FSU To HelpState Public Libraries with Hurricane Preparedness

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 09/09/2008

• $218K grant from storm risk management center
• Info Institute to work with library organizations, government agencies
• Best practices to be shared around state

While public libraries in Florida have helped citizens with hurricane and disaster preparation and response services and activities, no one has tried to identify best practices and guidelines that could help libraries with such work. Now a grant has been awarded to the Information Use Management & Policy Institute of Florida State University (FSU) by the Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center at FSU’s College of Business.

For the project, the Institute, directed by Francis Eppes Professor at the College of Information Charles R. McClure, will partner with the State Library and Archives of Florida, SOLINET,  and Florida’s libraries and library cooperatives, as well as various government agencies. The goals include identifying and then organizing “relevant public library hurricane related information resources, services, roles, and best practices and developing model plans, standards, guidelines and recommendations, available via print and the web.

Said McClure, “This grant offers a great opportunity for public libraries to better demonstrate the range of services and responses they can provide during such disasters.” While Florida and its libraries regularly face hurricane preparedness issues, most recently libraries in Louisiana have weathered Hurricane Gustav; many are still trying to recover from power outages and minor damage. Meanwhile, the hurricane season has several months to go.