Did
you know that you are a part of an “anchor” institution? You are! This was the
term used by Diane Brown, Deputy State Librarian at the State Library of
Louisiana, who led a recent disaster training workshop at Williamson County
Public Library. With about 17,000 public libraries in the U.S., covering a
total of over 3,100 counties, that averages out to five libraries per county in
our country. When I thought of this statistic, I thought: “She’s right, we are
an anchor institution.”
Brown
shared with us about the experiences of Louisiana libraries during several
major disasters they’ve endured, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They
learned a lot from that experience. One of the most important lessons was that
FEMA did not recognize public libraries as “essential services” back in 2005,
and thus those facilities which lost buildings due to flooding were not
eligible for temporary spaces or Federal funding. (They are now!)
Do
you know one reason why FEMA ended up recognizing public libraries as
essential? Because when first responders and victims of the disaster needed a
safe space to rest and use the internet or computers to file FEMA paperwork, where
did they send them? To the public libraries that were still operational! Though
public libraries faced their own crises with damage and staff loss of property,
they continued to provide services as much as possible to their communities. It
was truly awe-inspiring to hear the stories.
The
biggest take-away from this meeting was the importance of public libraries to
be involved in the community before disaster hits. She said there was a
huge difference in an example of two libraries struck by disaster, one of which
the librarian was very active in community meetings, the other not. The first
was able to get funding and rebuild. The second, is still not back in service.
Relationships matter.
Our
Director is a wonderful community networker, and I know that she will be able
to easily get us a seat at the table among officials and first-responders for
future disaster preparedness meetings. This is critical for us to be able to
play not only the role we know we can, but be recognized from the
beginning by all the services at the time of a disaster as a place for
providing help.
All
LPLS staff have a role to play in this, as we interact with community members
on a daily basis. Take the time to proactively share what we offer as a
library, from books to WiFi and computers to the driver’s license kiosk to
notary services. All of these are truly critical needs when disaster
strikes, whether you see that now or not. Your role in spreading the word helps
people to remember when they’re traumatized: “Oh, even though we’ve lost our
home, we can go to the library to get on the computer.”
Building
relationships benefits everyone in a time of crisis, though I pray we won’t
have to face one anytime soon!
