Snippets from the Shelves

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have proved once again that things are easily destroyed but ideas are indestructible. St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana received much attention due to the unfortunate events following Hurricane Katrina. The subsequent flooding put the public library under 12 feet of water — twice!
St. Bernard Parish is hardly alone. Its library in many ways is a mirror image of our own. It serves roughly the same size population, has a similar sized collection and number of staff. And just like MPL, it serves as a cornerstone for the community, providing support and resources for all residents. Amazingly enough, even in the face of a natural disaster, communities still desire and need a local library service. A recent Google News search resulted in numerous articles reporting on the reopening of libraries, albeit some in temporary facilities. In one news editorial there was a demand for libraries to be rebuilt with the same level of urgency as town halls.
Many of us complain about the bad weather here in northwest Pennsylvania. However, no matter how much snow we get, it’s easier to clean up than the damage left by 135-mph hurricanes.
That said, there are events such as fire or flood that could cause a disaster for our own library and MPL has demonstrated good planning and insight by developing its own Disaster Plan.
When writing such a plan, many scenarios are analyzed and a course of action developed for each. Much of the analysis is pure estimation of course. Some of the scenarios that we planned for are now being experienced throughout the Gulf Coast. From these real-life examples we will be able to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt those lessons to refine our own Disaster Plan.
Since we stand to learn how to improve our disaster preparedness it is only natural that we extend a helping hand to our friends along the Gulf Coast.

At the September MPL Board meeting it was agreed that we would offer St. Bernard Parish Library our older equipment, furnishings and computer equipment which is no longer needed but still in good repair.
While the St. Bernard Parish Library may have lost its building and books, it has not lost the spirit of providing library service. We may not be able to help all the libraries along the Gulf Coast, but we can surely help one facility much like our own, get back to
providing essential public library services.