[StBernard] Help for Gulf coast libraries

[Westley Annis]

Gulf Coast libraries get almost $18 million for technology, recovery


12:44 PM CDT on Thursday, June 22, 2006

Associated Press 
METAIRIE -- Public libraries hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita are getting
nearly $18 million to rebuild and set up bookmobiles or temporary
mini-branches while they do so. 
 
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $12.2 million, the
Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund $5 million and the Institute for Museum and
Library Services -- a federal grant-making agency -- $500,000, the groups
announced Thursday. 
 
The announcement at the Jefferson Parish Library's Eastbank Regional Branch
came as the American Library Association opened a week of meetings and
convention sessions in New Orleans. Its 18,000 attendees make it the first
major convention to return to the city since Hurricane Katrina hit last Aug.
29. 
 
Allan Golston, president of U.S. programs for the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, said the foundation hopes its investment -- which will pay for
up to 22 bookmobiles or temporary mini-branches where patrons can check out
books and use computers -- attracts more donations for libraries because
much more is needed. 
 
People scattered about the country by the hurricanes immediately turned to
libraries for Internet access. 
 
"Library staff helped them connect to loved ones, contact FEMA and insurance
companies, find new housing and rebuild their lives when other social and
civil services were unable to support them," Golston said. 
 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which hit Louisiana and Texas on Sept. 24,
damaged or destroyed 107 public libraries in Louisiana and 34 in
Mississippi. Forty remain closed in Louisiana, and eight in Mississippi.
About 500 public computers were lost in the two states, according to library
agencies and the Southeastern Library Network, which serves the southeastern
United States and the Caribbean. 
 
Just in Harrison County, Miss., it will cost $8 million to $10 million to
rebuild and refurnish the libraries slam ed by Katrina, and another $2.5
million to replace the collections, library director Robert Lipscomb said. 
 
The Gates grant also will help pay for rebuilding plans and eventually for
new computers in rebuilt public libraries. The federal grant will pay staff
to open the temporary facilities. 
 
The Bush-Katrina fund's donation will help pay to repair or rebuild up to
eight public libraries in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and to replace
damaged or lost books and other materials. 
 
"Libraries are part of a community's pulse. It's that simple," former
President George Bush said in a statement. 
 
The Americans for Libraries Council, a national nonprofit advocacy
organization for libraries, will manage the Bush-Clinton grant. 
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On the Net: 
 
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: www.gatesfoundation.org 
 
The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund: www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org 
 
The Institute of Museum and Library Services: http://www.imls.gov 
 
SOLINET: www.SOLINET.net 
 
Americans for Libraries Council: www.americansforlibraries.org 
 
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)