David Rothman writes “Are you running a Katrinka-related site, or do you have a list of them? Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has emailed a note to an Archive-related list–asking for people to point the archive to appropriate URLs. Brewster also needs volunteers to “help
orchestrate the crawl.” Who better suited for this than Web-savvy librarians? Meanwhile it’s good to see librarians helping other librarians recover from the disaster. Beyond losing friends and perhaps family members, imagine the loss of both your house and your library’s collection, especially local history. While present needs must come first, however, let’s also hope that there is an interest in preserving the news of today for future researchers.
David Rothman writes “Are you running a Katrinka-related site, or do you have a list of them? Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has emailed a note to an Archive-related list–asking for people to point the archive to appropriate URLs. Brewster also needs volunteers to “help
orchestrate the crawl.” Who better suited for this than Web-savvy librarians? Meanwhile it’s good to see librarians helping other librarians recover from the disaster. Beyond losing friends and perhaps family members, imagine the loss of both your house and your library’s collection, especially local history. While present needs must come first, however, let’s also hope that there is an interest in preserving the news of today for future researchers.
Idea: Maybe the ALA or another library-related group can set up an audio blog with an 800 number, as well as text capabilities, so that affected librarians can contribute their memories while they are still fresh. Perhaps Blogger and Audioblogger could pitch in with slightly tweaked software to allow longer recordings–and also with arrangements with a phone company for the toll-free number. Or maybe the Internet Archive itself can set something up. Please note tht ALA already has a Katrina-related page, but its focus right now is understandably on present needs and on damage reports at the institutional level. I think that the personal accounts of affected librarians would also be noteworthy. The best approach would be to collect them in a separate blog so as not to let urgent, actionable items get lost on sites like the ALA’s. Meanwhile here’s an item from the ALA’s informative Katrina newsletter:
New Orleans Public Library: State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton writes, “Geri Harris just called me and it doesn’t look good. Martin Luther King Jr. branch (1611 Coffin Ave.) is devastated. The Main Library at 219 Loyola Ave. has water up to the first floor, which likely destroyed all archives. The Milton H. Latter branch (5120 St. Charles) looks ok. Geri is in contact with many NOPL staff and they are ok.�
Needless to say, memories like the above, whether institutional or personal, are not pleasant. But who says history should be restricted to good news?”
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