(no subject)
Sep. 9th, 2005 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heidiI think, regardless of your political leanings, we can all agree that Tom deLay has jumped the shark into the miasma of bonkersville.
In other news, the American Library Association has seen two libraries in New Orleans partially destroyed, and at least six have suffered little to no damage, so they're covering the whole spectrum. The ALA's website says
NOPL Archivist Wayne Everard writes: “There was no water in the Main Library except for the usual slight backup from the sewerage system and a couple of minor leaks evident on the first floor. I was in with Irene and Linda Santi a good bit of the day yesterday. Two windows in the Technology Center were blown out and there was some damage in there, but that was probably good in that it confined damage to that one room. There is no evidence that anyone was living in the building; we suspect that the police/National Guard went in a broken window, looked around and left through the back door. With help from City Hall we got plywood up over the two windows. But the news is very good.”
NOPL Assistant Archivist Irene Wainwright adds: “The New Orleans City Archives, which we hold, is relatively safe. Although the majority of our records (as well as the 19th- and early 20th-century records of the Orleans Parish civil and criminal courts) are housed in the basement of the Main Library, some 18 feet below sea level, the basement remained essentially dry. Wayne Everard, our archivist, and I were able to get access to the building yesterday, along with another NOPL staff member and a representative of Munters. We discovered that the basement sustained no flooding, although there is a very small amount of water in one area, possibly caused by sewer backup. This water caused no direct damage to records themselves.
“The Main Library itself (across the plaza from city hall, about four blocks from the Superdome) came through almost unscathed. Several windows blew out in the area of our Technology Center causing quite a bit of damage there, but the damage is confined to that closed-in room. There is also evidence of very minimal roof leakage on the first floor—most of it missing the books. On the whole, however, the Main Library is in excellent shape. Earlier reports that vandals had entered the building are incorrect. Our branch-run van was looted and we believe another van was stolen from the parking lot, but it is clear that no one got into the building, either to vandalize or to shelter there.
“The NOPL system itself has been hit hard—probably about half of our 11 branch libraries are under water. But these we can (and will) rebuild. The fact that the archives have survived leaves us almost delirious with relief. We are working now to arrange for Munters to stabilize the Main Library building until we can all return and begin the rebuilding process.
“Thank you all for your expressions of concern and offers of assistance. We are unbelievably lucky, and I think I now believe in miracles.”
The people are, of course, the most important thing in any city, and nothing will mitigate the loss to this country of the people who died from the storm and in the aftermath. But as an archive-fangirl and recovering historian, in my own little way, it is good news, at least, that the history of New Orleans, in its writings and photographs and archives, was not washed away by Katrina.
In other news, the American Library Association has seen two libraries in New Orleans partially destroyed, and at least six have suffered little to no damage, so they're covering the whole spectrum. The ALA's website says
NOPL Archivist Wayne Everard writes: “There was no water in the Main Library except for the usual slight backup from the sewerage system and a couple of minor leaks evident on the first floor. I was in with Irene and Linda Santi a good bit of the day yesterday. Two windows in the Technology Center were blown out and there was some damage in there, but that was probably good in that it confined damage to that one room. There is no evidence that anyone was living in the building; we suspect that the police/National Guard went in a broken window, looked around and left through the back door. With help from City Hall we got plywood up over the two windows. But the news is very good.”
NOPL Assistant Archivist Irene Wainwright adds: “The New Orleans City Archives, which we hold, is relatively safe. Although the majority of our records (as well as the 19th- and early 20th-century records of the Orleans Parish civil and criminal courts) are housed in the basement of the Main Library, some 18 feet below sea level, the basement remained essentially dry. Wayne Everard, our archivist, and I were able to get access to the building yesterday, along with another NOPL staff member and a representative of Munters. We discovered that the basement sustained no flooding, although there is a very small amount of water in one area, possibly caused by sewer backup. This water caused no direct damage to records themselves.
“The Main Library itself (across the plaza from city hall, about four blocks from the Superdome) came through almost unscathed. Several windows blew out in the area of our Technology Center causing quite a bit of damage there, but the damage is confined to that closed-in room. There is also evidence of very minimal roof leakage on the first floor—most of it missing the books. On the whole, however, the Main Library is in excellent shape. Earlier reports that vandals had entered the building are incorrect. Our branch-run van was looted and we believe another van was stolen from the parking lot, but it is clear that no one got into the building, either to vandalize or to shelter there.
“The NOPL system itself has been hit hard—probably about half of our 11 branch libraries are under water. But these we can (and will) rebuild. The fact that the archives have survived leaves us almost delirious with relief. We are working now to arrange for Munters to stabilize the Main Library building until we can all return and begin the rebuilding process.
“Thank you all for your expressions of concern and offers of assistance. We are unbelievably lucky, and I think I now believe in miracles.”
The people are, of course, the most important thing in any city, and nothing will mitigate the loss to this country of the people who died from the storm and in the aftermath. But as an archive-fangirl and recovering historian, in my own little way, it is good news, at least, that the history of New Orleans, in its writings and photographs and archives, was not washed away by Katrina.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 12:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 12:35 am (UTC)"And mother says that now we shall both go begging from door to door! Won't it BE fun?"
And Balthazar (I think) slowly and confusedly replies, "It... has it's points..."
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 01:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 02:04 am (UTC)I think that Tom DeLay has become Congress's answer to Babs, from Chicken Run:
Tom DeLay looks around the deserted streets of New Orleans. "Where is everybody?" he says to his assistant. "Are they all on holiday?"
"Erm, no," his assistant says. "We'll see some evacuees at a shelter..."
At the shelter DeLay looks around at the people who get to live with each other for a time, instead of in separate houses with pesky things like electricity and running water. "Just grand!" he announces to two young boys. "Are you enjoying your holiday?"
DeLay will probably be bringing out a book soon after this: Marie Antoinette: A Model for the New Millenium.
If a mob of evacuees doesn't chase him into Lake Pontchartrain.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 03:06 pm (UTC)BTW, Heidi, your guitar-plucking Dubya icon gave me a good laugh.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 03:00 am (UTC)I was also very glad to see that my alma mater (the University of Washington) is including this amongst the things they're doing for hurricane relief -- they're not just taking in displaced students, but helping out the universities to preserve their collections:
We are also working through University Libraries with colleagues at Tulane and its neighboring institutions on plans to preserve their library holdings. Without electricity and adequate climate control, library holdings may be at risk, and our librarians and others around the country are working to address this issue.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 07:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 03:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 08:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 06:57 am (UTC)