katrina

I've created a new Yahoo! group to help put librarians, archivists, curators, systems, IT, and preservation professionals from aroundd the world into contact with their colleagues and friends in Louisiana, Mississippi, and along the Gulf Coast.

There are thousands of information professionals and repositories that have been devistated by Hurricane Katrina. Several of the most valuable historical collections in have more than likely suffered catastrophic destruction. More than likely, some of the America's most vital historical artifacts, records, and documents have probably been lost. Clean-up will take a lot of manpower, muscle, and knowledge. Libraries may need to be completely gutted, whole records collections may need to be sorted, dried, and reprocessed.

But paper, paint, architecture, digital technologies, and metalwork, as anyone who works in historic preservation, is finite and nowhere near as valuable as a single human life.

There are going to be numerous professionals and paraprofessionals, and their families, who may be without power, phone service, or vital necessities. There will undoubtably be students at the L-Schools at Southern Miss and LSU (both of which have a lot of distance students from NOLA) who have lost much of what they own.

The Katrina Reocvery Effort will require, more than likely, a lot of fresh bodies and resources to help. This is a way for librarians to help, even if its just for moral support. People will need to find out about missing colleagues, updates on the storm from on the ground, and may need to solicit volunteer clean-up workers. If someone has some vacation/release time saved up, please feel free to donate some time. This is a new endeavor, so I'm hoping I-Pros around the country will be willing to donate any support they can.

And please, please, please....first give to the Red Cross. If you can't do anything else, give a little and check with employers about matching donations.

For more information, please e-mail me. Feel free to e-mail this post to professionals in your neck of the woods or hotlink.

Jason